Adelle Hay

Adelle began her PhD in 2020 after accepting a fully-funded research studentship at Loughborough. Her research focuses on Anne Brontë’s changing literary and personal reputations, and how these have been affected by the posthumous editing of her works.

Prior to starting at Loughborough, Adelle had trained as a physicist, graduating from the University of York with an MPhys in 2010. In 2011 she completed a PGCE in Secondary Science with A-Level Physics at the University of Leeds. Her technical experience and lifelong interest in the Brontës inspired the PhD project, which combines digital humanities, textual editing, and cultural heritage. The project is supervised by Dr Claire O’Callaghan and Dr Barbara Cooke.

Adelle is a co-founder and organiser of the PGR-led reading group Lives and Afterlives. It is open to all PGRs in the School of Social Sciences and Humanities with an interest in single author studies, life writing, and literary afterlives.

Adelle’s research focuses on the textual history of Anne Brontë’s novels and poetry. All of Brontë’s works were edited extensively, both during her lifetime and after her death. Critical opinion of Anne has varied widely since her novels were first published. Adelle’s research explores the link between the textual history of Brontë’s works and how critical opinion of her works changed over time.

• Anne Brontë Reimagined: A View from the Twenty-first Century (Saraband, 2020)