professor emerita Penny Gay

Penny Gay is Professor Emerita in English and Drama at the University of Sydney, where she taught for many years, largely in the fields of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century literature. Her PhD at University College London (in Bloomsbury) examined the works, lives and cultural connections of members of the Bloomsbury Group, particularly the writers EM Forster and Virginia Woolf. Subsequent research saw her living for a year in Sussex, exploring in Woolf’s footsteps. Although in recent years she has pivoted to Shakespeare and performance history, she remains an enthusiast for these seminal English Modernists and the importance of the English countryside in their work.

An erudite and engaging presenter, Penny continues to give public lectures and lead seminars on a wide range of literature. Her publications include substantial reviews of new biographies and studies of the Bloomsbury Group.