Professor Alison Light elected to Honorary Fellowship at Pembroke College

We are delighted to announce that Professor Alison Light, Senior Research Fellow in History and English, has been elected to an Honorary Fellowship in recognition of her distinguished academic career.

Professor Light, also a Fellow of the British Academy, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, is one of the leading specialists in the field of History and English. Her work has explored concepts such as Englishness, the idea of class in Britain, feminism, and the ‘I’ in history. She is a regular contributor to the London Review of Books, the Guardian, and the Times Literary Supplement and her work has been recognised on a national and international scale; in 2014, her book Common People: The History of An English Family’ was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize in Nonfiction, and in 2020, ‘A Radical Romance: A Memoir of Love, Grief and Consolation’ won the 2020 PEN Ackerley prize.

Professor Light writes: “It is an honour to be elected and I am, of course, very pleased that I shall go on being connected to Pembroke, its staff and students.”

Sir Ernest Ryder, Master of Pembroke College, adds: “We are fortunate that Professor Light has been a member of College since 2015. Her research has been fundamental for British historians and her work is highly regarded amongst literary critics. Her collaboration with other Fellows at Pembroke and donation of some substantial collections of her late partner’s published books to our Library is invaluable. We look forward to her continuing to be a part of the College as an Honorary Fellow.”

Read more about Alison’s publications and work on her website https://alisonlight.org/.