Emily Kesling

I am a specialist in early medieval English literature. My interests are broad, and I have published on a variety of topics including medieval medicine, palaeography and scribal culture, women’s writing, and monasticism. My current research focuses on the earliest private devotional books: the early Insular prayerbooks. I aim to address the importance of private prayer in early medieval England and its influence on Old English literary tradition.

I completed my doctorate at the University of Oxford with a focus on the large body of vernacular medical material extant in Old English.  A revised version of this work was published as a monograph with the title Medical Texts in Anglo-Saxon Literary Culture. This book was awarded the biennial prize for Best First Monograph by the International Society for the Study of Early Medieval England (ISSEME).