Some years ago, during a break from an academic workshop in Calcutta, I found an inner cityscape that was a mix of overbuilt and rather shabby looking shops, oddly punctuated by the occasional Western-looking skyscraper. As a historian my eye…
Category: Blog and News
News items of interest to WHN Members
Sign up now for our roundtable: ‘Lesbian Histories and the Long View’
Our Autumn Seminar Series launches next month, beginning with a special roundtable event, Lesbian Histories and the Long View, on Wednesday, 10 September 2025 at 4pm UK time. We are thrilled to welcome a dynamic panel of speakers: Dr Norena Shopland…
Women as Prophets and Witches
Announcing an exciting new book by Dr Debra Parish titled Prophets and Witches: Witchcraft, Gender and Politics in Revolutionary England (Routledge, August 2025). It shows how unprecedented numbers of women achieved visibility and authority as visionary prophets in this context of…
Rediscovering Josephine Fiddes and her forgotten Australian novel – Robyn Floyd
Josephine Fiddes was an English actress, vocalist, author and playwright who graced stages across three continents during the 19th century. Her creative output extended beyond acting to directing, writing one-act monologues and authoring novels. The one publication that survives The Little…
WHN Annual Conference 2025
Women’s History Network 33rd Annual Conference Thursday 4 & Friday 5 September 2025 Hidden in Plain Sight: Women in Archives, Libraries, Museums and Personal Collections See more here
WHN Annual Book Prize
We are pleased to announce the annual WHN book prize, which awards £500 for an author’s first single-authored monograph in women’s or gender history. Entries close on 15 August 2025 for books published from 1 Jan 2023 to 31 December 2024. 2023…
Beyond Formal and Informal: Giving Back Political Agency to Female Diplomats in Early Nineteenth Century Europe – Bart Mooibroek
When researching diplomatic challenges in early nineteenth century Europe, such as the Eastern Question or the Congress of Vienna, the subject matter can appear male dominated. The former refers to the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century,…
WHN Undergraduate Dissertation Prize 2024-2025
The Women’s History Network is offering one £250 prize for an undergraduate dissertation on any aspect of women’s or gender history (though with a strong focus on women) written during the 2024-2025 academic year. We welcome research on any period…
Women from Hackney’s History
The second volume of Women from Hackney’s History was published on International Women’s Day 2025, exactly four years after the first book appeared. Together covering 228 women who have strong links to today’s London Borough, they range in date from…