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 (Independent Historian), Professor Lisa Weston (California State University, Fresno), Elizabeth Lovatt (Creative Non-Fiction Writer), Dr Sarah Wingrove (University of Surrey), and Vicky Iglikowski-Broad (The National Archives).

In bringing together such a diverse range of scholars, from both within and beyond the traditional academy, who are researching and writing lesbian histories across various platforms and for diverse audiences, we aim to facilitate an open, inclusive, and fruitful discussion about the current state and future directions of research concerning queer women in the past.

Our speakers will explore questions such as:

• What does the field of lesbian history look like today, and where might we want it to go?

• How can we better engage the public? Especially given the lingering perception (particularly on social media) that historians are blind to LGBT+ histories. And what about the teaching of LGBT+ histories in schools?

• And how do we navigate being ‘open’ about our sexualities? No one should feel obliged to discuss their sexuality, and not everyone feels that their sexualities are tied to their identity, but what is lost when people feel unable to share, and what is gained from the sharing of experiences? Indeed, how do our personal identities as researchers impact our research? Is this a good thing, or should we proceed with greater objectivity?

About the Speakers

Norena Shopland is an author and historian specialising in the research and writing of diversity and Welsh history. Her works include Forbidden Lives: LGBT Stories from Wales, the first work on the history of Welsh sexual orientation and gender identity, and Women in Welsh Coal Mining: Tip Girls at Work in a Men’s World. She is also an expert in research methodologies, and devised a methodology for researching “hard to find” people in A Practical Guide to Searching LGBTQIA Historical Records, an internationally popular toolkit. Norena was awarded an honourary degree from the Open University for raising awareness of diversity in Wales, and she writes a monthly history column for the online news service Nation Cymru. She travels Wales, and beyond, giving talks and raising awareness, and works with many organisations, including the Welsh Government, consulting on the inclusion of equality in heritage.

Lisa Weston is Professor of English at California State University, Fresno. Her research focuses on Old English and Anglo-Latin texts, most often through feminist and queer critical lenses. Her publications include studies of monastic women’s literary practices, and of more narrowly philological discussions of the queer affordances of language, especially in bi- or multilingual contexts. Examples of more recent publications include chapters in the Cambridge History of Early Medieval English Literature (2013), The Lesbian Premodern (2011), and Same Sex Love and Desire Among Women in the Middle Ages (2001). With Carol Braun Pasternack, she edited Sex and Sexuality in Anglo-Saxon England (2004). She has also presented her research at numerous national and international conferences, and she maintains leadership and advisory positions in organizations such as the Old English Division of the Modern Language Association, the Society for Medieval Feminist Research and the Society for the Study of Homosexuality in the Middle Ages.

Elizabeth Lovatt is a writer of fiction and creative non-fiction currently living in London. Her first book Thank You For Calling the Lesbian Line was published by Dialogue Books earlier this year. The book, which is part social history, part memoir, reimagines the women who both called and volunteered for the Lesbian Line in the 1990s, whilst also tracing Elizabeth’s own journey from accidentally coming out to disastrous dates to finding her chosen family. It has been described as “a timely and vital exploration of how lesbian identity continues to remake and redefine itself in the 21st century” and “a heartfelt history of the gay community”. In 2019 she was a writer-in-residence for Islington Pride and the ruckus! archive. In November 2020 she was accepted onto Penguin Books’ #WriteNow mentorship scheme and has an MA in Creative and Critical Writing from Birkbeck. Her dissertation was awarded the Lynne Segal BiGS Prize in Gender and Sexuality. 

Sarah Wingrove is an interdisciplinary scholar at the University of Surrey, and defended her thesis, ‘Treading Carefully: Queer Pilgrimage and the Travel Motivations of Anne Lister and Twenty-First Century “Lister Sisters”’ earlier this year. In her work, she utilises methods from literary studies, sociology and histories of sexuality and gender, to examine mobilities in the nineteenth and twenty-first centuries. Sarah has contributed open access research to the Journal of Lesbian Studies, Modern and Contemporary France, and the Women’s History Network, and she is currently writing a chapter for the forthcoming Cambridge Companion to Anne Lister, edited by Caroline Gonda and Chris Roulston.   

Vicky Iglikowski-Broad is Principal Records Specialist for Diverse Histories at The National Archives. Her work focuses on uncovering underrepresented narratives within state records, particularly LGBTQIA+ histories—areas historically marginalised in official documentation. Recent projects include researching the registration of LGBT+ Switchboard as a charity, exploring the chancery records of Anne Lister and Ann Walker, analysing the will of Sophie Jex-Blake, and examining the policing of classified adverts in the International Times. Vicky has also pioneered consultation on inclusive research guidance practices and the ethics of using queer state records in public engagement. 

We are extremely grateful that our speakers have agreed to share their expertise and experiences with us and hope you will consider joining us for this important session.

To sign-up, please click here to be taken to our event registration page.