I am a Professor of English in the Department of Humanities at Northumbria University in Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom. I have a wide range of interests centred on the literature and culture of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, but I work primarily on empire, slavery, and abolition on the one hand, and early modern and eighteenth-century life sciences and the environment on the other.

My early work was on antislavery rhetoric, but in recent years I have increasingly worked on the relationship between literature, culture, place, and environment, particularly in relation to the British and American slave trade. I have also researched the ways in which slavery was experienced locally in London, Guernsey, Cornwall, Barbados, and Pennsylvania.

I have written or edited eight books to date, with more on the way. My most recent is Birds in Eighteenth-Century Literature, which I co-edited with Sayre Greenfield and Anne Milne. It was published by Palgrave in 2020. I am currently completing a study of the relationship between slavery and natural history in the age of empire. Check out the bookshop for more information about these titles.

I am currently President of The British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies and Vice-President of The Association for Study of Literature and Environment (UK and Ireland). I was the first President of The Literary London Society. I am also active with my local environmental group, Alnwick Area Friends of the Earth in North Northumberland.

And yes, my name is spelled (or spelt) incorrectly. The proper Welsh spelling is "Brychan". Click here to see why

I hope you've enjoyed your visit. I'm always adding to my site and I'm always glad to hear your views on what I'm doing. If you'd like to get in touch please send me email, but before you do, do read the Frequently Asked Questions.

You can also read my full academic CV, or check out my profile at Northumbria University. If you'd like to receive regular updates about this site and my other activities, you can follow me on Twitter.

Whatever you choose to do, thank you for visiting!

Pages on this Website

 

Slavery, Emancipation, and Abolition

• Resources for slavery, abolition, and emancipation
• Olaudah Equiano, or, Gustavus Vassa, the African
• Ignatius Sancho (1729-1780) African Man of Letters
• Ottobah Cugoano: a former slave speaks out
• British Abolitionists: biographies of people who worked against slavery
• Poems about slavery A growing archive of poems that protested against slavery
• Slavery Timeline A Chronology of Slavery, Abolition, and Emancipation

 

Interests, Career, Publications

• The Bookshop: the books I've written and edited, on sale
• Places: photos, literature, and information about my favourite places.
• Cornwall and the Cornish: The first place: photos, literature, folk songs.
• Etexts: an index of over 50 etexts available on this site
• Read my CV (PDF)
• Complete index of this website
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Contact me