News
2017
INTERVIEW ON GORD DOWNIE
Robert was interviewed on CTV Newsnet and La Presse in Montreal.
The Conversation
John and Yoko gave peace a chance in Canada
INTERVIEW ON ROD STEWART
Robert was interviewed on CKWS TV’s The Morning Show
The Conversation
Why Rod Stewart’s Gay Ballad “Georgie” was Ahead of its Time
ROBERT WAS ELECTED FELLOW OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA
INTERVIEW ON THE TRAGICALLY HIP
Robert was interviewed on CKWS TV’s The Morning Show
The Conversation
Ahead by a century: The Hip imagines a better future
INTERVIEWS ON JANE AUSTEN
Robert was interviewed on CKWS TV’s The Morning Show, and on CBC Radio’s Ontario Morning with Wei Chen, and CBC Radio’s Airplay with Dave White.
OUPBlog
Jane Austen and the Voice of Insurrection.
INTERVIEWS ON JOHN LENNON AND PIERRE TRUDEAU: INSTANT KARMA
Robert was interviewed on CKWS TV’s The Morning Show, and on CBC Radio’s Airplay with Dave White.
INTERVIEW ON THE TRAGICALLY HIP
Robert was interviewed on CKWS TV’s The Morning Show.
2016
INTERVIEWS ON FRANKENSTEIN AND THE VAMPYRE
Robert was interviewed on CKWS’s The Morning Show and CKNW’s The Simi Sara Show.
ROMANTICISM
Robert joined the Advisory Board of Romanticism
OUPBlog
Lord Byron’s Passion
INTERVIEW WITH SOCIETY NINETEEN
Suzanne Fox spoke to Robert about Jane Austen’s final novel, Persuasion.
PUBLIC LECTURE
“Revolution: Regency Britain and the Shaping of the Modern World” delivered by invitation to the Queen’s University Institute for Lifelong Learning (QUILL).
2015
THE SECRET LIFE OF BOOKS
Dr John Cooper Clarke interviewed Robert as part of the BBC4 film on Thomas De Quincey’s Confessions of an English Opium-Eater. The film is the fourth instalment in the second series of The Secret Life of Books.
OUPBlog
The Magic Fix: De Quincey’s Portrait of the Artist as Addict
DAVID MORRELL’S HISTORICAL THRILLER INSPECTOR OF THE DEAD
Robert wrote two blogs on David Morrell’s new crime thriller Inspector of the Dead. Like its predecessor, Murder as a Fine Art, Inspector is set in mid-Victorian England and stars Thomas De Quincey and his youngest daughter Emily. Robert’s first blog, “Thomas De Quincey and the Afflictions of Childhood”, was published on Historical Fiction Connection. His second blog, “Victorian Revenge and its Lunacy”, was published on Passages to the Past.
INTERVIEW WITH MARK CAMPBELL
Mark Campbell spoke to Robert about Oxford and Edinburgh, memory and nostalgia, life in the university, rock ‘n’ roll, and the value of the Humanities.
INTERVIEW WITH SOCIETY NINETEEN
Suzanne Fox talked with Robert about Thomas De Quincey, Jane Austen, The Regency, and The Beatles.
2014
TEACHING AWARD
Frank Knox Award for Excellence in Teaching.
PUBLIC LECTURE
“‘I had naturally small right to…a barouche’: Mobility in Jane Austen” delivered by invitation to the Toronto chapter of the Jane Austen Society of North America.
RADIO INTERVIEW ON CHARLES DICKENS
Robert spoke to CKNW, Vancouver.
RADIO INTERVIEWS ON TALES OF TERROR AND HALLOWEEN
Rita Celli of Ontario Today and David White of CBC Yukon talked to Robert about monsters, vampires, zombies, and other scary creatures.
TELEVISION INTERVIEW ON JANE AUSTEN
Robert spoke to Julie Brown on CKWS Television.
PUBLIC LECTURE
“Everybody Wants to Rule the World: Happiness, Hope, and the Pursuit of Social Justice” delivered by invitation to the Queen’s University Alma Mater Society in their Last Lecture on Earth series.
2013
OUPBlog
Gimme Shelter: De Quincey on Drugs
OUPBlog
De Quincey’s Wicked Book
MINNESOTA PUBLIC RADIO
The Daily Curcuit discusses Robert’s annotated edition of Austen’s Persuasion.
INTERVIEWS ON THE TWO HUNDRETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE PUBLICATION OF JANE AUSTEN’S PRIDE AND PREJUDICE
Leslie Scrivener of the Toronto Star and Wei Chen of CBC Radio’s Ontario Morning interviewed Robert.
CONVERSATION WITH DAVID MORRELL
On Thomas De Quincey and David Morrell’s award-winning historical thriller, Murder as a Fine Art.
PUBLIC LECTURE
“Getting Around Pride and Prejudice: Gothicism, Fairy Tales, and the Very World of All of Us” delivered by invitation at Kingston Public Library.
PUBLIC LECTURE
“Picture Persuasion: The Images of the Annotated Edition” delivered by invitation to the Ottawa chapter of the Jane Austen Society of North America.
DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI AWARD
The University of Lethbridge Distinguished Alumnus of the Year, 2013.
INTERVIEW WITH THE SOUTHERN ALBERTA MAGAZINE
Kali McKay asked Robert about undergraduate teaching, the poetry of William Wordsworth, and the importance of the Humanities.
PUBLIC LECTURE
“Jane Austen and Travel Technologies; or The Roads of True Love Never did Run Smooth” delivered by invitation at the Jane Austen Weekend, Toronto.
RADIO INTERVIEWS ON THE CREATION OF MARY SHELLEY’S FRANKENSTEIN AND JOHN POLIDORI’S THE VAMPYRE
Robert spoke to CKNW Morning News, Vancouver; CBC Airplay, Whitehorse; and CKWS Television, Kingston.
2012
OUPBlog
Vampyre Rising
OUPBlog
De Quincey’s Fine Art
INTERVIEWS ON THE TWO-HUNDRETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BIRTH OF CHARLES DICKENS
Robert spoke to CKWS Television, CKNW Radio, and CBC.ca.
INTERVIEWS ON THE ORIGINS OF MARY SHELLEY’S FRANKENSTEIN AND JOHN POLIDORI’S THE VAMPYRE
Robert spoke to Marcia MacMillan on CTV News Channel and Alan Neal on CBC Radio’s All in a Day.
PUBLIC LECTURE
“Picture Persuasion: The Images of the Annotated Edition” delivered by invitation to the Toronto chapter of the Jane Austen Society of North America.
2011
ANNOTATING AUSTEN
Interview with Harvard University Press on the experience of editing Austen’s last novel, Persuasion.
AUCTIONING JANE
Interview with Harvard University Press on the sale of the manuscript pages of Austen’s unfinished novel, The Watsons.
2010
JAMES TAIT BLACK PRIZE
The English Opium-Eater: A Biography of Thomas De Quincey a finalist for the James Tait Black Prize.