Dr. Angana Moitra

Dr. Angana Moitra researches the literature and culture of the European medieval and early modern periods with a special focus on the British Isles. She was awarded a full fellowship on the Erasmus Mundus TEEME (Text and Event in Early Modern Europe) PhD programme, a joint-doctoral programme funded by the European Union. Jointly based at the University of Kent, Canterbury and Freie Universität Berlin, Angana successfully defended her thesis (entitled “‘A Spirit of Another Sort’: The Evolution and Transformation of the Fairy King from Medieval Romance to Early Modern Prose, Poetry, and Drama”) in May 2020.

During the course of her PhD, Angana presented her work at various conferences and symposia in London, Oxford, Reading, Leeds, Cardiff, Canterbury, Berlin, Paris, Barcelona, Nicosia, and Florida. Her conference papers have often resulted in publications, with the paper presented at Barcelona forthcoming from DeGruyter in September 2022 and another presented (virtually) at Aachen currently under peer review. Angana has also done a work placement at Shakespeare’s Globe in London where she researched the life of Emilia Lanier, purported by some scholars to be the ‘Dark Lady’ of Shakespeare’s sonnets.

As part of her research, Angana is actively interested in the medieval and early modern supernatural. Having looked at fairies for her doctoral project, she is currently interested in witchcraft and witch persecutions, particularly the ways in which fairies appeared in witch trials. Angana is also passionate about travelling, having travelled to over 75 cities in Europe (a number she wishes to augment). When she is not pottering around bookstores, museums, libraries, cathedrals, and castles, Angana can be found playing Dungeons and Dragons or watching anime.