Connor Mcgrath

I am a PhD candidate in both the School of English and School of Classics at the University of St Andrews. My thesis uses the work of Derek Walcott and Seamus Heaney to illustrate a more complex model of classical reception in a postcolonial context. I draw on the thought of Giles Deleuze, Edward Said, and Edouard Glissant to help create an affilial classical reception model.

I co-run the interdisiplinary Graduate Theory Reading Group, and have been the postgraduate research representative for English since since September 2023.

Outside of my academic career, I am an organiser and vice-chairman of the Outwith Festival, an arts and music festival based in Dunfermline: Home - Outwith Festival

• EN1004: Empires and Revolutions, Literature 1680-1830 (2023)
• EN1003: Culture and Conflict, An Introduction to 19th and 20th Century Literature (2024)
• EN3213: Postcolonial Literature and Theory (2024)

I have also created and ran workshops for the Academic Skills Project on 'How to Read a Poem', 'How to Use Literary Terms', and 'How to Write a Dissertation Proposal'.

I am interested in classical reception theory, postcolonial literature and theory, and modern and contemporary poety -- particulary Derek Walcott, Seamus Heaney, Ted Hughes, Douglas Dunn, and Alice Oswald.