CivicLAB: Dr Shelby Judge: The Boom of Feminist Greek Myth Retellings - Part of Summer Derby Book Festival 2026

Description

Since at least Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818), women writers have adapted figures from Greek myth, but over the past 20 years, there has been an explosion in this field. Bookshop tables groan under the weight of ever replenishing Greek myth retellings. 

This market is cornered by women, who often use these ancient myths to explore the challenges of being a woman in the 21st Century. But why are these myths turned to time and again for modern-day worries? And why are Greek myths in particular so ripe for retelling?

Dr. Shelby Judge is Lecturer in English Literature and Media at the University of Derby, researching Incels and the Manosphere. Her doctoral project was on “Contemporary Feminist Adaptations of Greek Myth”. Shelby is a regular contributor to the Literary Encyclopedia, for which she has written articles on Carol Ann Duffy, Margaret Atwood, Laura Bates, and others. 

She has won several awards, including a Community Engagement Award and an Early Career Research Excellence grant. She is the author of Mythosphere, a book that uses Greek myth to explain the manosphere, which is due to be published in winter 2026.

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