Liam Semler

Liam Semler is Professor of Early Modern Literature in the Discipline of English and Writing, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, at the University of Sydney. He earned his BA (Honours) and PhD in English Literature from Macquarie University, where he studied from 1987 to 1994. Semler's progressive career at the University of Sydney encompasses Senior Lecturer from 2007 to 2010, Associate Professor from 2011 to 2014, and Professor of Early Modern Literature since 2015. He has also served as Chair of the Department of English.

Semler's research specializations and academic interests center on early modern literature, particularly Shakespeare and Marlowe; philosophy and visual arts; the grotesque in English contexts from 1500 to 1700; the Renaissance reception of classical inheritance; women's writing from 1500 to 1700; and modern educational systems including audit cultures, performativity, digitization, and the future of teaching professions. As leader of the Better Strangers educational research project, he maintains the Shakespeare Reloaded website, promoting collaborative school-university partnerships for dynamic Shakespeare education. Major publications include his monographs The Early Modern Grotesque: English Sources and Documents 1500–1700 (2019), Teaching Shakespeare and Marlowe: Learning versus the System (2013), and The English Mannerist Poets and the Visual Arts (1998). Semler edited the puritan text Eliza’s Babes; or the Virgin’s Offering (1652) (2001) and co-edited Storytelling: Critical and Creative Approaches (2013), Teaching Shakespeare beyond the Centre: Australasian Perspectives (2013), What is the Human? Australian Voices from the Humanities (2012), and Word and Self Estranged in English Texts from 1550–1660 (2010). Ongoing contributions feature editing the Arden Critical Reader on Coriolanus, co-editing Reimagining Shakespeare Education for Cambridge University Press, and co-editing the Cambridge Elements series Shakespeare and Pedagogy with Gillian Woods. Semler delivers public lectures, such as the 2024 Lloyd Davis Memorial Fellowship presentation Midnight Sonnets: Taylor Swift and Shakespeare, and teaches units like Shakespeare and Modernity. His scholarship impacts Shakespeare pedagogy, early modern studies, and critiques of neoliberal education.

Professional Email: liam.semler@sydney.edu.au