Catherine Mary KEEN

Catherine Keen is Professor of Dante Studies in the School of European Languages, Culture and Society at University College London (UCL). She is also academic Programme Director for the UCL-Venice Double Degree, a unique programme run jointly between UCL and the Università Ca' Foscari Venezia, leading to dual BA titles in Lettere (Venice) and Italian Studies or Italian and History of Art (London). She has held the position of Visiting Professor in the Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici at Università Ca' Foscari Venezia in 2023/24 and 2024/25.

She completed her studies at the University of Cambridge (MA Cantab, PhD), and then held a Postdoctoral Junior Research Fellowship at St John's College, University of Cambridge, for three years. Before joining UCL, she worked in the Italian sections of the universities of Leeds and Bristol. She is a member of the Editorial Board of the Italian Perspectives series (Legenda/MHRA) and of journals including L'Alighieri, Rassegna Europea di Letteratura Italiana, Studi Danteschi, and Tenzone, and is former Senior Editor of the journal Italian Studies.

Her research interests focus on medieval Italian literature, culture, and history between 1200 and 1400, with a special interest in exploring relationships between poetic and political cultures in the cities of Italy during the middle ages and early renaissance. Her publications include the monograph Dante and the City (Tempus, 2003), and numerous articles and chapters on the works of Dante, on Italian lyric poetry of the Dueento and Trecento, and on the works of Brunetto Latini.