Dr Michael Collins, Lecturer in American Literature in the School of English, appeared on Radio 4 over the bank holiday weekend in a special broadcast entitled ‘When Washington Came to Brum’. Presented by Birmingham novelist Catherine O’Flynn, the programme detailed how Washington Irving wrote some of his most famous tales, including Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, in early 19th-century Birmingham. Michael, who has published widely on Washington Irving and his contemporaries, places Irving in his transnational context, illustrates his engagement with global culture and points to the author as one of the first Postcolonial writers.
Click here to hear the radio broadcast.