Daisy Florence Dunn is an English author and classicist.

Early life and education

Daisy Dunn was born in London and attended

Ibstock Place School Ibstock Place School is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private co-educational day school for pupils aged 4–18 located in Roehampton, southwest London. It was founded as the Froebel Demonstration School due to its affiliation with t ...

in Southwest London and The Lady Eleanor Holles School in Hampton on an academic scholarship. She graduated in Classics from

St Hilda's College, Oxford St Hilda's College (full name = Principal and Council of St. Hilda's College, Oxford) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. The college is named after the Anglo-Saxon saint Hilda of Whitby and was founded in 1893 as a ...

in 2009, and won a scholarship to study for an MA in the History of Art at the

Courtauld Institute The Courtauld Institute of Art (), commonly referred to as The Courtauld, is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art and conservation. The art collection is known particularly for ...

, London, specialising in Titian, Venice and Renaissance Europe. She was awarded a PhD from

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

with a thesis exploring

ekphrasis Ekphrasis or ecphrasis (from the Greek) is a rhetorical device indicating the written description of a work of art. It is a vivid, often dramatic, verbal description of a visual work of art, either real or imagined. Thus, "an ekphrastic poem ...

in Greek and Latin poetry and sixteenth-century Italian painting. She was long-listed in 2015 for the international Notting Hill Editions Prize for the essay "An Unlikely Friendship".

Career

In 2016 she published her first two books, a biography of the Latin love poet

Catullus Gaius Valerius Catullus (; ), known as Catullus (), was a Latin neoteric poet of the late Roman Republic. His surviving works remain widely read due to their popularity as teaching tools and because of their personal or sexual themes. Life ...

and a new translation of his poems. The biography, entitled ''Catullus' Bedspread'', received endorsements from

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (born 19 June 1964) is a British politician and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He wa ...

, Robert Harris and

Tom Holland Thomas Stanley Holland (born 1 June 1996) is an English actor. The recipient of numerous accolades, including a BAFTA Award, he featured on the ''Forbes'' 30 Under 30 Europe list of 2019. Some publications have called him one of the most ...

and was described as a "superb portrait" in ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

.'' Dunn's translation of one of Catullus' expletives resulted in a series of letters in ''

The Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication ...

'' and an article in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

''. In a 2016 article in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

Simon Schama Sir Simon Michael Schama ( ; born 13 February 1945) is an English historian and television presenter. He specialises in art history, Dutch history, Jewish history, and French history. He is a professor of history and art history at Columbia Uni ...

included Dunn in his list of leading female historians. Dunn's 2019 dual biography of

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/24 79), known in English as Pliny the Elder ( ), was a Roman Empire, Roman author, Natural history, naturalist, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the Roman emperor, emperor Vesp ...

and

Pliny the Younger Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus (born Gaius Caecilius or Gaius Caecilius Cilo; 61 – ), better known in English as Pliny the Younger ( ), was a lawyer, author, and magistrate of Ancient Rome. Pliny's uncle, Pliny the Elder, helped raise and e ...

, ''In the Shadow of Vesuvius: A Life of Pliny'', published as ''The Shadow of Vesuvius'' in the US, was a ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' Editor's Choice, a

Waterstones Waterstones Booksellers Limited, trading as Waterstones (formerly Waterstone's), is a British bookselling, book retailer based in London, England, owned by the American investment group Elliott Investment Management. It operates 311 shops, ma ...

Best History Book of 2019, and a Book of the Year in several publications. Dunn was interviewed ahead of its release by ''The Sunday Times.'' Also in 2019, Dunn published an anthology of ancient stories in English translation, ''Of Gods and Men: 100 Stories from Ancient Greece and Rome'', for which she was interviewed by

Paul Ross John Paul Ross (born 31 December 1956) is an English television and radio presenter, journalist and media personality. He is the son of Martha Ross and the elder brother of Jonathan Ross. Early life Growing up in outer east London, Ross was ...

TalkRadio Talk (previously talkRADIO and TalkTV) is a talk radio and free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) channel in the United Kingdom. Based in London and owned by Wireless Group, a subsidiary of News Corp., it is the sister station of nationa ...

. A month later, she released ''Homer'', part of a new "expert" series of

Ladybird books Ladybird Books are a London-based publishing company, trading as a stand-alone imprint within the Penguin Group of companies. The Ladybird imprint publishes mass-market children's books. It is an imprint of Penguin Random House, a subsidiary o ...

. Dunn is a regular commentator, critic and columnist, writing for ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British political and cultural news magazine. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving magazine in the world. ''The Spectator'' is politically conservative, and its principal subject a ...

'', ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'' and ''

Literary Review ''Literary Review'' is a British literary magazine founded in 1979 by Anne Smith, then head of the Department of English at the University of Edinburgh. Its offices are on Lexington Street in Soho. The magazine was edited for fourteen years b ...

'', among other publications. She has contributed to

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

, the

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is a British Public broadcasting, public service broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception area, language selection and audience reach. It broadcas ...

, TalkRadio, BBC.com (Culture) and BBC 2, for which she participated in the 2016

Christmas University Challenge ''Christmas University Challenge'' is a British quiz programme which has aired on BBC Two since 19 December 2011. It is a spin-off from ''University Challenge'' that airs daily over the Christmas period, and features teams of noteworthy alumn ...

for notable alumni, with her team winning the series. In 2018 and 2019 she presented two short films on Ancient Wisdom for BBC Ideas. In 2020, Dunn was awarded the

Classical Association The Classical Association (CA) is an educational organisation which aims to promote and widen access to the study of Classics, classical subjects in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1903, the Classical Association supports and advances classical ...

Prize, which recognises efforts to bring the classics to public attention. Dunn's sixth book, ''Not Far From Brideshead: Oxford Between the Wars'', a group biography of the classicists

Maurice Bowra Sir Cecil Maurice Bowra, (; 8 April 1898 – 4 July 1971) was an English classical scholar, literary critic and academic, known for his wit. He was Warden of Wadham College, Oxford, from 1938 to 1970, and served as vice-chancellor of the Univer ...

E. R. Dodds Eric Robertson Dodds (26 July 1893 – 8 April 1979) was an Irish classical scholar. He was Regius Professor of Greek at the University of Oxford from 1936 to 1960. Early life and education Dodds was born in Banbridge, County Down, the son of ...

and

Gilbert Murray George Gilbert Aimé Murray (2 January 1866 – 20 May 1957) was an Australian-born British classical scholar and public intellectual, with connections in many spheres. He was an outstanding scholar of the language and culture of Ancient Greec ...

, was published in March 2022. In ''The Times'', Laura Freeman wrote of Dunn's "gift for making the arcane accessible and the forbidding more friendly" and the book as being "a love letter to learning". It was described by Leo Robson in the ''

New Statesman ''The New Statesman'' (known from 1931 to 1964 as the ''New Statesman and Nation'') is a British political and cultural news magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first c ...

'' as "Lucid, agile, juicy, nuanced". It was listed as a book of the year by Waterstones, ''The Independent'', and ''The Daily Telegraph''. In 2024, Dunn published ''The Missing Thread: A New History of the Ancient World through the Women who Shaped It'', a ''

New Yorker New Yorker may refer to: * A resident of New York: ** A resident of New York City and its suburbs *** List of people from New York City ** A resident of the New York (state), State of New York *** Demographics of New York (state) * ''The New Yor ...

'' best book of the year.

Works

Dunn is the author of: *''Catullus' Bedspread: The Life of Rome's Most Erotic Poet'' (HarperCollins/Harper Press, 2016) (UK Hardback and US Hardback ) *''The Poems of Catullus: A New Translation'' (HarperCollins, 2016) (UK Paperback) *''In the Shadow of Vesuvius: A Life of Pliny'' (William Collins, 2019) (US title: ''The Shadow of Vesuvius: A Life of Pliny'' (Liveright, 2019) ) *''Of Gods and Men: 100 Stories from Ancient Greece and Rome'' (Head of Zeus, 2019) *''Homer'' illus. Angelo Rinaldi (Ladybird Books, Michael Joseph, 2019) *''Not Far From Brideshead: Oxford Between the Wars'' (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2022)
''The Missing Thread: A Women's History of the Ancient World''
(Viking, 2024)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dunn, Daisy Living people People educated at Ibstock Place School People educated at Lady Eleanor Holles School Alumni of St Hilda's College, Oxford Alumni of the Courtauld Institute of Art Alumni of University College London Writers from London 21st-century English women writers British women classical scholars English classical scholars Historians of ancient Rome 21st-century English translators English women columnists Year of birth missing (living people)