Janet Margaret Todd (born 10 September 1942) is a British academic and author. She was educated at

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

and the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

, where she undertook a doctorate on the poet

John Clare John Clare (13 July 1793 – 20 May 1864) was an English poet. The son of a farm labourer, he became known for his celebrations of the English countryside and his sorrows at its disruption. His work underwent major re-evaluation in the late 20t ...

. Much of her work concerns

Mary Wollstonecraft Mary Wollstonecraft ( , ; 27 April 175910 September 1797) was an English writer and philosopher best known for her advocacy of women's rights. Until the late 20th century, Wollstonecraft's life, which encompassed several unconventional ...

Jane Austen Jane Austen ( ; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for #List of works, her six novels, which implicitly interpret, critique, and comment on the English landed gentry at the end of the 18th century ...

, and their circles.

Career

Academic career

She has worked in universities in Ghana (

Cape Coast Cape Coast is a city and the capital of the Cape Coast Metropolitan Assembly, Cape Coast Metropolitan District and the Central Region (Ghana), Central Region of Ghana, Ghana. It is located about from Sekondi-Takoradi and approximately from Ac ...

), Puerto Rico ( Mayaguez), North America (

New Brunswick New Brunswick is a Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to ...

), India (New Delhi), England (

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

). She was appointed professor of English Literature at

Glasgow University The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in post-nominals; ) is a public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ...

in 2000, and was then at Aberdeen University from 2004 until she took up in 2008 the post of president of Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge, from which she retired in 2015. She is now a full-time novelist and researcher living in Cambridge. She is a Honorary Fellow of

Newnham College, Cambridge Newnham College is a women's constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sidgwick and suffragist campaigner Millicen ...

Author

Todd's writing concerns literature and culture of the Restoration and 18th and early 19th centuries. Over a long career, she has published more than 40 critical and biographical books and collections of essays, mainly on women authors, women's writing, cultural history and the development of fiction. She has edited full-scale editions of

(with

Marilyn Butler Marilyn Speers Butler, Lady Butler, FRSA, FRSL, Fellow of the British Academy, FBA (''née'' Evans; 11 February 1937 – 11 March 2014) was a British literary criticism, literary critic. She was King Edward VII Professor of English Literature at ...

) and

Aphra Behn Aphra Behn (; baptism, bapt. 14 December 1640 – 16 April 1689) was an English playwright, poet, prose writer and translator from the Restoration (England), Restoration era. As one of the first English women to earn her living by her writ ...

, as well as individual works of women such as Charlotte Smith, Helen Maria Williams,

Mary Shelley Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley ( , ; ; 30 August 1797 – 1 February 1851) was an English novelist who wrote the Gothic novel ''Frankenstein, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' (1818), which is considered an History of science fiction# ...

, Mary Carleton and Eliza Fenwick. She is the General Editor of the nine-volume ''The Cambridge Edition of the Works of

'', editor of the volume ''Jane Austen in Context'', and co-editing ''Persuasion'' and ''Later Manuscripts'' and author of the ''Cambridge Introduction to Jane Austen''. In the US she started the first journal devoted to women writers and more recently in the UK she has been the co-founder with Marie Mulvey-Roberts of ''Women's Writing''. Since retirement, she has revised her biography of

, ''Aphra Behn: A Secret Life'', and published four novels: ''A Man of Genius'', ''Don't You Know There's a War On?'', ''Jane Austen and Shelley in the Garden'', and an Austen spin-off, ''Lady Susan Plays the Game''. In 2018, she published ''Radiation Diaries'', her account of a month of cancer treatment, a frank, witty and scholarly memoir, and, in 2019, a revised, colour-illustrated edition of

's unfinished work, ''Jane Austen's Sanditon with an Essay by Janet Todd''.

Honours

In the

2013 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2013 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

, Todd was appointed an

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(OBE) "for services to higher education and literary scholarship".

Selected publications

*''Anthology of British Women Writers: From the Middle Ages to the Present Day''. Pandora Press, 1989. . Co-edited with

Dale Spender Dale Spender (22 September 1943 – 21 November 2023) was an Australian feminist scholar, teacher, writer and consultant. In 1983, Dale Spender was co-founder of and editorial advisor to Pandora Press, the first of the feminist imprints devo ...

. * * * * Published as ''Rebel Daughters: Ireland in Conflict'' in the US. * * * Edited with Linda Bree. *''A Man of Genius'',

Bitter Lemon Press Bitter Lemon Press is a small London-based independent publisher, set up by Francois von Hurter in 2003 which specialises in translated literary crime novels and romans noirs from abroad. They currently publish novels by authors such as Gianri ...

. 2016. . *''Aphra Behn: A Secret Life.'' Fentum Press. 16 May 2017. . *''Radiation Diaries''. Fentum Press. 2018. . * ''Jane Austen's Sanditon with an Essay by Janet Todd''. Fentum Press. 2019. . * ''Don't You Know There's a War On?''. Fentum Press. 2020. . EBook . * ''Jane Austen and Shelley in the Garden''. Fentum Press. 2021. . EBook * Contributor to ''Encounters with Jane Austen: Celebrating 250 Years''. Aurora Metro Books. 2025.

References

External links

Janet Todd's homepage

Profile at Lucy Cavendish College

Profile at the University of Aberdeen
{{DEFAULTSORT:Todd, Janet 1942 births Living people Academics of the University of Aberdeen Academics of the University of East Anglia Academics of the University of Glasgow Honorary Fellows of Newnham College, Cambridge Mary Wollstonecraft scholars Officers of the Order of the British Empire Place of birth missing (living people) Presidents of Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge University of Florida alumni British women anthologists