Elizabeth Kolkovich

I research and teach English Renaissance literature and am especially interested in exploring connections between the past and present. I use feminist and disability theories, as well as methods from theater and book history to investigate how scenes, characters, texts, works, and interpretations change over time. My current passions are Shakespeare and the ways women shaped early modern literature through writing, reading, and patronage.

My first book, The Elizabethan Country House Entertainment: Print, Performance, and Gender (Cambridge, 2016), was released in paperback in 2019. My other published work appears in edited collections and such journals as Shakespeare Quarterly, Renaissance Drama, English Literary Renaissance, and Shakespeare Bulletin. I won the Mansfield Campus Award for Outstanding Scholarship as well as several teaching awards, including Ohio State’s Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching.

I believe that everyone can enjoy and learn from Shakespeare and the many amazing authors of his time. I regularly teach entry-level courses on early British literature and on Shakespeare, as well as a range of upper-level courses. Some recent topics include “Adapting the Classics in Popular Culture,” “Renaissance Women Writers and Their Books,” and “Citizenship and Social Justice.” I also like teaching project-based courses, in which students produce digital material. A past course produced a full-length documentary. I welcome students interested in pursuing their own research projects, either as independent studies or as work toward a research thesis.

For updated information about my research and teaching, you can visit my professional website.