Michaela Válková is a PhD student at the Department of Anglophone Literatures and Cultures, where she also completed both her BA (2017–2020) and MA (2020–2022) degrees. As part of the Erasmus+ programme, she spent a term at the University of Reading during her undergraduate studies and another at the University of St Andrews during her master’s degree. She also took part in the 4EU+ scheme at Sorbonne University.

During her doctoral studies, Michaela spent six months at Queen Mary University of London with the support of the Anglo-Czech Educational Fund, and one term at the Università degli Studi “G. d’Annunzio” Chieti-Pescara.

Her dissertation explores the representation and role of women in Shakespeare’s tragedies of love and political tragedies.

She is a member of the Italian Association of Shakespeare and Early Modern Studies (IASEMS) and the European Shakespeare Research Association (ESRA).

At UALK, she taught the Early Modern section of the course “Hermits, Wives, Queens, and Schemers: Women in Medieval & Early Modern Literature.”

Publications

• “’I am an Englishman born and bred, almost’: Karim Amir’s (lack of) search for identity in Hanif Kureishi’s The Buddha of Suburbia.” The Protagonist. Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 6-12.

Reviews

• Válková, Michaela. Review of Macbeth, by The Summer Shakespeare Festival at the Prague Castle. Shakespeare Bulletin 42, no. 1 (2024): 92-95. https://doi.org/10.1353/shb.2024.a928409.

Conferences

• “Cleopatra in William Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra as a Self-Sufficient Heroine,” Hradec Kralove Anglophone Conference 2023, University of Hradec Kralove, Hradec Kralove (Czech Republic), March 2023

• “’I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke’: The Volatility of the Consequences of War and Regime Change in William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar,” Shifting Paradigms in Europe, Europaeum, Oxford (The United Kingdom), April 2023

• “’I shall see / Some squeaking Cleopatra boy my greatness:’ Italian Actresses Defying Customs in Early Modern London,” The Italian Brand: Re-evaluating Italian Influence in Early Modern English Culture, The IASEMS Graduate Conference, Florence (Italy), April 2024

• “’Unsex me here:’ Lady Macbeth’s Gender Fluidity in Macbeth,” BritGrad Shakespeare Graduate Conference, Stratford-upon-Avon (The United Kingdom), June 2024

Contact: valkovamicha@gmail.com