Associate Fellow; director, Battle SatellitesShirley Dent

Shirley Dent was formerly Communications Director for the Institute of Ideas, a role she left in 2010 to take up a communications role in the telecoms industry. Shirley is now an Associate Fellow of the Institute of Ideas.
Shirley writes and comments widely on arts and literature, including a regular blog at Guardian Arts Unlimited, and reviews for the TLS.
Shirley researched the editorial and bibliographic history of William Blake’s works for her PhD, and co-authored a book on the subject with Jason Whittaker, Radical Blake: afterlife and influence from 1827. In 2007 she contributed to two essay collections on Blake: Women Read William Blake: Opposition is True Friendship and Blake, Modernity and Popular Culture. In 2010 she is writing two more chapters on Blake for collected editions, one on copyright and Blake and another on the hymn ‘Jerusalem’ and its use by the far right.
Shirley has contributed to Battle of Ideas debates on the arts since the festival’s launch in 2005, including debates on poetry and dance. In 2008, Shirley was the launch director for the Battle Satellites programme.
Previously, Shirley was assistant editor of the New Humanist magazine, and Head of Communications at the Policy Studies Institute.
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Previous articles are archived here.
