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Associate Fellow; director, Battle SatellitesShirley Dent

Shirley 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.


Recent articles

Selected appearances

  • Shirley gave the paper, '…thou read'st black where I read white': William Blake, the far-right and freedom of artistic expression at the Blake at 250 3-day international conference on William Blake, from 30 July to 1 August at York University.


  • 21 March 2007. Shirley was on BBC Radio Shropshire debating artistic freedom with Karen Chouhan


  • 10 March 2007. Shirley will be speaking at the Institute of Ideas Battle over Culture debate, 'Brickbats, bovver-boots and bans: how free should artistic expression be?' at the SPIT-LIT festival.


  • 09 January 2007. Shirley was a guest on 'Claire Fox News' on the internet TV channel 18 Doughty Street


  • 29 October 2006. Shirley chaired the debate The rise of ‘citizen journalism’ at the Battle of Ideas 2006


  • 28 October 2006. Shirley chaired the debate Can the book survive in an era of soundbites and txting? at the Battle of Ideas 2006

    • Publications

  • Radical Blake: Afterlife and Influence from 1827 (co-author) (2002)

    • Selected articles

  • Shirley is writing regularly for the Guardian Arts & Entertainment Blog. Her most recent article is Poetry v science? Give me a break, 11 June.
    Previous articles are archived here.

  • 15 January 2007. Why I applauded the 'BNP ballerina' spiked-online. Article reproduced as guest editorial in Ballet-Dance magazine


  • 17 November 2006. Eavesdropping on Owen spiked-online


  • 22 August 2006. The anti-4x4 ad that backfired spiked-online