Keynote Speaker

Dr. Mike Collins is a Reader in American Studies at KCL, Chair of the British Association for American Studies, and Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He is the author of two monographs, The Drama of the American Short Story, 1800 - 1865 (Michigan, 2016) and Exoteric Modernisms: Progressive Era Realism and the Aesthetics of Everyday Life (EUP, 2023) and co-editor of The Cambridge Companion to the American Short Story (with Gavin Jones) (CUP, 2023). He has published numerous articles in a range of journals, including Textual Practice, Journal of American Studies, Comparative American Studies, and English Language Notes. More recently, he has work forthcoming related to intelligence testing, Lydia Davis, The Panama Canal, and the American Civil Service in literature and culture.