The isolation and imagination of the first female English author

Soul Search

Julian of Norwich, the Medieval mystic and anchoress, continues to inspire though her writing even after 650 years. Her powerful prose about her religious revelations, was written in the midst of 14th Century plague-riven Europe.

Julian was the first woman to write in Middle English in the time of Chaucer, and her writings still exist today because of groups of dedicated women who smuggled, hid, translated and nurtured them across the centuries.

Professor Daniel Anlezark is McCaughey Professor of Early English Literature and Language at the University of Sydney. He was reading excerpts from The Shewings of Julian of Norwich - Revelations of Divine Love - (1675 manuscript)

Dr Janina Ramirez is Research Fellow in History of Art at Harris Manchester College, University of Oxford. She’s the author of Julia of Norwich, a very brief history, and presenter of the documentary BBC The Search for the Lost Manuscript Julian of Norwich

The Reverend Dr Sally Douglas is lecturer in biblical studies at Pilgrim Theological college in Melbourne, and a minister of the word in the Uniting Church. Her new book is Jesus Sophia: Returning to Woman Wisdom in the Bible, Practice, and Prayer.

This episode was first broadcast Sunday June 25, 2023