A recently published book that explores the surge in women writers re-telling and recreating classic texts and ancient myths for modern audiences has been recognised by an international literature prize.
Women Re-Creating Classics: Contemporary Voices was shortlisted for the prestigious International Hellenic Prize, which rewards original works in the English language inspired by Hellenic civilisation.
The book is co-edited by Dr Emily Hauser and Professor Helena Taylor, and is part of a two-volume set that brings together their work with 50 collaborators, including some of the leading women's writers in the field.
Dr Hauser, of the Department of Classics, Ancient History, Religion and Theology, is a renowned scholar on women in antiquity, gender studies, Homer and the theory and practice of classical reception, particularly in contemporary women's writing. Dr Taylor, an Associate Professor of French and Comparative Literature in the Department of Languages, Cultures and Visual Studies, is internationally recognised for her work on intellectual and literary history.
"We were thrilled to learn that the book had been shortlisted for the International Hellenic Prize," said Professor Taylor. "Both books were long projects and testament to an intellectual friendship that began when Emily and I first met in 2018. We immediately knew we wanted to collaborate, given our complementary research interests in the classical reception of European and Anglophone women. We feel it represents some of the best aspects of humanities scholarship at Exeter: collaboration, creativity, interdisciplinary scholarship, and pioneering pedagogy."
Work on the books began in 2021, when the two academics hosted an online conference attended by leading experts and creatives in the field.
Volume one, Women Creating Classics: A Retrospective, looked back over time at women's creative responses to the Classics and included academic essays and translations.
Volume two, published simultaneously in 2025, brought together original creative work by some of the many women writers who are pushing forward changes in the landscape of re-creating Classics. They included Madeline Miller, Jennifer Saint, Caroline Lawrence, Roz Kaveney, Nikita Gill and Fiona Benson - alongside pieces from Dr Hauser and Professor Taylor.
The book also featured discussions and interviews between writers and academics, roundtable conversations among poets and critics, and reflections on creative and inclusive learning.
With the support of publisher Bloomsbury and the Classical Association, the two Exeter scholars also held a creative writing competition for school-age young people, with the winning submission published in volume 2.
"We can be tremendously excited for the landscape of women's re-creations of Classics," said Dr Hauser. "As anyone who has recently gone into a bookshop will see, creative reworkings of Classics by women are seeing a tremendous upswell, and I think there are only more exciting things to come, as we see new and more diverse voices entering the landscape. We are thrilled that our volume has given testimony to that, with landmark writers from Madeline Miller to Jennifer Saint and Nikita Gill, as well as encouraging and enabling the next generation of writers and scholars."
"It really was an inspiring experience working across creative and critical domains and with so many fantastic and deeply impressive and engaged intellectuals and creatives," added Professor Taylor. "We were blown away by the variety, dynamism, and creativity of all our contributors, and were also lucky to work with fantastic editors at Bloomsbury."
Since its inception in 1996, the International Hellenic Prize has been awarded to books on archaeology, architecture, art, classics, history, literary criticism, religion, social studies, as well as fiction. The IHP seeks to recognise works of originality and excellence in any of these fields which appeal to the educated general reader.
