Charley Matthews is a Book Historian and literary critic, specialising in nineteenth-century queer & trans reading practices, and Romantic literature.
Charley’s PhD thesis, The Queer Woman* Reader in Nineteenth-Century Britain is now complete, and he is working on adapting it for publication.
Charley’s research interests also include the nineteenth-century novel more broadly (in particular Gothic and sensation fiction), Romantic and Victorian publishing history, queer literature in the nineteenth- and early-twentieth centuries, and trans+ history.
Publications
Matthews, C. (in progress, monograph). The Queer Woman* Reader in Nineteenth-Century Britain.
Matthews, C. (in press, 2026). “Anne Lister and Indexing.” Cambridge Companion to Anne Lister. Chris Roulston (Ed.). Cambridge UP.
Matthews, C. (2024). “Mary Hays’ Female Biography (1803), the anthology, and reading as gendered labour in the early nineteenth century book trades.” Gender and the Book Trades. E. Watson and J. Farrell-Jobst (Eds.). Brill’s Library of the Written Word. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004701656
Matthews, C. (2023). “‘To do a little and well’: Anne Lister’s reading routine.” Reception: Texts, Readers, Audiences, History 15, 25-31. muse.jhu.edu/article/902734.
Matthews, C. (2022). “‘I feel the mind enlarging itself’: Anne Lister’s gendered reading practices.” Journal of Lesbian Studies 26(4), 367-381. DOI: 10.1080/10894160.2022.2125142
Teaching
Tutor, English and Scottish Literature
University of Edinburgh | September 2022-January 2024
Funding Mentor, SGSAH EDI applicant mentoring scheme
Scottish Graduate School of Arts and Humanities | 2023-2025
Education
PhD English Literature
University of Edinburgh | 2020-2026
MSc with Distinction in Book History & Material Culture
University of Edinburgh | 2018-2019
MA with Distinction in English Literary Studies
University of Durham | 2012-2013
BA with First Class Honours in English Studies
University of Durham | 2009-2012
Conference Presentations and Exhibits
“The Queer Woman* Reader in Nineteenth-Century Britain.” Gender.Ed Research Showcase, University of Edinburgh. Poster exhibit and research zine distribution. May 2026.
“Anne Lister’s literary self-fashioning and queer data management.” Queer Bibliography Conference, Newcastle University. Conference paper. June 2025.
“Anne Lister’s Literary Indexes: a quantitative approach.” Anne Lister Society Meeting, Halifax. Conference paper. April 2025.
“France Power Cobbe’s queer theory of reading.” Queer Bibliography Conference, UCLA. Conference paper (online presentation). July 2024.
“‘Dispensary of the soul’: Anne Lister’s Commonplace Books and Information Management Practices.” Anne Lister Society Meeting, Halifax. Conference paper. April 2024.
“Anne Lister’s gendered reading habits.” Lesbian Lives, University of Brighton. Conference paper. March 2024.
“‘The cleverest and keenest of that race of Vipers’: trans identities and book reviews in the early nineteenth century.” Queer Bibliography: Tools, Methods, Practices, Approaches, University of London. Conference paper. February 2023.
“Reading practices in the nineteenth century – a workshop.” SGSAH Symposium. Interactive workshop, co-organised with Joshua Smith. June 2022.
“The Queer Woman Reader in the Nineteenth Century.” SGSAH Research Showcase. Extended poster exhibit, with interactive elements and research zine distribution. June 2022.
“Anne Lister’s reading habits: a queer quantitative approach.” Eighteenth-Century Studies Society of Stirling. Seminar series paper. February 2022.
“Anne Lister, reading, and the creation of genderqueer knowledge.” CHAPTER at Institute of English Studies, London. Seminar series paper. December 2021.
“Non-normative lives and the ethics of the private diary.” Life-Writing Network, University of Edinburgh. Seminar series paper. November 2021.
“The Queer Woman Reader, 1790-1939.” SHARP: Moving Texts. Lightning conference paper. July 2021.
“Mary Hays’ Female Biography: reading and editing as gendered labour in the early nineteenth century.” USTC: Gender and the Book Trades. Conference paper. June 2021.
“Ecofeminism and Thresholds of Disaster in Sylvia Townsend Warner’s Kingdoms of Elfin.” Threshold, Boundary, and Crossover in Fantasy, University of York. Conference paper. January 2020.
Funding Secured
- Recipient of SGSAH AHRC DTP living stipend for five years, including covid extension
- Bibliographical Society bursary, awarded £100 in May 2025 for conference attendance
- SGSAH AHRC internship funding, three-months’ living stipend, awarded August 2023
- Go Abroad Fund, University of Edinburgh, £400 awarded for archival research at the British Institute in Florence, Italy, June 2023
- AHRC Research Training and Support Grant, £1842 awarded June 2023 for archival research at the Bodleian, British Library, West Yorkshire Archive Service, and the University of Reading
- SGSAH engagement funding, £2685 awarded November 2022 for professional indexing training with the Society of Indexers and associated equipment, in addition to three-months’ living stipend
- SGSAH Research Showcase funding, £400 for engagement materials, awarded June 2022
- Una Europa Digital Humanities funding, awarded May 2022 for PhD symposium in Helsinki
- Maggs Bros Bursary, £350 awarded May 2021 to attend the London Rare Book School
