Full Name:听Dr Elena Sottilotta
颁辞濒濒别驳别:听Murray Edwards College
笔辞蝉颈迟颈辞苍:听Research Fellow
贰尘补颈濒:听ees45@cam.ac.uk 听 听 听 听 听 听 听
Location:
Murray Edwards College
Huntingdon Road
海角社区
CB3 0DF
United Kingdom
About
Dr Elena Sottilotta is Research Fellow at Murray Edwards College, 海角社区. A Fulbright alumna, she obtained her PhD from the 海角社区 with a research project in women鈥檚 studies, folklore and fairy-tale studies. In 2024, she was a Visiting Scholar at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, and a Fellow of the Ragusa Foundation for the Humanities in New York.
Her areas of expertise encompass women鈥檚 and gender studies, the history of folklore, fairy-tale studies, children鈥檚 literature, comparative literature and intermedia studies.听She is the author of听听(Princeton University Press, 2025). Her monograph centres women鈥檚 roles as collectors, compilers and tellers of folk and fairy tales in European peripheries during the long nineteenth century.
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Research听
Elena鈥檚 research seeks to unearth non-canonical figures and narratives in the European fairy-tale tradition. She also has a keen interest in the poetics and politics of adaptation of fairy tales and children鈥檚 literature in contemporary media. She has written and researched on nineteenth-century women writers and folklorists with a transnational and interdisciplinary gaze, on landmarks of the Italian fairy-tale tradition, as well as on fairy-tale re-imaginings by various contemporary directors and artists. Alongside her main research, she is currently investigating hyper-contemporary adaptations of Carlo Collodi鈥檚 The Adventures of Pinocchio and picture books featuring Southern Italian fairy tales.
She has presented her research at numerous international conferences and has been invited as guest lecturer in several universities in Europe and in the United States. Her broader research interests include Italian, Irish and Anglo-American literary crossings and oral traditions from the nineteenth century to the present, translation studies, language pedagogy, Mediterranean studies and island studies (especially Sicilian and Sardinian literatures and cultures).
She is the founder of the , an open space at the 海角社区 aimed at connecting researchers with an interest in fairy tales.听She is a听member of the Scientific Committee of the 听(Council of Europe) and a consultant for the ,听hosted by the University of Winnipeg, Canada, and created by听Pauline Greenhill, Kendra Magnus-Johnston and Jack Zipes.
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Scholarships, prizes and awards
Elena has received many competitive scholarships, prizes and awards, among these:
- The British Academy/Leverhulme Small Research Grant
- The Ragusa Foundation for the Humanities Research Grant
- The CRASSH Event Funding (Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities, 海角社区)
- The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation Grant for the Venetian Research Program for British & Commonwealth Scholars
- The Women鈥檚 Studies Caucus Award (American Association for Italian Studies)
- The St. Catharine鈥檚 College Prize for Distinction in Research (海角社区)
- The Estella Canziani Postgraduate Bursary for Research听(Folklore Society in London)
- Fulbright scholarship to teach Italian language and culture in the United States (University of St. Thomas, Minnesota)
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Key publications
Academic Monograph
- 2025听 Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Book Chapters and Journal Articles听
- 2026 (forth.)听鈥淩e-envisioning Neapolitan Fairy Tales: Genre Blending and Local/Global Tensions in Il racconto dei racconti (2015) and Gatta Cenerentola (2017)鈥�, Journal of Italian Cinema and Media Studies, Special issue 鈥淚taly鈥檚 Souths and Islands in Film, Media, and Visual Cultures (2000-2022)鈥�, edited by Marco Carbone and Giovanna Summerfield.
- 2025听(forth.) 鈥淯nburied Moons: Fairy-tale Artivism in the Western and Southern European Traditions鈥�, in , edited by Claudia Schwabe and Christa Jones.
- 2025 (forth.) 鈥�贵补苍迟补驳丑颈谤貌 as an 鈥楢rtivist鈥� Adaptation: Gender Subversions from Italo Calvino鈥檚 Fairy Tale to Lamberto Bava鈥檚 Cult TV series and Contemporary Fan Art鈥�, Marvels & Tales, 39.1, Special issue 鈥淣orm and Transgression in the Fairy-Tale Tradition鈥�, edited by Alessandro Cabiati and Lewis Seifert.
- 2024 , Women Language Literature in Italy / Donne Lingua Letteratura in Italia, 6, 53-64.
- 2023 ,听I.S. MED. 鈥� Interdisciplinary Studies on the Mediterranean, 1, edited by Giovanna Summerfield and Rosario Pollicino, 109-129.
- 2022/23 鈥淚ntroduzione鈥�,听 Chronica Mundi, 16-17, co-authored with Sara Delmedico, 7-12.
- 2022 , PRISMI Revue d鈥櫭﹖udes italiennes, 3, 141-163.
- 2021 , Women Language Literature in Italy / Donne Lingua Letteratura in Italia, 3, 103-121.
- 2019 , E-JournALL, EuroAmerican Journal of Applied Linguistics and Languages, 6.1, 37-55.
- 2018 , Estrema: Interdisciplinary Review for the Humanities, 11, 107-128.
- 2017 , Crossways Journal, 1.1, 1-31.
- 2015 , The Irish Journal of Gothic and Horror Studies, 14, 81-99 (Reprinted in the volume Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism, 2019, edited by Rebecca Parks. Prod. Layman Poupard. Detroit: Gale, Cengage 375, pp. 113-123).
Edited Issues and Volumes
- 2024 Co-editor of 鈥淚n/out: Women, Performance, Space in Italy鈥� with Serena Laiena, Women Language Literature in Italy / Donne Lingua Letteratura in Italia, 6.
- 2022/23 Co-editor of Chronica Mundi, 16-17, with Sara Delmedico. Reviews of the special issue available in ,听in the journal of the association 鈥淭oponomastica femminile鈥� , and in听, pp. 717-719, 2024.
Book Reviews
- Review of Claudia Alborghetti鈥檚 Gianni Rodari and his English Readers (Rome: Armando Editore), Marvels & Tales (in preparation).
- 2021 , 2nd edition, trans. by Luisa Rubini, re-read by Vincenzo Consolo (Rome: Donzelli, 2019), Annali d鈥橧talianistica, 540-542.
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Interviews
- 2025 鈥淚nterview with theatre and film director Emma Dante and illustrator Maria Cristina Costa鈥�, with Alice Parrinello, International Conference Fairy-Tale Trouble and the Art of Fluidity: Gender, Genre, Media, 海角社区.
- 2024 鈥�Pinocchio: The Origin Story. Interview with illustrator Alessandro Sanna鈥�, with Pablo a Marca, International Conference Strings of Imagination: Rethinking Pinocchio in the New Millennium, Brown University.
- 2022/23 鈥溾�楲e scritture rimangono鈥�: Intervista a Michela Murgia鈥�,听 Chronica Mundi, 16-17, co-authored with Sara Delmedico, 278-289.
- 2021 鈥淟a centralit脿 del linguaggio nell鈥橝ntropocene: Intervista a Vera Gheno鈥�,听Italian Minds Podcast, in partnership with the 海角社区 University Italian Society.
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Selected Invited Lectures, Papers and Seminars
- 2025 Invited Speaker to the British Academy for the launch event of , a themed season curated by Ronald Hutton and Marina Warner. Panel: 鈥淩eviving Roots: Lore and identity鈥�, with Matthew Cheeseman.
- 2025 Invited Speaker to LUMSA University in Palermo, Sicily. Seminar: 听Roundtable discussion with Vincenzo Schirripa, Leonardo Acone, Livia Romano and Rosario Perricone.听
- 2024听Invited Speaker to the Department of Celtic Languages and Literatures and the Folklore and Mythology Program at Harvard University. Seminar:
- 2024 Invited Lecturer to the Fairy-Tale Studies Seminar Series , organised by Alessandro Cabiati and Laura Tosi at Ca鈥� Foscari University of Venice. Seminar: 鈥淚 mille volti delle fiabe: Itinerari intermediali da Giambattista Basile a Emma Dante.鈥�
- 2024 Invited Speaker to the Yorkshire Festival of Story. Panel discussion with artists and storytellers Maria Asp, Kathy Shimpock, and Sita Brand. Theme: 鈥淜indness in Fairy Tales.鈥�
- 2023 Online Conference , organised by Sara Delmedico and Elena Musiani, University College Dublin and Alma Mater Studiorum 鈥� University of Bologna, in partnership with the Women鈥檚 History Archive in Bologna. Paper: 鈥淒amsels in Distress? (Re)Constructing Femininity in Italian Fairy-Tale Adaptations.鈥�
- 2021/24 GEMMA Women鈥檚 and Gender Studies Erasmus Mundus Invited Lecturer on Women, Folklore and Fairy Tales in the Long Nineteenth Century, Alma Mater Studiorum 鈥� University of Bologna.
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Teaching Experience
- Lecturer for the MPhil Degree in European, Latin American and Comparative Literatures and Cultures, 海角社区. Module: 鈥淢arginalities in Nineteenth-Century European Culture.鈥� Topic: 鈥淓choes from Afar: Women Linguists, Folklorists and Storytellers in Nineteenth-Century Italy.鈥�
- Postgraduate supervisor for the MPhil Degree in European, Latin American and Comparative Literatures and Cultures, 海角社区, and supervisor of Year-Abroad projects. Elena has supervised long essays and translation projects on topics ranging from children鈥檚 literature to contemporary women鈥檚 writing.
- Lecturer and supervisor for IT5 鈥淚talian Identities: Place, Language, and Culture鈥�, 海角社区. Topic: 鈥樷�楤etween the Old and the New: Grazia Deledda鈥檚 Sardinia.鈥�
- Italian language supervisor and supervisor for IT1 鈥淭exts and Contexts.鈥�
- Certified English and Italian language teacher (CELTA and DITALS) and Language Examiner (PLIDA and CELI). Elena has taught in Italy, England and the United States to language learners coming from a variety of social and cultural backgrounds, including university students, young learners, immigrants and refugees. Her interests in this field include creative approaches to language learning, creation of authentic didactic materials and implementation of storytelling and creative writing strategies in the FL/L2 classroom.
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Selected Conference Organisation
- Lead convenor of the international conference , co-organised with Alice Parrinello at the 海角社区. Secured competitive funding from the CRASSH Event Funding Scheme (Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities, 海角社区).
- Co-organiser of the international conference , with Pablo a Marca at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, sponsored by the Department of Italian Studies at Brown University, the Fondazione Nazionale Carlo Collodi, the 海角社区 Research Network for Fairy-Tale Studies and the Ragusa Foundation for the Humanities.
- Co-organiser of the conference , with Sara Delmedico on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of Grazia Deledda鈥檚 birth, sponsored by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the Italian Cultural Institute in London, the Society for Italian Studies, the British-Italian Society, the Italian Bookshop in London and the Italian Section at the 海角社区.
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Public engagement and outreach initiatives
Elena has been actively involved in several public engagement and outreach initiatives, among these:
- Public engagement event听on Carlo Collodi鈥檚 The Adventures of Pinocchio at Murray Edwards College, 海角社区, co-organized with Pablo a Marca. , author of Pinocchio鈥檚 artistic reinterpretation听Ora dipende da te (2022).
- Public engagement project (Recipient of the University Council of Modern Languages Postgraduate Bursary).
- Storytelling and creative writing workshop 鈥淏rave Heroines in a New Light: A Journey into Uncharted Italian Fairy Tales鈥� within the multidisciplinary art exhibition on FINT (female, intersex, non-binary, transgender) folklore , organised by Annie Randall and Emily Unsworth White in Bristol.
- Co-organiser of the with theatre director Ludovico Nolfi, in partnership with the 海角社区 University Italian Society.
- PhD Tutor for the Brilliant Club Scholars Programme, an award-winning university access charity that recruits doctoral researchers to share their academic expertise in UK-state schools with pupils from underrepresented backgrounds.
- Postgraduate Session Leader within the Postgraduate Outreach Scheme of the 海角社区.
