CfP: Rhetoric, drama and their critics: a symposium in memory of Malcolm Heath
Leeds 21-22 May 2026
The symposium is to be a celebration of the contribution to Classics of Malcolm Heath, who died in February 2025, early in his retirement, having been Professor of Greek Language and Literature after 34 years at Leeds (1988-2022). An outstanding scholar, he was author of 8 monographs, the best-selling Penguin Classics translation of Aristotle’s Poetics, and more than 70 articles ranging across numerous areas of research, in all of which his work has been highly influential. Our title ‘Rhetoric, drama and their critics’ is an attempt to capture the extraordinary breadth of Prof. Heath’s interests, ranging chronologically and generically from Homeric epic poetry via tragedy, comedy and Aristotelian philosophy to the rhetorical theory of late antiquity.
Papers of c.30 minutes in length are invited to reflect something of this range, especially from former collaborators and students. Confirmed speakers already include Douglas Cairns (Edinburgh), Sara Rubinelli (Lucerne), Andreas Gavrielatos (Reading). Our aim is for the papers delivered, and discussion at the symposium, to provide the basis for an edited volume as a Festschrift in Prof. Heath’s memory. It is hoped that as many people as possible will be able to attend the symposium in person, to facilitate discussion and conviviality, but remote attendance will also be possible.
Please direct queries and expressions of interest to Emma Stafford (e.j.stafford@leeds.ac.uk). Titles and abstracts of <500 words should be submitted to the same address by 1st December 2025. Updates will be posted on the project’s website.