Taylor Cowdery

Taylor Cowdery is an Associate Professor of English and Lumiansky Scholar at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, specializing in medieval and early modern literature. She directs the Program in Medieval and Early Modern Studies (MEMS), which fosters interdisciplinary research across twelve departments. Her research focuses on medieval English poetry, poetics, and the intersection of literature with social class and merchant culture.

• Education: PhD in English (Harvard, 2016); BA in English (Columbia, 2009)

Her monograph Matter and Making in Early English Poetry (2023) redefines medieval literary labor as a process of transforming materials into new forms. Current projects include a critical edition of John Lydgate’s works and a literary history of medieval London’s middle classes. Her essays explore topics such as Lydgate’s dietary poetry and Hoccleve’s poetics of everyday life.

Awards include the A.W. Mellon Fellowship (2017–18), DAAD Fellowship (2009–10), and UNC’s Schwab Academic Excellence Award (2020).

Teaching spans courses on medieval literature, queer theory, and the history of sexuality. She collaborates with scholars like Dr. Megan Cook and Dr. R. D. Perry on editorial and research projects.