Professor Peter Read

About

Before coming to Kent in January 2007, Professor Peter Read was Professor of French at the University of St Andrews. 
From 2008 to 2012, he was the founding Academic Director of the University of Kent at Paris, designing core MA modules, web pages and other documentation, then running and developing the programmes in Paris. Peter continues to participate in activities at the Paris School of Arts and Culture.
Peter's research interests include twentieth-century French literature and art and relationships between word, image and cultural context. His publications include books and articles on the work of Guillaume Apollinaire and his circle and on Picasso, Cocteau, Derain, Desnos, Dufy, Férat, Giacometti and Rodin. 
He has contributed essays to catalogues for exhibitions in Amsterdam, Barcelona, London, Paris and Washington DC. In 2014, he was a Research Fellow at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center in Austin, Texas and was a Directeur d’études associé with the Fondation Maison des sciences de l'homme in Paris. 
Peter was part of the Advisory Committee for the 2016 exhibition and catalogue Apollinaire Le regard du poète (Musées d’Orsay and de l’Orangerie) and my other recent publications include Apollinaire Lettres calligrammes manuscrits (Textuel / BnF Éditions). He is a member of the editorial boards of Forum for Modern Language Studies and Cahiers Jean Cocteau.