A University Centre Shrewsbury (UCS) lecturer has published the first ever book-length study of its kind on emigration and literature.

Dr Jude Piesse will be launching the book British Settler Emigration in Print, 1832-1877 at a free event at Rowley’s House in Shrewsbury on Saturday 2 April 2016.

Alongside Dr Simon Grennan, the ‘Leaving Britain: Emigration and Literature in the Age of Empire’ book launch will introduce the audience to the exciting and romantic history of Victorian emigration.

Dr Piesse’s book, published by Oxford University Press, explores a range of popular emigration stories which circulated within Victorian magazines and journals, from tales of the emigrant voyage to serialised novels about colonial settlement.

Dr Grennan’s recent graphic novel, Dispossession, an adaptation of an 1879 novel by Anthony Trollope, embeds the reader in the perils of Victorian emigration. Dispossession was a Guardian and Observer Book of the Year 2015 and has received glowing reviews in both the TES (Times Educational Supplement) and the Times Literary Supplement.

The book launch will take place from 1.30pm to 2.45pm.

Dr Piesse said:

“At the launch we will reveal how emigration became a key concern in Victorian literature during the age of sail and steam, as writers struggled to represent the dramatic, unsettling, and often dangerous dimensions of crossing oceans and continents.”

The talk will be lavishly illustrated with Victorian and modern sources. Discount vouchers for the purchase of British Settler Emigration in Print, 1832-1877 will be available.

Dr Piesse is a lecturer in English at University Centre Shrewsbury and Dr Grennan is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow of the University of Chester.

To book places for the book launch email communications@ucshrewsbury.ac.uk or call 01743 297185.

Alternatively, people can visit the information point at Guildhall at Frankwell Quay (SY3 8HQ) which is open from 9am to 5pm Monday to Thursday and 9am to 4pm on Fridays or Rowley’s House at Barker Street (SY1 1QH) on Wednesdays between 11am and 2pm.

For further details on UCS events go to: www.ucshrewsbury.ac.uk/public-events

For more information on British Settler Emigration in Print, 1832-1877 see: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/british-settler-emigration-in-print-1832-1877-9780198752967?cc=gb&lang=en&

For further information about Dr Grennan and Dispossession go to www.simongrennan.com