Dinah Lynne BirchCBE (born 4 October 1953) is an English literary critic. She is a former Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Impact at the University of Liverpool, and is now Emerita Professor of English Literature there.[1] She was a student atSt Hugh's College, Oxford,[2] and also undertook her doctorate at theUniversity of Oxford.[1] In 1980, she became the first woman to be elected to the Governing Body ofMerton College.
Her work has been primarily onVictorian literature, and among the authors on whom she has published writings areCharles Dickens,Charlotte Brontë,Emily Brontë, andAlfred Tennyson.[3] She has also edited two books on the Victorian criticJohn Ruskin:Ruskin and Gender (2002) andJohn Ruskin: Selected Writings (2004).[1] Birch is serving as the General Editor of the 2012 edition of theOxford Companion to English Literature.[4] She is the author ofOur Victorian Education (2008), writes regularly for the TLS and the LRB, and contributes to arts programmes on radio and television.
In December 2011, Birch was named as a member of the jury for the2012 Man Booker Prize. Jury chair SirPeter Stothard called her "[one] of Britain's finest professional critics".[5] She is married and has two adult children.[2] Birch listsMiddlemarch byGeorge Eliot as her favourite book.[2] She is also a Companion of theGuild of St George.
Birch was appointed Commander of theOrder of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2016 Birthday Honours for services to higher education, literary scholarship, and cultural life.[6]
