{{Infobox person | image = Hetta howes 2024 1.jpg | caption = Howes at the British Library in 2024 | birth_name = Harriet Elizabeth Howes | birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=y|1990|6|8}} | birth_place = | other_names = Hetta Elizabeth Howes | alma_mater = {{Plainlist| * Newnham College, Cambridge * Queen Mary University of London }} | occupation = | years_active = 2016–present | spouse = | children = 1 | website = }} '''Harriet Elizabeth Howes''' (born 8 June 1990) is an English scholar of medieval and early modern literature. She is a senior lecturer at City, University of London and previously lectured at Queen Mary University of London. She is best known for her book ''Poet, Mystic, Widow, Wife: The Extraordinary Lives of Medieval Women'' (2024).
== Early life and education == Howes grew up in Skipton, North Yorkshire. She also spent time in Scarborough, where she has extended family. Howes attended Skipton Girls' High School.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cravenherald.co.uk/news/24598105.former-skipton-pupil-dr-hetta-howes-book-medieval-women/|title=Former Skipton pupil Dr Hetta Howes' book on medieval women|work=Craven Herald|date=21 September 2024|accessdate=7 December 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.greatbritishlife.co.uk/people/yorkshire-life-readers-write-hetta-howes-6378570/|title=Yorkshire Life Readers Write - Hetta Howes|work=Yorkshire Life|date=7 October 2011|accessdate=30 August 2025}}</ref>
Howes graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in English literature in 2011 and a Master of Philosophy (MPhil) in Medieval Literature in 2012, both from Newnham College, Cambridge.<ref name="th may 17"/> She subsequently won a scholarship to pursue a PhD at Queen Mary University of London. She completed her PhD thesis titled "In Search of Clearer Water: an exploration of water imagery in late medieval devotional prose addressed to women" in 2016.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dr Hetta Howes |url=https://www.historyextra.com/author/hettahowes/ |access-date=2025-08-11 |website=History Extra |language=en}}</ref><ref name="qmul aug 17">{{Cite web |date=2017-03-17 |title=Dr Hetta Howes named as BBC 'broadcaster of the future'|url=https://www.qmul.ac.uk/media/news/2017/hss/dr-hetta-howes-named-as-bbc-broadcaster-of-the-future.html |access-date=2025-08-11 |website=Queen Mary University of London |language=en}}</ref>
==Career== Howes began her career as a lecturer in Medieval Literature and Fellow at Queen Mary University of London.<ref name="th may 17"/> She was also a teaching associate at Royal Holloway, University of London. In 2017, Howes joined City University of London,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-01-31 |title=Dr Hetta Howes|work=City St George's, University of London |url=https://www.citystgeorges.ac.uk/about/people/academics/hetta-howes |access-date=2025-08-11 |language=en-GB}}</ref> where she serves as Senior Lecturer in Medieval and Early Modern Literature and a director of the BA English programme. She describes her research as interdisciplinary.<ref name="th may 17"/>
Also in 2017, Howes was selected for the BBC New Generation Thinkers, a scheme dedicated to early career academics in broadcasting.<ref name="qmul aug 17"/> Through this, she began contributing to a number of BBC Radio 3 and Radio 4 programmes.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/search/0/20?q=Hetta+Howes#top|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250915165556/https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/search/0/20?q%3DHetta%2BHowes#top|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 15, 2025|title=Programme Index: Hetta Howes|work=BBC Archive|accessdate=30 August 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.medievalshewrote.com/blog/2018/10/9/bbc-arts-and-ideas-podcast-a-feminist-take-on-medieval-history|title=BBC Arts and Ideas Podcast: "A Feminist Take on Medieval History"|work=Medieval, She Wrote|date=9 October 2018|accessdate=30 August 2025}}</ref> She was commissioned by the Wellcome Trust and Queen Mary to host the eight-episode podcast ''Spaces of Solitude'' (2020). An episode titled "The Mind" won a Lovie Award.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-11-17 |title=City academic's podcast wins Lovie Award|work=City St George's, University of London |url=https://www.citystgeorges.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/2021/11/city-academics-podcast-wins-lovie-award |access-date=2025-08-11 |language=en-GB}}</ref> Howes also contributed articles to publications including ''The Times Literary Supplement'', ''BBC History'' and ''The Telegraph''.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Howes |first=Hetta |date=2024-10-20 |title=Medieval mystics drank pus, ate lice and starved themselves – for a very good reason |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/authors/mystics-middle-ages-madness-pus-lice-starvation/ |access-date=2025-08-11 |work=The Telegraph |language=en-GB |issn=0307-1235}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://muckrack.com/hetta-howes|title=Articles by Hetta Howes|work=MuckRack|accessdate=11 August 2025}}</ref>
Howes converted her PhD thesis into an academic monograph book titled ''Transformative Waters in Late-medieval Literature: From Aelred of Rievaulx to the Book of Margery Kempe''.<ref name="th may 17">{{Cite web|url=https://talkinghumanities.blogs.sas.ac.uk/2017/05/04/our-fluid-world-from-ducking-stool-to-donald-trump/|title=Our fluid world – from ducking stool to Donald Trump|work=Talking Humanities|date=4 May 2017|accessdate=7 December 2024}}</ref> It was published in 2021 via Boydell & Brewer.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://boydellandbrewer.com/blog/medieval-history-and-literature/transformative-waters-in-late-medieval-literature/|title=Transformative Waters in Late-Medieval Literature|work=Boydell & Brewer|date=19 July 2021|accessdate=30 August 2025}}</ref>
Via a three-way auction in October 2022, Bloomsbury Continuum acquired the rights to publish Howes' trade book ''Poet, Mystic, Widow, Wife: The Extraordinary Lives of Medieval Women'' in October 2024.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thebookseller.com/rights/bloomsbury-triumphs-in-three-way-auction-for-howes-history-of-medieval-women|title=Bloomsbury triumphs in three-way auction for Howes' history of medieval women|work=The Bookseller|first=Ruth|last=Comerford|date=5 October 2022|accessdate=7 December 2024}}</ref> It also had a U.S. release in December.<ref name="k544">{{cite web |last=Maglaque |first=Erin |date=2024-12-10 |title=Book Review: 'Poet, Mystic, Widow, Wife,' by Hetta Howes |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/10/books/review/hetta-howes-poet-mystic-widow-wife.html |access-date=2025-08-11 |website=The New York Times}}</ref><ref name="Hughes">{{Cite news |last=Hughes |first=Kathryn |date=2025-06-26 |title=Feminists in Wimples |url=https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2025/06/26/feminists-in-wimples-medieval-women-hetta-howes/ |access-date=2025-08-11 |work=The New York Review of Books |language=en |volume=72 |issue=11 |issn=0028-7504}}</ref> The book profiles the late medieval writers Marie de France, Julian of Norwich, Christine de Pizan, and Margery Kempe.<ref>{{Cite news |last=East |first=Ben |date=2024-10-13 |title=In brief: The Catchers; Poet, Mystic, Widow, Wife; Every Man for Himself and God Against All – review |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/oct/13/in-brief-the-catchers-xan-brooks-poet-mystic-widow-wife-hetta-howes-every-man-for-himself-and-god-against-all-werner-herzog-review |access-date=2025-08-11 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> The book covers various aspects of their lives, writing and accounts.<ref name="Hughes"/> Howes supplements gaps in biographical knowledge with stories of other women such as Jeanne de Clisson and Christina of Markyate.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Harvey |first=Katherine |date=2024-10-12 |title=Poet, Mystic, Widow, Wife by Hetta Howes review — meet four extraordinary medieval women |url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/poet-mystic-widow-wife-extraordinary-lives-medieval-women-hetta-howes-review-pb8wwbc3c |access-date=2025-08-11 |website=The Times|language=en}}</ref> Howes took part in Eleanor Jackson's ''Medieval Women: In Their Own Words'' exhibition at the British Library.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.medievalists.net/2024/10/medieval-women-in-their-own-words-opens-at-the-british-library/|title=Medieval Women: In Their Own Words opens at the British Library|work=Medievalists|date=25 October 2024|accessdate=31 August 2025}}</ref>
==Personal life== Howes had a daughter while writing ''Poet, Mystic, Widow, Wife''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.writersandartists.co.uk/advice/turning-academic-research-popular-non-fiction-interview-hetta-howes|title=Turning Academic Research into Popular Non-Fiction: Interview with Hetta Howes|work=Writers & Artists|author=Clare|date=2 December 2024|accessdate=7 December 2024}}</ref>
== Bibliography == ===Books=== * {{cite book|title=Transformative Waters in Late-medieval Literature: From Aelred of Rievaulx to the Book of Margery Kempe|date=2021 |publisher=Boydell & Brewer|isbn=978-1-84384-612-3 |publication-place=Cambridge}} * {{cite book|title=Poet, Mystic, Widow, Wife: The Extraordinary Lives of Medieval Women|date=24 October 2024 |publisher=Bloomsbury Continuum|isbn=978-1-39940-869-1}}
===Chapters=== * "'Adreynt in shennesse': Blood, Shame and Contrition in ‘Quis est iste qui uenit de Edom?'" in ''Middle English Lyrics: New Readings of Short Poems'' (2018), edited by Julia Boffey and Christiania Whitehead
== References == {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Howes, Hetta}} Category:Living people Category:1990 births Category:Academics of City, University of London Category:Academics of Queen Mary University of London Category:Alumni of Newnham College, Cambridge Category:Alumni of Queen Mary University of London Category:British women literary historians Category:British women medievalists Category:English literary historians Category:English women biographers Category:Historians of English literature Category:People educated at Skipton Girls' High School Category:People from Keighley Category:People from Skipton Category:Writers from North Yorkshire