Professor of English and Creative Writing, Birkbeck College, University of London
Distinguished Fellow, All Souls College, Oxford
Associate member, English Faculty, Oxford 2016
Companion of Honour 2022 DBE 2015 CBE 2008 FBA 2005 FRSL 1985
Commendatore dell’ Ordine della Stella di Solidarietà (Italy) 2005
Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (France) 2000

1949-52 Primary school in Cairo, Egypt
1953-59 Les Dames de Marie, Uccle, Brussels
1959-63 St Mary’s Convent, Ascot, U.K.
1964-67 Oxford University (Lady Margaret Hall)
B.A. in Modern Languages – French and Italian

Daily Telegraph Staff writer 1967-69
Vogue Features editor 1969-72
Independent writer and scholar 1972-2004, ublishing much literary and art criticism in Parkett, Cabinet,
Raritan, TLS, NYRB, LRB (Contributing editor 2013), and other journals.
Frequent contributor to artists’ monographs and art catalogues,
and frequent broadcaster.
University of Essex, Professor 2004 in the Department of Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies

Getty Scholar, Getty Center for Art and Humanities, Los Angeles 1987
British Film Institute, Visiting fellow 1992
Tinbergen Professor, Erasmus University Rotterdam 1992
University of Ulster, Visiting professor 1995
QMW, University of London, Visiting Fellow 1995-2008
Whitney J Oakes Fellow, Princeton University 1996
University of Pittsburgh, Mellon Prof of History of Art 1996
Trinity College Cambridge, Visiting Fellow Commoner 1998
Warwick University, Humanities Res Centre, visitor 1999
Stanford University, Distinguished Visiting Professor 2000
All Souls College, Oxford, Visiting Fellow 2001
Italian Academy, Columbia University, Fellow 2006
Erich Remarque Institute, NYU, Senior Fellow 2008
University Paris XIII 2003
Royal College of Art, Visiting Professor 2008{12
NYU Abu Dhabi, Visiting Professor 2012
All Souls College, Oxford, Two-year Fellowship 2011-15
NYU Abu Dhabi, Distinguished Visiting Professor 2014
Director’s Fellow, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton April 2015

Royal Mint, Adv Board 1986-93
Charter 88, Council 1990-98
Nat Ccl for One Parent Families, Management Cttee 1990-99
Arts Council, Literature Panel 1992-98
British Library, Adv Council 1992-98
London Library, Cttee 1997-2000
Artangel, Trustee 1997-2004
Inst of Historical Res, Univ of London, Council 1999-2000
PEN, Cttee 2001-04
Orwell Foundation, Trustee 2004-09
National Portrait Gallery, Trustee 2008 –
British School at Rome, Council 2008 –
British Comparative Literature Association, President 2010 –
Friends of the Bodleian Library, Council 2010 –
British Academy Lectures Committee 2010 –
Critical Friend of MULOSIGE 2019
Patron Ted Hughes Society, The Story Museum,
Bloodaxe Books, The Society for Story-Telling
Hosking Houses Trust
and The Longford Trust
Vice-President of Gingerbread

King’s College London 2009
Leicester 2006
Kent 2005
Royal College of Art 2004
Oxford 2002
Tavistock Institute 1999
St Andrew’s 1998
York 1997
North London 1997
Sheffield Hallam 1995
Exeter 1995

Distinguished Fellow, All Souls, Oxford, 2019
Italian Academy, Columbia University 2014
Mansfield College, Oxford University 2013
St Cross College, Oxford University 2013
QMUL 2008-2012
Birkbeck College, London University 1999-2005
Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford University 2000

BBC Reith Lectures 1994
Tanner Lectures, Yale 1999
Clarendon Lectures, Oxford University 2001
Robb Lectures, University of Auckland 2004
Weidenfeld Lectures, Oxford University 2015

W.D.Thomas, Swansea 1996
Shakespeare Jahrbuch 2002
Beatrice Blackwood, Oxford 2005
Sebald, UEA 2007
Presidential, Stanford 2008
Jane Harrison, Cambridge 2008
Hussey, Oxford 2008
Graham Storey, Cambridge 2009
BIRTHA, Bristol 2009
Edward Said Memorial, British Library 2010
Hughes, Birmingham 2012
Freud Museum, London 2012
Leconeld, Italian Institute, London 2012
Edward Said Memorial Lecture, New York, 2022

Publications

Inventory of a Life Mislaid (William Collins, London), Spring 2021.
A Memoir of Cairo after World War II and MW’s father’s bookshop.

Marina is currently working on a historical study of Sanctuary in relation to the current displacement of so many.
The book is interwoven with the project Stories in Transit (see under Activities)

Non-fiction

The Dragon Empress 1972
Alone of all her sex: the myth and cult of the Virgin Mary 1976
Queen Victoria’s Sketchbook 1980
Joan of Arc: the image of female heroism 1981
Monuments and Maidens: the allegory of female form 1985
Into the Dangerous World: Childhood and its Costs 1989
From the Beast to the Blonde: fairy tales and their tellers 1994
Managing Monsters: six myths of our time (Reith Lectures) 1994
No Go the Bogeyman 1998
Fantastic Metamorphoses, Other Worlds (Clarendon Lectures) 2002
Signs and Wonders: essays on literature and culture 2003
Phantasmagoria: spirit visions, metaphors, and media 2006
Stranger Magic: Charmed States and the Arabian Nights 2011
Scheherazade’s Children (ed. with Philip Kennedy) 2013
Once Upon a Time: A Short History of Fairy Tale 2014
Forms of Enchantment 2018

In a Dark Wood 1977
The Skating Party 1983
The Lost Father 1988
Indigo 1992
The Leto Bundle 2002

The Mermaids in the Basement 1993
Wonder Tales (ed.) 1994
Murderers I Have Known 2002
The Crack in the Teacup 1979, and five other books for children
Also many uncollected short stories published in magazines or broadcast

Booker Prize 1985
Turner Prize 1998

John Florio Prize for Italian Translation 2006-2012

Oxford{Weidenfeld Translation Prize 2012

The Independent Foreign Fiction Prize 2004

Tower of London, Site of Execution Memorial, artists’ competition 2006

Man Booker International Prize (Chair of Judges) 2015

The Inner Eye Hayward Touring Exhibition 1996
Metamorphing, Wellcome Trust exhibition, Science Museum 2002-03
Only Make-Believe – Ways of Playing, Compton Verney 2004
Eyes, Lies, and Illusions – Hayward Gallery 2006

Patron of The Story Museum
Sphinx Theatre Company 
Hosking Houses Trust
Bloodaxe Poetry Books
Gingerbread (Vice-president)
Reprieve
Frank Longford Trust
Medical Foundation for Victims of Torture
Society for Story-Telling