(Photo by Amy Craghill)
Project Director
Dr Adam James Smith
Adam is an Associate Professor of English Literature at York St John University. His work explores the role played by cheap print in mediating the relationship between the citizen and the state in the long eighteenth century. He has published on the work of Charlies Ignatius Sancho, Joseph Addison, Jonathan Swift, James Montgomery and Virginia Woolf, amongst others. He co-edited Print Culture, Agency and Regionality in the Hand Press Period (Palgrave, 2022), People of Print: Seventeenth Century England (CUP, 2023), People of Print: Eighteenth Century England (CUP, 2025) and Impolite Periodicals: Reading for Rudeness in the Eighteenth Century (Bucknell, 2026). He is currently writing a monograph with Professor Robert Edgar titled Eighteenth-Century Folk: The Eighteenth-Century Roots of Folk Horror (Bloomsbury, 2027). He is Chief Book Reviews Editor for the Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies, co-director of the York Research Unit for the Study of Satire and co-host of the ongoing monthly podcast Smith & Waugh Talk About Satire. You can read Adam’s most recent work on Sancho in the journal Eighteenth-Century Fiction. Follow him on Instagram.
Editorial Team
Paige Hastings
Paige is a second-year English Literature student. Paige’s initial interest in this project began in Adam’s ‘Dawn of Print’ module where she studied Sancho’s letters for the first time. Since starting the project as one of the literary editors, she has taken special interest in Sancho’s autobiographical transcript by Joseph Jekyll. Outside of the critical edition, Paige has taken an interest in satire and is especially fond of Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels. You can find her on Instagram .
Aloïs Wood
Aloïs is a Literature student at York St. John, and interested in literature’s impact on and relationship with reality—the day-to-day lives of people—via theory and literary criticism. They value the opportunity to collaborate on academic projects which the YSJ Critical Editions project has given them, and to embody this passion within the team’s research. Aloïs is an avid essayist, with several essays on Sherlock Holmes published in the Watsonian journal and writing consistent 1st class academic assignments. They post writing and YSJ Shakespeare Society updates on their Instagram.
Oliver Corben-Long
Oliver is a second-year English Literature and Creative Writing student. Among editing for the Beyond the Walls Anthology 2026 and becoming the social secretary for YSJ Inkwell society, initially, his interest in the project has been on the techniques of their letters but has evolved into seeing these two correspondents as the sole focus. The project offers a unique look at the relationship between these authors, provided a dedicated analysis of their letters, which appear side by side for the first time. You can find him on Instagram and LinkedIn.
Thomas Kelly
Thomas is a second-year English Literature student. Thomas’ interest in eighteenth century literature was kindled in Dr Adam Smith’s ‘Dawn of Print’ module where they had a keen interest in Lawrence Sterne’s Tristam Shandy and his life as a literary celebrity and his ‘alternate’ lives. So, when Thomas saw the advertisement looking for team members for the 2026 edition of YSJ Critical Editions that the choice was a no brainer. You can find them on Instagram.
Jules Hiraeth
Jules is a second-year Film Studies and English Literature student with a love for reading and poetry writing. Their interest in this year’s Critical Edition stemmed from a passion for the intimate written form of letters and diaries, which blossomed into a curiosity towards the friendly exchange between Sancho and Sterne and its place in literary history.
Publishing Team
Berfin Tercan
Berfin is a postgraduate Publishing and English Literature student with a strong interest in the complete publishing cycle, from manuscript development to final production. She graduated with an undergraduate degree in English Language and Literature and has always had a deep passion for books, reading, and writing. Before taking on the role of Head of Production for this project, she previously worked as both a coordinator and later as an editor. As Head of Production, she is responsible for overseeing the final stages of publication, including copyediting and typesetting, ensuring the edition is publication-ready. Through this role, she has gained valuable practical experience and further developed her understanding of the production side of publishing, reinforcing her enthusiasm for working within the industry. You can find her on LinkedIn.
Celeste De Kuijper
Celeste is a second-year English Literature and Creative Writing student who adores history. In a humorous take involving A Full and True Account of a Horrid and Barbarous Revenge by Poison, on the Body of Mr Edmund Curll, Bookseller by Alexander Pope, her main goal for this edition was to avoid being poisoned by the editors on the project by making sure the edition would be rightly represented. On a more serious note, Celeste has chosen to work on the project optionally, in addition to her other project, YSJ’s Folklore Anthology 2026. In this project, she has also played an editorial and publishing role, and this experience has helped guide and give insight to the team, intending to spread the edition as far as possible. Celeste will also be chair for the YSJ Inkwell society for the upcoming term. You can find her on Instagram and LinkedIn.
Tyler Cooke
Tyler is an English Literature undergraduate student at York St John University with a passion for Romanticism and Gothic literature. Her interest in the eighteenth century and Charles Ignatius Sancho developed through discussions with the project lead, Adam, as well as his module ‘Dawn of Print’. As well as her own external reading, she developed a fascination with the eighteenth century and the historical letters of Charles Ignatius Sancho and Laurence Sterne. Through this project, she has experienced working with others, managing tasks between individuals, and exploring her strengths. This project, alongside her other voluntary project roles, has worked to enhance her literature-based career skillset as well as her enjoyment for editing. Working alongside people to edit this project has been exciting and challenging. This experience has helped her greatly.