The period between 1660 and 1785 was a time of amazing expansion, when Britain became an empire and its society and literature had to adapt to circumstances for which there was no precedent. The topics in this Restoration and Eighteenth...

Paterson Joseph describes how his research into Black British history led him to write his first play, Sancho: An Act of Remembrance. In this one-man show, Paterson Joseph inhabits the life of Ignatius Sancho, the 18th-century composer,...

This article introduces Richard Brinsley Sheridan and his famous play "The School for Scandal".

Margaret Cavendish and Katherine Philips both wrote across a range of genres and achieved considerable success in their day. This article explores their different approaches to the difficulties of being a 17th-century female writer.

From the mid 18th century, Africans and people of African descent - many of them former slaves - began to write down their stories. This article describes these writings and assesses their role in the abolition of slavery.

In the 17th century, London was at the center of global trade, with goods and individuals arriving in the capital from all over the world. This article looks at how travel, trade, and empire shaped the works of Daniel Defoe, Alexander...