Alison Chapman, professor and chair of the department of English at the University of Alabama at Birmingham was selected as the winner of the James Holley Hanford Award from the Milton Society of America. The award honors the most distinguished book that furthers the scholarship on English poet John Milton.
Professor Chapman was honored for her book The Legal Epic: ‘Paradise Lost’ and the Early Modern Law (University of Chicago Press, 2017). Dr. Chapman noted that when researching Milton, “I was surprised that Milton himself is the single most litigious poet in English history, and there really has never been a book studying his legal involvement. One of the most canonical authors in English literary tradition had extensive legal knowledge that has been overlooked.”
Professor Chapman joined the faculty at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2000. She is a graduate of Davidson College in North Carolina. Dr. Chapman holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in English Renaissance literature from the University of Pennsylvania.