I am a classicist and current postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins University. I work primarily with Greek and Latin poetry and its transmission through English and Neo-Latin verse. Motivating my research are questions about poetics and poetic influence, aesthetic notions of atmosphere and mood, cognitive linguistics and translation theory, book and scribal culture, and ancient viniculture.
I teach across the board from Greek and Latin languages at all levels to ancient mediterranean history. I also teach courses on ancient and modern poetry, classical reception, aesthetics, and the global history of the book. You can see some of these at my "Teaching" page. Currently, my postdoctoral duties include teaching Classics courses and co-directing The Virginia Fox Stern Center for the History of the Book in the Renaissance, including its ongoing digital humanities projects.
I received my PhD in Classics at Johns Hopkins University in 2024. Previously, I earned a B.A. in English from Brigham Young University and an MLitt in Greek and Latin from the University of St Andrews. In my spare time, I enjoy writing and translating poetry, long distance running, birdwatching, film photography, gardening, recording music, and speaking Ancient Greek with my cats.
(Michalek rhymes with bucolic)