Nostalgia Interviews With Chris Deacy

My guest this week is Dawn Llewellyn, Senior Lecturer in Christian Studies at the University of Chester, who I first met nearly a decade ago when Dawn had just completed her PhD. We learn that Dawn’s father is a professional golfer and her mother is a retired nurse, and we discuss the vocational dimension to our respective jobs in academia. Dawn talks about the importance in her life of Open Water Swimming which has led her to swimming the English Channel. We talk about the importance of having a counterpoint to our ‘day jobs’, and the different forms that they can take, and the importance of community. For example, Dawn talks about how her PhD studied the way women use literature to reinforce their sense of self and of forming communities and how a book can be a friend. We learn that golf dominated Dawn’s childhood and that the first gig she went to see was New Kids on the Block and that her first album was by the Beautiful South. We also find out about Dawn’s Bucks Fizz confession, why she used to thi