Dr Lauren Rea
MPhil, PhD
School of Languages and Cultures
Senior Lecturer in Latin American Studies

+44 114 222 0558
Full contact details
School of Languages and Cultures
Jessop West
1 Upper Hanover Street
Sheffield
S3 7RA
- Profile
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Dr Lauren Rea studied Spanish and Portuguese as an undergraduate at King´s College London before completing an MPhil at the Centre of Latin American Studies, University of Cambridge. She was awarded her PhD from King’s College London in 2009.
Her book Argentine Serialised Radio Drama in the Infamous Decade, 1930-1943 was published in 2013. Lauren joined the School as a Lecturer in September 2008 and became a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA) in 2009. She is now Senior Lecturer in Latin American Studies and a Senior Fellow of the HEA.
In October 2016 Lauren was awarded an AHRC Leadership Fellowship for a research project entitled ‘The Billiken Centenary Project: Children’s Culture and Childhood in Argentina, 1919-2019’. Linked to this project, Lauren co-authored and co-coordinated the illustrated children’s book 100 Grandes Mujeres Latinoamericanas [100 Great Latin American Women] as the flagship commemorative product for the centenary of Billiken magazine.
- Research interests
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Lauren’s research interests centre on cultural history and contemporary cultural production in Latin America.
Her current project on Argentina’s Billiken magazine, the world’s longest-running children’s publication, is funded by an AHRC Early Career Leadership Fellowship (grant number AH/N010078/1). More information can be found on the project’s website: http://www.proyectobilliken.group.shef.ac.uk/
Alongside her archival research, Lauren is working with Billiken’s publisher on the magazine’s transition to a multiplatform product. For the centenary of the magazine, Lauren co-produced the illustrated children’s book 100 Grandes Mujeres Latinoamericanas, managing an international team of creative industries professionals alongside Billiken’s director. This project has received additional funding from University of Sheffield Arts Enterprise and from the ESRC Festival of Social Science.
Lauren is currently co-supervising PhD students working on football and nation-building in Colombia, and British immigration to Argentina.
- Publications
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Books
Journal articles
- Trajectories in Argentine Children’s Literature: Constancio C. Vigil and Horacio Quiroga. International Research in Children's Literature, 12(1), 76-89. View this article in WRRO
- The Newsboy’s Good Deed: Billiken Magazine’s Construction of Argentine Childhood in 1942. Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth, 12(1), 68-87. View this article in WRRO
- Education, popular literature and future citizenship in Argentina’s Billiken children’s magazine (1919–1944). Global Studies of Childhood, 8(3), 281-291. View this article in WRRO
- Afro-porteñas in Héctor Pedro Blomberg’s Historical Romances. Bulletin of Hispanic Studies (Liverpool), 92(5), 583-599. View this article in WRRO
- Los que se fueron y los que se quedaron: History, exile andcensorship in Ricardo Piglia's Respiración artificial and ManuelPuig's Maldición eterna a quien lea estas páginas. Bulletin of Spanish Studies, 89(3), 415-433.
- 'Que al fin todas somos Eva': Nacha Guevara, Cristina Fernandez and Eva, el gran musical argentino. Journal of Iberian and Latin American Studies(1), 77-99.
Book reviews
- Reviews of Books. Bulletin of Spanish Studies, 94(7), 1221-1259.
- Reviews of Books. Bulletin of Spanish Studies, 94(1), 157-182.
Exhibitions
- Teaching activities
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- Literature and Culture modules for levels 2 and 3
- Level 3 Spanish language
- MA Latin American Studies and Directed Reading modules
- Professional activities
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Membership of Learned Societies:
- Association of Hispanists of Great Britain and Ireland (AHGBI)
- Latin American Studies Association (LASA)
- Society for Latin American Studies (SLAS)
- Women in Spanish and Portuguese (WISPS)
- Latin American Studies Literary Studies Association (LALSA)
- International Research Society for Children’s Literature (IRSCL)
External Examining:
- Latin American Studies (undergraduate and postgraduate) for the Department of Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies, King’s College London. Appointed 2018.
- External examiner for PhD thesis at University College Dublin, 2015.
Professional Qualifications and Recognition
- Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (2016)
- Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (2009)
- PGCAP (Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice), King’s College London (2008)
- Diploma in Translation (DipTrans) Spanish to English, Chartered Institute of Linguists (2005)
External Positions Currently Held:
- Member of the Academic Council for the Erasmus MUNDUS Masters Programme, Crossways in Cultural Narratives. Consortium QA lead.
- Ex-officio board member for The Herbert Hughes Memorial Trust, Sheffield
- Trustee, Grimm & Co. Children’s literacy charity in Rotherham, South Yorkshire