![Katherine Griffiths](https://profiles-cardiff.imgix.net/attachments/2695?w=200&h=200&auto=format&crop=faces&fit=crop&q=90")
Professor Katherine Griffiths
(she/her)
Professor
- Media commentator
- Available for postgraduate supervision
Overview
I am a specialist in two areas: multimedia adaptation (radio, television, film, literature and other media) and world literature on the BBC (television and radio).
I am currently completing two monographs: Zola, Britain, and BBC Radio: A History of Canonization (Oxford: Legenda 2026) and Adapting France: French Literature on BBC Television (Oxford: Legenda 2026).
While I am by training a nineteenth-century literary specialist, my research (and as a result my teaching) now spans eras, media (film, television, literature, painting and radio) and nations.
I was academic consultant for the BBC Radio 4 year-long adaptation of the novels of Emile Zola and co-supervised a successful AHRC collaborative doctoral award with BBC Radio Drama (2016-2020). I continue to work in an advisory capacity with the BBC.
I appeared as a panelist on the BBC Radio Programme In Our Time in October 2023 to discuss Zola's Germinal: BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time, Germinal
Publication
2020
- Griffiths, K. and Watts, A. 2020. The history of French literature on film. The History of World Literatures on Film. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
- Griffiths, K. 2020. Zola and the art of television: adaptation, recreation, translation. Cambridge: Modern Humanities Research Association.
- Griffiths, K. 2020. Therese Raquin and the anxieties of adaptation. In: Lewis, A. and Arnold-de Simine, S. eds. Adapting the Canon: Mediation, Visualization, Interpretatio. Cambridge: Legenda
2014
- Griffiths, K. 2014. Radio and the space of adaptation: Diana Griffiths's 'Madame Bovary' (Radio 4, 2006). Dix-Neuf 18(2), pp. 211-223. (10.1179/1478731814Z.00000000054)
2013
- Griffiths, K. 2013. Visions and revisions: Pierre Cardinal's L'Oeuvre. In: Harrow, S. R. ed. The Art of Text. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, pp. 171-185.
- Griffiths, K. 2013. Spectral cinema: Le journal d’une femme de chambre. In: Stone, R. and Gutiérrez Albilla, J. D. eds. A Companion to Luis Buñuel. Wiley-Blackwell Companions to Film Directors Series Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 399-413.
- Griffiths, K. and Watts, A. 2013. Adapting nineteenth century France: literature in film, theatre, television, radio and print. French and Francophone Studies. Cardiff: University of Wales Press.
2011
- Griffiths, K. 2011. Memories in/of Thérèse Raquin: Émile Zola and Marcel Carné. French Studies 65(2), pp. 188-199. (10.1093/fs/knq250)
- Evans, D. and Griffiths, K. eds. 2011. Institutions and power in nineteenth-century French literature and culture. Amsterdam / New York: Rodopi.
- Griffiths, K. 2011. Mythical returns: televising Therese Raquin. Nineteenth-Century French Studies 39(3-4), pp. 285-295. (10.1353/ncf.2011.0016)
2009
- Griffiths, K. and Evans, D. eds. 2009. Haunting presences: Ghosts in French literature and culture. Cardiff: University of Wales Press.
- Griffiths, K. 2009. Emile Zola and the artistry of adaptation. London: Legenda.
2008
- Evans, D. and Griffiths, K. eds. 2008. Pleasure and pain in nineteenth-century French literature and culture. Amsterdam / New York: Rodopi.
2007
- Griffiths, K. 2007. Borrowed identities: Mathieu Kassovitz and Djamel Bensalah. New Cinemas 4(3), pp. 185-195. (10.1386/ncin.4.3.185_1)
2006
- Doughty, R. and Griffiths, K. 2006. Racial reflection: La Haine and the art of borrowing. Studies in European Cinema 3(2), pp. 117-127. (10.1386/seci.3.2.117_1)
- Griffiths, K. 2006. The ghost of the author: Zola, Renoir and La Bête humaine. Excavatio 21(1-2), pp. 239-250.
- Griffiths, K. 2006. Descartes and Lacan: Print and the subject of citation. New Zealand Journal of French Studies 27, pp. 16-28.
- Griffiths, K. and Rorato, L. 2006. Voicing difference: An interview with Silvia Ricci Lempen. In: Charnley, J. and Pender, M. eds. Exercises in Translation: Swiss-British Cultural Interchange. Oxford: Peter Lang, pp. 89-106.
2005
- Griffiths, K. 2005. Hunt the author: Vadim, Zola and La Curée. Studies in European Cinema 2(1), pp. 7-17. (10.1386/seci.2.1.7/1)
2003
- Griffiths, K. 2003. Mimesis and mimeticism: Mimicking gods in the work of Emile Zola. In: Thompson, H. ed. New Approaches to Zola: Selected Papers from the 2002 Cambridge Centenary Colloquium. London: Emile Zola Society, pp. 21-41.
- Griffiths, K. 2003. Scribbling ghosts: The textual spectres and spectral texts of Émile Zola. In: Horn, J. and Russell-Watts, L. eds. Possessions: Essays in French Literature, Cinema and Theory. Modern French Identities Vol. 24. Oxford: Peter Lang, pp. 51-65.
2002
- Griffiths, K. 2002. The haunted mirrors of Emile Zola and Guy de Maupassant. Bulletin of the Emile Zola Society 26, pp. 3-13.
Articles
- Griffiths, K. 2014. Radio and the space of adaptation: Diana Griffiths's 'Madame Bovary' (Radio 4, 2006). Dix-Neuf 18(2), pp. 211-223. (10.1179/1478731814Z.00000000054)
- Griffiths, K. 2011. Memories in/of Thérèse Raquin: Émile Zola and Marcel Carné. French Studies 65(2), pp. 188-199. (10.1093/fs/knq250)
- Griffiths, K. 2011. Mythical returns: televising Therese Raquin. Nineteenth-Century French Studies 39(3-4), pp. 285-295. (10.1353/ncf.2011.0016)
- Griffiths, K. 2007. Borrowed identities: Mathieu Kassovitz and Djamel Bensalah. New Cinemas 4(3), pp. 185-195. (10.1386/ncin.4.3.185_1)
- Doughty, R. and Griffiths, K. 2006. Racial reflection: La Haine and the art of borrowing. Studies in European Cinema 3(2), pp. 117-127. (10.1386/seci.3.2.117_1)
- Griffiths, K. 2006. The ghost of the author: Zola, Renoir and La Bête humaine. Excavatio 21(1-2), pp. 239-250.
- Griffiths, K. 2006. Descartes and Lacan: Print and the subject of citation. New Zealand Journal of French Studies 27, pp. 16-28.
- Griffiths, K. 2005. Hunt the author: Vadim, Zola and La Curée. Studies in European Cinema 2(1), pp. 7-17. (10.1386/seci.2.1.7/1)
- Griffiths, K. 2002. The haunted mirrors of Emile Zola and Guy de Maupassant. Bulletin of the Emile Zola Society 26, pp. 3-13.
Book sections
- Griffiths, K. 2020. Therese Raquin and the anxieties of adaptation. In: Lewis, A. and Arnold-de Simine, S. eds. Adapting the Canon: Mediation, Visualization, Interpretatio. Cambridge: Legenda
- Griffiths, K. 2013. Visions and revisions: Pierre Cardinal's L'Oeuvre. In: Harrow, S. R. ed. The Art of Text. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, pp. 171-185.
- Griffiths, K. 2013. Spectral cinema: Le journal d’une femme de chambre. In: Stone, R. and Gutiérrez Albilla, J. D. eds. A Companion to Luis Buñuel. Wiley-Blackwell Companions to Film Directors Series Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 399-413.
- Griffiths, K. and Rorato, L. 2006. Voicing difference: An interview with Silvia Ricci Lempen. In: Charnley, J. and Pender, M. eds. Exercises in Translation: Swiss-British Cultural Interchange. Oxford: Peter Lang, pp. 89-106.
- Griffiths, K. 2003. Mimesis and mimeticism: Mimicking gods in the work of Emile Zola. In: Thompson, H. ed. New Approaches to Zola: Selected Papers from the 2002 Cambridge Centenary Colloquium. London: Emile Zola Society, pp. 21-41.
- Griffiths, K. 2003. Scribbling ghosts: The textual spectres and spectral texts of Émile Zola. In: Horn, J. and Russell-Watts, L. eds. Possessions: Essays in French Literature, Cinema and Theory. Modern French Identities Vol. 24. Oxford: Peter Lang, pp. 51-65.
Books
- Griffiths, K. and Watts, A. 2020. The history of French literature on film. The History of World Literatures on Film. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
- Griffiths, K. 2020. Zola and the art of television: adaptation, recreation, translation. Cambridge: Modern Humanities Research Association.
- Griffiths, K. and Watts, A. 2013. Adapting nineteenth century France: literature in film, theatre, television, radio and print. French and Francophone Studies. Cardiff: University of Wales Press.
- Evans, D. and Griffiths, K. eds. 2011. Institutions and power in nineteenth-century French literature and culture. Amsterdam / New York: Rodopi.
- Griffiths, K. and Evans, D. eds. 2009. Haunting presences: Ghosts in French literature and culture. Cardiff: University of Wales Press.
- Griffiths, K. 2009. Emile Zola and the artistry of adaptation. London: Legenda.
- Evans, D. and Griffiths, K. eds. 2008. Pleasure and pain in nineteenth-century French literature and culture. Amsterdam / New York: Rodopi.
- Griffiths, K. 2014. Radio and the space of adaptation: Diana Griffiths's 'Madame Bovary' (Radio 4, 2006). Dix-Neuf 18(2), pp. 211-223. (10.1179/1478731814Z.00000000054)
- Griffiths, K. 2013. Visions and revisions: Pierre Cardinal's L'Oeuvre. In: Harrow, S. R. ed. The Art of Text. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, pp. 171-185.
- Griffiths, K. 2013. Spectral cinema: Le journal d’une femme de chambre. In: Stone, R. and Gutiérrez Albilla, J. D. eds. A Companion to Luis Buñuel. Wiley-Blackwell Companions to Film Directors Series Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 399-413.
- Griffiths, K. and Watts, A. 2013. Adapting nineteenth century France: literature in film, theatre, television, radio and print. French and Francophone Studies. Cardiff: University of Wales Press.
- Griffiths, K. 2011. Memories in/of Thérèse Raquin: Émile Zola and Marcel Carné. French Studies 65(2), pp. 188-199. (10.1093/fs/knq250)
- Evans, D. and Griffiths, K. eds. 2011. Institutions and power in nineteenth-century French literature and culture. Amsterdam / New York: Rodopi.
- Griffiths, K. 2011. Mythical returns: televising Therese Raquin. Nineteenth-Century French Studies 39(3-4), pp. 285-295. (10.1353/ncf.2011.0016)
- Griffiths, K. and Evans, D. eds. 2009. Haunting presences: Ghosts in French literature and culture. Cardiff: University of Wales Press.
- Griffiths, K. 2009. Emile Zola and the artistry of adaptation. London: Legenda.
- Evans, D. and Griffiths, K. eds. 2008. Pleasure and pain in nineteenth-century French literature and culture. Amsterdam / New York: Rodopi.
- Griffiths, K. 2007. Borrowed identities: Mathieu Kassovitz and Djamel Bensalah. New Cinemas 4(3), pp. 185-195. (10.1386/ncin.4.3.185_1)
- Doughty, R. and Griffiths, K. 2006. Racial reflection: La Haine and the art of borrowing. Studies in European Cinema 3(2), pp. 117-127. (10.1386/seci.3.2.117_1)
- Griffiths, K. 2006. The ghost of the author: Zola, Renoir and La Bête humaine. Excavatio 21(1-2), pp. 239-250.
- Griffiths, K. 2006. Descartes and Lacan: Print and the subject of citation. New Zealand Journal of French Studies 27, pp. 16-28.
- Griffiths, K. and Rorato, L. 2006. Voicing difference: An interview with Silvia Ricci Lempen. In: Charnley, J. and Pender, M. eds. Exercises in Translation: Swiss-British Cultural Interchange. Oxford: Peter Lang, pp. 89-106.
- Griffiths, K. 2005. Hunt the author: Vadim, Zola and La Curée. Studies in European Cinema 2(1), pp. 7-17. (10.1386/seci.2.1.7/1)
- Griffiths, K. 2003. Mimesis and mimeticism: Mimicking gods in the work of Emile Zola. In: Thompson, H. ed. New Approaches to Zola: Selected Papers from the 2002 Cambridge Centenary Colloquium. London: Emile Zola Society, pp. 21-41.
- Griffiths, K. 2003. Scribbling ghosts: The textual spectres and spectral texts of Émile Zola. In: Horn, J. and Russell-Watts, L. eds. Possessions: Essays in French Literature, Cinema and Theory. Modern French Identities Vol. 24. Oxford: Peter Lang, pp. 51-65.
- Griffiths, K. 2002. The haunted mirrors of Emile Zola and Guy de Maupassant. Bulletin of the Emile Zola Society 26, pp. 3-13.
Research
Grant Capture
I have held an AHRC Research Leave Award, an AHRC Fellowship and an AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Award with BBC Radio Drama.
I am currently preparing a large grant bid on Britain, the BBC and the Commonwealth.
Monograph publications in print
I am author of four monographs:
Emile Zola and the Artistry of Adaptation (Oxford: Legenda, 2009)
Adapting Nineteenth-Century France: Literature in Film, Theatre, Television, Radio and Print (co-authored with Dr Andrew Watts, Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2013)
Emile Zola and the Art of Television: Adaptation, Recreation, Translation (Oxford: Legenda, 2020)
A History of French Literature on Film (co-authored with Dr Andrew Watts, New York: Bloomsbury, 2020)
Monograph publications contracted/forthcoming
I am currently completing two contracted monograph projects:
Zola, Britain and BBC Radio: A History of Canonization (Oxford: Legenda, 2026)
Adapting France: French Literature on BBC Television (Oxford: Legenda, 2026)
Research focus
My research has two key strategic interests:
Multimedia adaptation as texts travel across time, media and language, re-shaping themselves for different national contexts/forms/tongues and cultural markets
The creative, commercial, cultural and political histories of BBC Radio and Television.
My research interests feed into the interdisciplinary, inter-institutional research group which I run with Dr Bradley Stephens (Bristol) and Dr Andrew Watts (Birmingham): ART (Adaptation, Recreation, Translation). Established in 2011, ART explores the field of adaptation in modern times. Its aim is to establish a theory of adaptation which develops both an academic and cultural understanding of this often maligned yet historically widespread process. Such an understanding is intended to facilitate a productive dialogue between critics, consumers, and practitioners, and in so doing will make a direct contribution to the creative economy.
Teaching
I have extensive teaching experience in:
World Literature
World Film
Media
History
Critical and Cultural Theory
French Language
Culture
Translation Theory and Practice
Adaptation Theory and Practice
Biography
After graduating with a BA in Modern and Medieval Languages and an MPhil in European Literature from Cambridge University, I spent a year studying at Harvard University on a scholarship programme. I subsequently returned to Cambridge to write a Ph.D on Psychoanalysis and Naturalism. In the final year of my studies, I worked as a temporary Lecturer at Warwick University before taking up posts at Bangor University (2002) and Swansea University (2007). I moved to take up post in Cardiff in September 2011
Selected Recent Papers
Plenary/Invited Papers
April 2022 'When did the Nineteenth Century End?' 20th Annual Conference of the Society of Dix-Neuviemistes. Round Table paper with Susan Harrow.
October 2021 'A History of French Literature on Film', NCFS Unbound (Kate Griffiths and Andrew Watts in conversation with Susan Harrow): NCFS (Ninteenth-Century French Studies) Unbound, part 3 (youtube.com)
April 2020 'Beginnings/Endings', 18th Annual Conference of the Society of Dix-Neuviemistes, Queen's University, Belfast.
September 2012 ‘Multi-Media Zolas’, Reconfigurations: From Papyrus to Post-Structuralism, Bristol and Exeter Modern Languages Graduate Conference.
March 2012 ‘Emile Zola et l’art de l’adaptation’, RIRRA 21 Journée d’études, Montpellier III.
Conference Papers
June 2023 'The Mid-Career Years', 64th Annual Conference of the Society for French Studies, Newcastle University. Round Table contribution.
August 2016 'Translating Zola for 21st-Century Television: Audience, Consumption, Context and The Paradise (BBC, 2012), Consuming the Victorians, British Association for Victorian Studies, Cardiff University.
July 2015, 'Radio and the Nineteenth-Century Novel', Society for French Studies, Cardiff University.
October 2014, 'Multimedia Zolas', IMLR London.
October 2014, 'Zola across media', IMLR London.
October 2014, 'Flaubert and BBC Radio', Stirling University Research Seminar.
September 2014, 'Multimedia Adaptation', Cardiff University ENCAP Research Seminar.
April 2011 ‘Translating Maupassant for Television: The Anxieties of Influence’, ‘Influence’ Conference, Reid Hall, Paris.
April 2011 ‘Zola and Radio’, Birmingham University, Annual conference of the Society of Dix-Neuviémistes. J
July 2010 ‘Televising Thérèse Raquin’, 51st Annual conference of the Society for French Studies.
March 2009 ‘Zola and the Art of Inheritance’, The Emile Zola Society, London.
October 2008 ‘Zola and the Artistry of Adaptation’, Birmingham University French Research Seminar.
November 2008 ‘Translating the Nineteenth-Century to the Big Screen’, Swansea University Media Research Seminar.
September 2008 ‘Zola and the Art of Obfuscation’, 12th BIRTHA Conference, Centre for the Study of Visual and Literary Cultures, University of Bristol.
August 2008 ‘High/Low: Televising Zola’, University of Wales, Lampeter, Adapting the Nineteenth Century.
July 2008 ‘Remembering and Forgetting: Zola, Carné and Thérèse Raquin’, Dublin Institute of Technology, Annual European Cinema Research Forum.
March 2008 ‘Memory and Adaptation’, Manchester University, Annual conference of the Society of Dix-Neuviémistes.
Oct. 2007 ‘Shifting Origins: Zola and the Art of Adaptation’, University of St Andrews French Research Seminar.
Oct. 2007 ‘La Terre and the Art of Inheritance’, 33rd Annual Nineteenth-Century French Studies Colloquium, University of Alabama.
Jul. 2007 ‘Nana: Copies and Originals’, 48th Annual Conference of the Society for French Studies, Birmingham University.
School Roles
I have served as Director of Research, Director of Recruitment and Admissions, Chair of the Research Ethics committee, Visiting Scholars Lead, Programme Lead for the MA Translation.
I was Head of School between 2019 and 2021.
Honours and awards
- AHRC Peer Review Panel Member
- Associate Editor H-France Salon
- Editorial Board Member of French and Francophone Series at UWP Press
- Jan. 2015 AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Award with BBC Radio Drama
- Jan. 2012-Sep. 2012 AHRC Fellowship Grant
- Sep. 2006-Jan. 2007 AHRC Research Leave Grant
- May 2006 British Academy Overseas Conference Grant
- Jan. 2006 Society for French Studies Conference Organisation Grant
Professional memberships
2008-2015 Publicity Officer for the Society for French Studies
2004-2012 Research and Resources Officer for the Society of Dix-Neuviémistes
Academic positions
2002-2007 Lecturer in Romance Studies, University of Wales Bangor
2007-2011 Lecturer in French, Swansea University
2011-2012 Lecturer in French and Translation Studies, Cardiff University
2012-2016 Senior Lecturer in French and Translation Studies, Cardiff University
2016- Reader in French and Translation Studies, Cardiff University
Supervisions
I have supervised a range of PhD topics including product localisation for Arabic markets, the adaptive afterlives of Game of Thrones, French missionary writing, subtitling humour, fan-subbing, the history of BBC Audio Drama, subtitling Chinese films for an Anglophone audience.
I am currently supervising theses on:
Fansubbing
The Subtitling of Fantasy Film into Arabic
The Cultural Translation of Japan into French Pop Culture
I welcome applications from doctoral candidates working on:
Multimedia
World Literature
World Film
Adaptation Theory and Practice
Critical Theory
Radio
Television
Translation Theory and Practice
Localisation
The BBC
Fansubbing