Dr. Kate Kennedy

Biography

Kate Kennedy is a writer, cellist, and BBC broadcaster whose work combines words, music, and performance. As a Research Fellow in Life-Writing at Wolfson College, Oxford, she serves as the Co-Director of the Oxford Centre for Life-Writing, an international center dedicated to discussions on biography and autobiography. Kennedy is a regular broadcaster for the BBC, particularly on Radio 3, where she appears on programs such as Music Matters, Proms Record Review, Building a Library, Essential Classics, and Composer of the Week. Her contributions to BBC Radio 4 include the program Sunday Features, which was selected as a Pick of the Year. She received the Oxford Vice Chancellor’s Prize for Public Engagement with Research in 2017 and became a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society in 2022. Previously, she held research fellowships in music and English at the University of Cambridge and has published widely in the arts. Notable works include her award-winning biography, 'Dweller in Shadows: The Life of Ivor Gurney', published by Princeton University Press in 2021, and her forthcoming book 'Cello: Journey from Silence to Sound', set for release in August 2024, which explores the relationship between musicians and their cellos across Europe and Russia.

Research Interests