David Clifford is a Fellow of Homerton College, Cambridge, where he is Associate Professor in English, with a particular interest in the intersection between literature, anthropology and the history of science. He has won several prizes for his teaching.

David grew up on the Essex coast of the Thames Estuary, where he worked in a greengrocer’s shop, a dry-cleaning factory, a well-known fast food restaurant, and as a computer programmer with the civil service, before entering university via an access course aged 26. His academic focus lies mainly on Victorian literature, contemporary literature, and on the place of the Humanities in the academy more broadly. He has contributed to programmes assisting students from working-class and underrepresented backgrounds into university education for many years.

David's forthcoming book for the general reader will examine how our species acquired the power of language and storytelling, and how it was storytelling above all else that drove humankind’s progress.