Professor Lawton received his MA. from Oxford and his Ph.D. from the University of York, where he held his first academic post in 1974-75. He moved to the University of Sydney, Australia, in 1975, and stayed there as Reader in Early English Language Literature until 1992. From 1992 to 1995 he was Professor and Head of English in the University of Tasmania, moving to England in 1995 to be Professor of English and Chair of Literature in the School of English and American Studies at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, where he remains Professorial Fellow. In 1998 he became Professor of English at Washington University, and became Chair in January 2002. He was elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities in 1993. Professor Lawton has published six books and many articles in English literary and cultural studies and in medieval studies. Most recently, he co-edited The Siege of Jerusalem with Ralph Hanna (2003). He is currently preparing editions of Chaucer's poetry and prose, and completing a book on voice and space in medieval literature. He is founding co-editor of a major journal, New Medieval Literatures, published by Oxford University Press, and became executive director of the New Chaucer Society when it moved to Washington University in 2002. Still a frequent broadcaster in Australia, David Lawton has also published poetry and journalism. He was Director of Graduate Studies in English at Sydney and here (1999-2002). He has served as main advisor on more than 20 Ph.D. dissertations, and helped steer several on to subsequent publication. Former students of his hold tenured or tenurable academic positions in Australia, Britain, Japan and the USA. He has been named an Outstanding Faculty Mentor in 2002 and received awards for excellence in mentoring in 2000, 2001, and 2003.