Balliol College is delighted to announce that the Mastership of the College has been offered to Professor Seamus Perry and that he has accepted. He will take up the post in July 2026.
Seamus Perry has been Fellow and Tutor in English at Balliol since 2003, and is currently Vice-Master (Executive), Fellow Librarian and Fellow for Charity Matters. He has published, lectured, and broadcast extensively on literary subjects including Coleridge, Wordsworth, Tennyson, Browning, T.S. Eliot, W.H. Auden, William Empson and, most recently, his former tutor, the great Oxford critic Barbara Everett. He edits the leading journal Essays in Criticism, together with Freya Johnston and Professor Sir Christopher Ricks (1953 and Honorary Fellow), presents the popular Close Readings podcast with the poet Mark Ford, and is a regular contributor to the Times Literary Supplement, the Literary Review, and the London Review of Books. He was made Professor in English Literature by the University of Oxford in 2014 and chaired the Faculty of English Board between 2013 and 2017.
Sudhir Hazareesingh (Balliol 1981, Coolidge Fellow and Tutor in Politics) who as Senior Fellow chaired the election, commented: ‘Seamus Perry is a marvellous embodiment of Balliol’s ideals of academic excellence, social responsibility, and openness to the world. His election, at the end of a year-long process which has been rigorous and wide-ranging, is a brilliant outcome. Balliol has continued to prosper as a vibrant and inclusive academic community under Dame Helen Ghosh’s stewardship since 2018, and we greatly look forward to Seamus taking up the Mastership in July 2026.’
The current Master, Dame Helen Ghosh, added: ‘I am delighted that Seamus has been elected as my successor. He has been a wonderfully supportive and friendly colleague during my time here, and it has been a privilege to have got to know so distinguished, generous and engaging a scholar. I look forward to working with Seamus over the coming year to ensure a smooth transition to the new Mastership.’
In reply, Professor Perry remarked: ‘It is a tremendous honour to be chosen by the Fellowship as the next Master of Balliol. I am conscious of continuing in the footsteps of a most distinguished line of incumbents: during my own time here, Andrew Graham, Drummond Bone, and most recently Helen Ghosh, whose indefatigable championing of the College will be a hard act to follow. I look forward greatly to working alongside my outstanding colleagues, our students, and all members of Balliol, to ensure the College continues to flourish in the years ahead.’
Biographical note:
Seamus Perry was born in Aldershot and attended local state schools before gaining a university place to read medicine. After a late change of heart, he came up to St Catherine’s College to read English and stayed for a DPhil, supervised by John Bayley. He was elected to the Oakeshott Junior Research Fellowship at Lincoln College before moving to the University of Glasgow, later becoming Reader in English Literature. Returning to Oxford in 2003 to take up his Tutorial Fellowship at Balliol, in addition to his various roles within the College and the University he was for many years a trustee of the Wordsworth Trust, has sat on several editorial boards, and is general editor of the Oxford University Press series, 21st Century Oxford Authors.