I am a Professor at the UBC School of Information where I teach and conduct research on the History of the Book. My primary interests are book design and communication in the premodern world, in particular how information was disseminated and consumed in the age before the invention of the printing press. However, my research and teaching have expanded into cultural disciplines more broadly, including digital humanities, digitization of cultural heritage, visual arts, history, and cultural studies. A multidisciplinary approach is a signature feature of my scholarly output, my teaching, and the outreach projects I undertake in communities beyond the university.

Having published ten monographs and edited volumes, I maintain an active research program in the culture of reading and book production in the age of the handwritten book. Both in my research and teaching I highlight the relationship between the physical appearance of manuscripts and the contexts in which they were produced and used. The cultural impact of book design features prominently in Books Before Print, my 2018 textbook aimed at undergraduate and graduate teaching. My current research focuses on the broader cultural processes behind knowledge consumption in societies that depend on written communication. Overarching questions that drive my current work are: How is a culture shaped by information and communication? How are the means of communication impacted by societal needs? How do vehicles of information (books, documents, ephemeral material), through their design and execution, impact the processes of learning, the ability to efficiently interact with text, and the speed with which information diffuses across cultural, geographical, and temporal space?

Widely recognized as an international expert in medieval manuscripts, I held several major research grants and was appointed member of the Comité International de Paléographie Latine (CIPL). I actively promote the premodern book on social media, including on my blog Medievalbooks.nl and through Twitter, as well as in outreach programs at schools. I also frequently contribute to non-expert publications, including Ripley’s Believe it or Not, and my work is featured in a variety of public news outlets such as BBC World Service, CBC radio, CNN, and the Smithsonian Journal. I was regarded as one of 8 Book Historians, Curators, Specialists, And Librarians Who are Killing It Online by Buzzfeed.

• History of the Book
• Book Design and Communication
• Digital Humanities
• Digitization of Cultural Heritage
• Dissemination of Information

Recent publications

• Erik Kwakkel and F. Newton, Medicine at Monte Cassino (Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols Publishers, 2019) [link]
• Erik Kwakkel, Books Before Print (Kalamazoo & Bradford: Arc Humanities Press, forthcoming September 2018) [link]
• Erik Kwakkel and Rodney Thomson, eds., The European Book in the Twelfth Century (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018) [link]
• Erik Kwakkel, Ed., Vernacular Manuscript Culture 1000-1500 (Leiden: Leiden University Press, 2018) [link]
• Erik Kwakkel, “Book Script,” in The European Book in the Twelfth Century, ed. Erik Kwakkel and Rodney Thomson (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018), 24-42
• Erik Kwakkel, “The Margin as Editorial Space: Upgrading Dioscorides alphabeticus in Eleventh-Century Monte Cassino,” in The Annotated Book in the Early Middle Ages: Practices of Reading and Writing, ed. Irene van Renswoude and Mariken Teeuwen, Utrecht Studies in Medieval Literacy (Turnhout: Brepols, 2018), 357-374

Publications 2015-2018

Books Authored

• Erik Kwakkel & Francis Newton, Medicine at Monte Cassino: Constantine the African and the Oldest Manuscript of his ‘Liber pantegni’ (Turnhout: Brepols, forthcoming)
• Erik Kwakkel, Books Before Print (Leeds, Arc Humanities, forthcoming September 2018)

Books Edited

• Erik Kwakkel & Rodney Thomson (eds.), The European Book in the Twelfth Century (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018)
• Erik Kwakkel (ed.), Vernacular Manuscript Culture 1000-1500 (Leiden: Leiden University Press, 2018)
• Erik Kwakkel (ed), Manuscripts of the Latin Classics 800-1200, Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Book Culture (Leiden: Leiden University Press, 2015)

Journal Articles

• Jorien Duivenvoorde, Anna Käyhkö, Erik Kwakkel & Joris Dik, “Hidden Library: Visualizing Fragments of Medieval Manuscripts in Early-Modern Bookbindings with mobile Macro-XRF Scanner,” Heritage Science 2017 5:6

Contributions to Books

• Erik Kwakkel, “Hadewijch Manuscripts,” in Companion to Hadewijch, ed. Patricia Dailey and Veerle Fraters (Leiden: Brill, forthcoming)
• Erik Kwakkel, “Book Script,” in The European Book in the Twelfth Century, ed. Erik Kwakkel and Rodney Thomson (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018), 24-42
• Erik Kwakkel & Rodney Thomson, “Codicology,” in The European Book in the Twelfth Century, ed. Erik Kwakkel and Rodney Thomson (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018), 9-24
• Erik Kwakkel & Rodney Thomson, “Introduction,” in The European Book in the Twelfth Century, ed. Erik Kwakkel and Rodney Thomson (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018), 1-6
• Erik Kwakkel, “The Margin as Editorial Space: Upgrading Dioscorides alphabeticus in Eleventh-Century Monte Cassino,” in The Annotated Book in the Early Middle Ages: Practices of Reading and Writing, ed. Irene van Renswoude and Mariken Teeuwen, Utrecht Studies in Medieval Literacy (Turnhout: Brepols, 2018), 357-374
• Erik Kwakkel & Anne Korteweg, “De wereld van het klooster,” in Zuid-Nederlandse miniatuurkunst. De mooiste verluchte handschriften in Nederlands bezit, ed. Anne Margreet As-Vijvers and Anne Korteweg (Zwolle: Waanders, 2018), 36-59
• Erik Kwakkel & Anne Korteweg, “The Monastic World,” in Splendour of the Burgundian Netherlands. Southern Netherlandish Illuminated  Manuscripts in Dutch Collections, ed. Anne Margreet As-Vijvers and Anne Korteweg (Zwolle: Waanders, 2018), 36-59
• Erik Kwakkel, “Lezen in de marge: Enkele ontwikkelingen in middeleeuwse boeken,” in Lezen!, ed. Wim van Anrooij and Paul Hoftijzer (Hilversum: Verloren, 2017), 13-18
• Erik Kwakkel, “De triomf van de paleografische anomalie: Klerken als kopiisten van Middelnederlandse literatuur”, in Schriftgeheimen, ed. Paul Dijstelberghe, Marjolein Hogenbirk en Lisa Kuitert (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2017), 105-120
• Erik Kwakkel, “Filling a Void: The Use of Marginal Space in Medieval Books,” in Reactions: Medieval/Modern, ed. Dot Porter (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Libraries, 2016), 19-30
• Erik Kwakkel, “Decoding the Material Book: Cultural Residue in Medieval Manuscripts,” in The Medieval Manuscript Book: Cultural Approaches, ed. Michael Van Dussen and Michael Johnson (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015), 60-76
• Erik Kwakkel, “Manuscripts of the Latin Classics: An Introduction,” in Manuscripts of the Latin Classics 800-1200, ed. Erik Kwakkel (Leiden: Leiden University Press, 2015), 13-22
• Erik Kwakkel, “Classics on Scraps: Classical Manuscripts Made from Parchment Waste in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries,” in Manuscripts of the Latin Classics 800-1200, ed. Erik Kwakkel, Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Book Culture (Leiden: Leiden University Press, 2015), 107-30, 204-11

Publications for non-specialists (English only):

• Erik Kwakkel, “Medieval Doodles,” in Jessica Firpi and Wendy A. Reynolds, Ripley’s Believe it or Not: Unlock the Weird (Orlando, FL: Ripley Entertainment, 2016), 198
• Interview for WordPress: “Medieval History, Illuminated: Book Historian Erik Kwakkel Uncovers the Past Through Books” (Feb. 2016) [link]
• “Books and the Dissemination of Knowledge in Medieval Europe,” two learning modules for Khan Academy. Published 4 Jan. 2015

Podcast:

• Darwin Lecture, “The Enigmatic Premodern Book,” Darwin College, Cambridge (February 21, 2020) [link]

Radio

• BBC World Service, Outlook, “The Sherlock Holmes of Medieval Manuscripts?, personal story of my becoming a book historian (27 March 2017) [link]
• CBC Canada National Radio, “As it Happens”: Interview about doodling in medieval manuscripts (13 Dec. 2014) [link]
• National Public Radio, How to Do Everything: Interview about doodling in medieval manuscripts (30 Sept. 2014) [link]

Magazines and Newspapers (English only)

• Don’t Take Pictures (1 Sept. 2016): “Bookmarks: The Hidden Library” [link]
• BBC News: “The Secret Libraries of History”, featuring my research of fragments inside bookbindings (19 Aug. 2016) [link]
• The Guardian, “X-rays reveal 1,300-year-old writings inside later bookbindings” (5 June 2016) [link to online version]
• Smithsonian Magazine, “Annals of Doodlology” (Feb. 2015, p. 18)
• The Times, article devoted to medieval pen trials (6 Oct. 2014)
• The Independent on Sunday, full page on medieval pen trials, including interview (5 Oct. 2014) [link to online version]
• Slate: The Vault, “Costume Catalogue from 16th-century France” (31 Dec. 2014) [link]
• CNN News, “ Gold mine of cheeky medieval doodles show ancestors just as silly as us” (3 Nov. 2014) [link]
• Daily Mail, “Medieval doodles” (5 Oct. 2014) [link]
• People Magazine, piece devoted to medieval pen trials (“People In the Middle Ages Doodled Just like us” (3 Oct. 2014)
• BuzzFeed: 8 historians, curators, specialists, and librarians who are killing it online (Feb. 2014) [link].

Director Office hours

• By appointment (please send an email to ischool.director@ubc.ca to schedule an appointment)