John Francis McCourt

John Francis McCourt (born 18 July 1965)

McCourt built his academic career in Italy, establishing himself as a scholar of English and Irish literature within the Italian university system. He became a professor of English literature at Roma Tre University in 2010, where he was director of the Research Centre for Irish and Scottish Studies. He was a visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania in 2006 and Sorbonne University in 2016.

He joined the University of Macerata in 2017 and was appointed rector in 2022. His appointment at one of the oldest universities in Italy received media attention for being the first time that aa foreigner was appointed head of an Italian university. Michael Murphy, president of the European University Association, congratulated McCourt for breaking the perceived glass ceiling in Italian education.

McCourt has written on the relationship between Joyce and Italy, and on the broader cultural and literary connections between Ireland and the Italian peninsula. In 2020, McCourt became president of the International James Joyce Foundation. McCourt is a member of the Modern Language Association and the board of the International Yeats Summer School in Sligo, Ireland.

Awards

Giovanni Comisso Prize (2005) Mellon Fellowship, University of Texas at Austin (2007) "Le Cattedrali Letterarie Europee" Prize, Cultural Association (2007) Peter O'Brien Visiting Scholar, Concordia University (2019)

Selected works Writing the Frontier: Anthony Trollope between Britain and Ireland (Oxford University Press, 2015) The Years of Bloom: James Joyce in Trieste, 1904–1920 (Lilliput Press and University of Wisconsin Press, 2000) Roll Away the Reel World: James Joyce and Cinema (Cork University Press, 2010) James Joyce: A Passionate Exile (Thomas Dunne Books, 1999) James Joyce in Context (Cambridge University Press, 2009)