Stijn Praet (°1986) is a Visiting Professor of Latin at Ghent University. He is currently doing research on Latin homoerotic poetry from Antiquity to the Italian Renaissance, while teaching a course on the history of classical reception in European culture. He is also envolved in the development of a project on translation scholar and gay activist James Holmes (with Jack McMartin, KULeuven).
Praet holds a BA in Latin and English (Ghent University, 2007), an MA in Comparative Modern Literature (Ghent University, 2008), an advanced MA in Literary Studies (University of Leuven, 2009), and a PhD in Literary Studies (Ghent University, 2014). His doctoral dissertation 'Fairy Tales and the Latin Tradition: A Literary-Contextualising Approach' considers some of the parallels and intersections between premodern Latin literature and the vernacular fairy tale tradition as it developed from Early Modernity onward.
After obtaining his doctorate, Praet was employed at Stockholm University as a Postdoctoral Fellow in Latin literature (2016-2018), and at Harvard University as a Visiting Scholar with the Standing Committee on Medieval Studies (2017), where he pursued research on the multi-narrative organisation of high medieval Latin tale compilations. He then returned to Ghent University as a Doctor-Assistant (2018-2020) and Visiting Professor (2021-) in the Department of Literary Studies.
Praet is the author of various articles and book chapters on Latin homoerotic poetry, translation and reception studies, and Latin and vernacular fairy tales, as well as co-editor of essay collections in Latin and fairy tale studies. Over the years, he has taught a variety of topics, including courses pertaining to the Latin tradition in Europe (late antiquity to modernity), medieval Latin literature, the writings of Cicero and Caesar, the medieval and early modern reception of Vergil and Ovid, Latin homoerotic poetry, Latin reading and research skills, fairy tales, and the theory and practice of literary translation (from Latin and Greek into Dutch, see https://doi.org/10.1017/S2058631020000392 and https://www.cliv.be/nl/o...).
He sits on the editorial board of JOLCEL (Journal of Latin Cosmopolitanism and European Literatures, https://jolcel.ugent.be/) and previously served as research coordinator of the international platform RELICS (Researchers of European Literary Identity, Cosmopolitanism and the Schools, https://relicsresearch.com/). He is also active as a literary translator of Latin poetry. Radio interview in Dutch pertaining to his latest book 'Lieve Ganymedes: homo-erotische gedichten uit de middeleeuwen': https://radio1.be/luister/select/nieuwe-feiten/homo-erotische-gedichten-...