Stijn Praet (°1986) is a Visiting Professor of Latin at Ghent University. He is currently performing research on premodern homoerotic poetry (Latin, Greek, Arab, Hebrew) while teaching courses on Latin homoerotic poetry, medieval Latin literature, reading skills, the writings of Cicero, and the theory and practice of literary translation (from Latin and Greek into Dutch).
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, he 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 in the Department of Literary Studies (2018-2020).
Praet is the author of various articles and book chapters on Latin and vernacular fairy tales, Latin homoerotic poetry and translation studies, as well as co-editor of essay collections in Latin and fairy tale studies. He is active as a literary translator of Latin poetry. His next book, entitled 'Lieve Ganymedes: homo-erotische gedichten uit de middeleeuwen' ('Sweet Ganymede: Homoerotic Poetry of the Middle Ages), will appear in 2021. Praet is one of two research coordinators for the international platform RELICS (Researchers of European Literary Identity, Cosmopolitanism and the Schools) and sits on the editorial board of JOLCEL (Journal of Latin Cosmopolitanism and European Literatures).