Role
Dr Carol Adlam is Associate Professor in the Nottingham School of Art & Design. She is a member of the Research Centre for the Creative Industries, and the Creative Practices, Methods & Analysis research cluster. She teaches on the MA in Illustration and supervises PhDs in visual communication, and offers occasional seminars and workshops on the BA Illustration, MFA, Doctoral School Research Methods seminar, and Creative Short Courses. Her work at NTU is informed by her 25+ years' research and teaching experience in UK HE.
Career overview
Since 2014 Carol Adlam has run an award-winning creative practice. She joined NTU in 2018, where she is Associate Professor in Illustration.
Drawing on her extensive experience as visual and literary historian as well as artist, Carol's research focuses on both creative practice and the relationship between literary / historical archives and creative narrative storytelling. Her current projects include: a critical edition and graphic book on Eliza Raine, a late eighteenth-century British-Indian heiress, official lunatic, and first 'wife' of Halifax diarist Anne Lister; and 'Beyond Botany', a project with the University of Nottingham and the Natural History Museum investigating the contribution of women artists in the development of natural history illustration, and its role in the construction of visual knowledge about Empire.
Carol's previous work includes 9 graphic novels, as well as over 50 publications (articles, reviews and books). Her most recent books are The Russian Detective (Penguin/Jonathan Cape, 2024; Guardian Best Books 2024), and Girton Time (Beam Editions, 2024), and her previous graphic book and exhibition Thinking Room won an Association of Illustrators World Illustration Award in 2018 (previous works Ministry of Women and Suzanne's Story were shortlisted in 2015 and 2016). Carol has held many residencies, most recently at Girton College, University of Cambridge, where she was a Visiting Fellow between 2021-2022, and at the University of St Andrews in 2019, where she was a Writer-in-Residence. Between 2019-2023 she was Contributing Artist and Creative Director of the University of St Andrews KE&I crime fiction multimedia adaptation project Lost Detectives: Adapting Old Texts for New Media (PI: Dr Claire Whitehead; 2018-2023), for which she created 3 spoken-word adaptations (audio drama; libretto), and 2 visual adaptations. Her other clients include The Guardian; Delayed Gratification: The Slow Journalism Magazine; The National Archives, and the United Nations. She is a member of the Design Research Centre at NTU, and she sits on the Board of Directors of Writing East Midlands. Carol also teaches creative writing at the University of Cambridge. She is represented by The BKS Agency.
A mid-career changer, Carol had a previous career in Russian studies, specialising in Russian visual arts of the nineteenth century, women's writing, and critical theory.
Research areas
- narrative illustration
- reportage illustration / graphic journalism
- text and visual adaptations
- graphic novel innovation
- history of illustration
- Russian and East European art histories
- critical theory
- creative writing for graphic novels
Current PhD supervision:
- Madeleine Burt (UKRI/Midlands 4 Cities): 'The phenomenology of creativity in the graphic novel: A practical investigation of intermedial visual storytelling.'
- Kate Dawson (Co-(l)Lab, Universities for Nottingham): ' An investigation of effective health messaging: Enhancing uptake of green space activities through social prescribing'
Other supervision:
- Jaysika Dennis (co-(l)Lab Research Placement): 'Engaging with and communicating music provision, education, activities, and performance opportunities to children and young people across Nottinghamshire'
Carol welcomes enquiries about PhD supervision in any of the areas of narrative illustration; reportage illustration; text and visual adaptation; graphic novels; history of illustration; Russian and East European art histories; critical theory; art history; visual communication; visual communication in healthcare settings.
External activity
Board of Directors, Writing East Midlands
Contributing Artist, Creative Director: Lost Detectives: Adapting Old Texts for New Media (University of St Andrews)
Director, Carol Adlam Art & Writing
FHEA (Fellow of the Higher Education Academy)
Publications
Selected (art-related only):
ADLAM, C., 2024. The Russian Detective. London: Penguin Books; Jonathan Cape. ISBN 9781787334724.
ADLAM, C., 2023. Girton Time. Nottingham: Beam Editions. ISBN 978173998659
ADLAM, C., 2023. The Bobrov affair: creating a graphic novel adaptation of a 'lost' Russian-Empire crime novel. In: S. WELLS-LASSAGNE and S. AYMES, eds., Adaptation and illustration: towards a front-line approach. Palgrave Studies in Adaptation and Visual Culture . Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9783031321337.
ADLAM, C. and WHITEHEAD, C., 2023. Lost detectives: intermedial adaptations of nineteenth-century Russian crime fiction. A conversation. Adaptation. ISSN 1755-0637
ADLAM, C., 2017. Thinking Room.
ADLAM, C. and CROSS, H., 2016. Ministry of Women: A graphic novel.
ADLAM, C. and CROSS, H., 2014. The New Wipers Times.
ADLAM, C., 2019. World Illustration Awards 2018. University of Wales Trinity Saint David Gallery, Swansea, January - February 2019.
ADLAM, C., 2018. World Illustration Awards 2018. Falmouth Art Gallery, Falmouth, November 2018 - January 2019.
ADLAM, C., 2018. World Illustration Awards 2018. The Art House, University of Worcester, Worcester, October - November 2018.
ADLAM, C., 2018. World Illustration Awards 2018. Somerset House, London, July 2018.
ADLAM, C., 2018. World Illustration Awards 2018. COEX Center, Seoul, South Korea, July 2018.
ADLAM, C., 2017. Thinking Room. Angear Visitor Centre, Nottingham Lakeside Arts, Nottingham, 25 November 2017 - 25 February 2018.
ADLAM, C., 2015. The Inking Woman. The Cartoon Museum, London, April - July 2017.
ADLAM, C., 2015. The Living Gallery. Nottingham Castle Museum and Art Gallery, Nottingham, April - July 2015.
ADLAM, C., 2015. World Illustration Awards 2015. Somerset House, London, October - November 2015.
ADLAM, C., 2014. Suzanne's Story. Institute for the Understanding of the Past; University of York.
ADLAM, C., 2018. Armistice & Legacy. London: The National Archives.
ADLAM, C., 2016. The Chronicles of Dissolution: piety, plunder and protest. London: The National Archives.
ADLAM, C.; MAKHROV, A. (eds), Russian Visual Arts: Art Criticism in Context, 1814-1900. HRI Online https://www.dhi.ac.uk/rva/. ISBN 0-9542608-4-8.
ADLAM, C. , 2004. "The "Frisky Pencil": Aesthetic Vision in Russian Graphic Satire of the Period of the Great Reforms". Nineteenth-century Art Worldwide, 3.2. https://www.19thc-artworldwide.org/autumn04/the-qfrisky-pencilq-aesthetic-vision-in-russian-graphic-satire-of-the-period-of-the-great-reforms.
ADLAM, C. , 2005. "Realist Aesthetics in Nineteenth-Century Art Writing". Slavonic and East European Review, 83.4: https://doi.org/10.1353/see.2005.0007
ADLAM, C. 2003. "Apollon Aleksandrovich Grigor’ev, ’A Critical View of the Bases, Significance and Devices of Contemporary Art Criticism’ (1858)". In Russian Visual Arts: Art Criticism in Context, 1814-1900. HRI Online https://www.dhi.ac.uk/rva/. ISBN 0-9542608-4-8.
ADLAM, C. 2003. "Fedor Antonovich Bruni, ’’To the antagonists of the Academy of Arts ’." In Russian Visual Arts: Art Criticism in Context, 1814-1900. HRI Online https://www.dhi.ac.uk/rva/. ISBN 0-9542608-4-8.
ADLAM, C. 2003. "Ivan Ivanovich Dmitriev, ’Art that bows and scrapes: On the annual exhibition at the Academy of Arts’ (1863)." In Russian Visual Arts: Art Criticism in Context, 1814-1900. HRI Online https://www.dhi.ac.uk/rva/. ISBN 0-9542608-4-8.
ADLAM, C. 2003. "Konstantin Batiushkov’s ’A stroll to the Academy of Arts: A letter from an old Muscovite to his friend in the village of N.’ (1814)." In Russian Visual Arts: Art Criticism in Context, 1814-1900. HRI Online https://www.dhi.ac.uk/rva/. ISBN 0-9542608-4-8.
ADLAM, C. 2003. "M. L. Mikhailov, ‘Art Exhibition in Petersburg, May and June 1859’ (1859). In Russian Visual Arts: Art Criticism in Context, 1814-1900." HRI Online https://www.dhi.ac.uk/rva/. ISBN 0-9542608-4-8.
ADLAM, C. 2003. "Nikolai Aleksandrovich Dobroliubov, ’A dark kingdom’ (1859)." In Russian Visual Arts: Art Criticism in Context, 1814-1900. HRI Online https://www.dhi.ac.uk/rva/. ISBN 0-9542608-4-8.
ADLAM, C. 2003. "Nikolai Aleksandrovich Dobroliubov, ’A ray of light in a dark kingdom’ (1860)." In Russian Visual Arts: Art Criticism in Context, 1814-1900. HRI Online https://www.dhi.ac.uk/rva/. ISBN 0-9542608-4-8.
ADLAM, C. 2003. "Nikolai Aleksandrovich Dobroliubov, ’Morning: a literary miscellany’ (1859)." In Russian Visual Arts: Art Criticism in Context, 1814-1900. HRI Online https://www.dhi.ac.uk/rva/. ISBN 0-9542608-4-8.
ADLAM, C. 2003. "Nikolai Dmitriev, ’Materials for a history of civilisation’." In Russian Visual Arts: Art Criticism in Context, 1814-1900. HRI Online https://www.dhi.ac.uk/rva/. ISBN 0-9542608-4-8.
ADLAM, C. 2003. "Statute of the Association of Itinerant Art Exhibitions." In Russian Visual Arts: Art Criticism in Context, 1814-1900. HRI Online https://www.dhi.ac.uk/rva/. ISBN 0-9542608-4-8.
ADLAM, C. 2003. "The Fourteen, ’Petition of the fourteen students of the Academy of Arts to Prince G.G. Gagarin, Vice President of the Academy of Arts. 1863’." In Russian Visual Arts: Art Criticism in Context, 1814-1900. HRI Online https://www.dhi.ac.uk/rva/. ISBN 0-9542608-4-8.
ADLAM, C. 2003. "The Fourteen, ’To the Council of the Imperial Academy of Arts From the Competitors for the First Gold Medal’." In Russian Visual Arts: Art Criticism in Context, 1814-1900. HRI Online https://www.dhi.ac.uk/rva/. ISBN 0-9542608-4-8.
ADLAM, C. 2003. "V.G. Belinskii, ’A speech on criticism’. In Russian Visual Arts: Art Criticism in Context, 1814-1900." HRI Online https://www.dhi.ac.uk/rva/. ISBN 0-9542608-4-8.
ADLAM, C. 2003. "Vasilii Petrovich Botkin, ’An exhibition at the Imperial Academy of Arts, October 1855’." In Russian Visual Arts: Art Criticism in Context, 1814-1900. HRI Online https://www.dhi.ac.uk/rva/. ISBN 0-9542608-4-8.
ADLAM, C. 2003. "Vladimir Vasil’ievich Stasov, ’Deplorable Aestheticians’ (1877)." In Russian Visual Arts: Art Criticism in Context, 1814-1900. HRI Online https://www.dhi.ac.uk/rva/. ISBN 0-9542608-4-8.
ADLAM, C. 2003. "Vladimir Vasil’ievich Stasov, ’Mr Prakhov’s Inaugural Lecture at the University (1874) (Letter to the Editorial Board of St Petersburg News)’." In Russian Visual Arts: Art Criticism in Context, 1814-1900. HRI Online https://www.dhi.ac.uk/rva/. ISBN 0-9542608-4-8.
ADLAM, C. 2003. "Vladimir Vasil’ievich Stasov, ’Repin’s painting ’The Volga barge-haulers’ (Letter to the editor of St Petersburg News, 1873)’." In Russian Visual Arts: Art Criticism in Context, 1814-1900. HRI Online https://www.dhi.ac.uk/rva/. ISBN 0-9542608-4-8.
ADLAM, C. 2003. "Vladimir Vasil’ievich Stasov, ’To the Advocate of the Academy of Arts’ (1864/1894)." In Russian Visual Arts: Art Criticism in Context, 1814-1900. HRI Online https://www.dhi.ac.uk/rva/. ISBN 0-9542608-4-8.
ADLAM, C. 2003. "Vladimir Vasil’ievich Stasov, ’’Academic exhibition of 1863’ (1864)’." In Russian Visual Arts: Art Criticism in Context, 1814-1900. HRI Online https://www.dhi.ac.uk/rva/. ISBN 0-9542608-4-8.
ADLAM, C. 2003. "’False Art and False Artists’ by Vladimir Vasil’ievich Stasov (1905)." In Russian Visual Arts: Art Criticism in Context, 1814-1900. HRI Online https://www.dhi.ac.uk/rva/. ISBN 0-9542608-4-8.
ADLAM, C. 2003. "’Inaugural lecture read by Professor of Art History A.V. Prakhov in the Imperial Academy of Arts, 16 October 1875’." In Russian Visual Arts: Art Criticism in Context, 1814-1900. HRI Online https://www.dhi.ac.uk/rva/. ISBN 0-9542608-4-8.
ADLAM, C. 2003. "’On the Arts and Artists in Russia: On the Occasion of the Exhibition at the Petersburg Academy of Arts’ (1860) by Pavel Mikhailovich Kovalevskii (1823-1907)." In Russian Visual Arts: Art Criticism in Context, 1814-1900. HRI Online https://www.dhi.ac.uk/rva/. ISBN 0-9542608-4-8.
ADLAM, C. 2003. "’The Itinerant Exhibition of 1871’ by Vladimir Vasil’ievich Stasov (1871)." In Russian Visual Arts: Art Criticism in Context, 1814-1900. HRI Online https://www.dhi.ac.uk/rva/. ISBN 0-9542608-4-8.
For a full list of publications see: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8665-7262
Sustainability is a central and essential element of all our research and we continually strive to address sustainable development goals in our funded projects. My priorities in research and my wider university activity are to address sustainability goals 4 and 5 in particular.
