Originally from Australia, Kate obtained a B.A. in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (Arabic and French) from the University of Cambridge (King’s College). This involved living and studying abroad in France, Morocco and Jordan. Following her B.A., she completed a training contract with the law firm Clifford Chance in London. She studied the Graduate Diploma in Law and a Master of Laws (LL.M.) at BPP University, fully sponsored by Clifford Chance. Kate worked for Clifford Chance as a trainee solicitor before qualifying as a Private Client solicitor at Irwin Mitchell where she represented UK, French and Middle Eastern clients. In 2022, she left her legal career to pursue a Master of Studies (M.St.) in nineteenth-century French literature at the University of Oxford (New College) which she completed with Distinction. Kate is now pursuing a fully funded DPhil in French at the University of Oxford (New College), specialising in 19th to 21st century French and World Literature. In 2024, she became a dual British-Australian citizen.
Kate’s DPhil is a Collaborative Doctoral Award on Diversity in the French Literary Panorama in partnership with the French Department for Higher Education, Research and Innovation and the Institut Français. Her thesis examines aspects of French and World Literature via the foreign collection of the publishing house, Éditions Stock. During her DPhil, Kate spent two years living in Paris to attend Professor Gisèle Sapiro’s seminars and doctoral atelier on the Sociology of Literature at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS). She is currently in Oxford, completing the fourth and final year of her DPhil. In her spare time, Kate works as a private tutor and hosts literary and philosophical salons in Oxford. She is working on a debut fiction novel.
Kate Sligo 