Christopher Hilliard grew up in New Zealand and studied English and history at the University of Auckland. He then moved to the United States and completed a PhD at Harvard University. Since 2004 he has taught in the history department at the University of Sydney, where he is currently an associate professor. His research criss-crosses the borders between history and literature, and between social processes and intellectual life. He is the author of To Exercise Our Talents: The Democratization of Writing in Britain (Harvard University Press, 2006).