I'm interested to know more about your PhD research into madness in early modern drama. What drew you to the subject, and what have you learned? Has it affected the way you write novels?

M.L. Rio I'm flattered to hear this is interesting for you! As an academic my niche is at the crossroads of drama and the history of science--and since the theatre is an embodied medium, I'm particularly interested in early modern medicine and theories of the mind and body. What drew me to the question of madness specifically is the prevalence of madness in early modern drama and how one communicates an "invisible" disability onstage in this particular historical moment. Unfortunately, what I've learned is far more than I can write out here, but hopefully someday my research will be available to a wider audience. I will be sure to share that information when I have it! As to whether it's affected the way I write novels, that's hard to say as I'm not currently working on anything in the historical fiction realm; however, there are two animating themes which run through this research which are, I think, relevant to any question of cognition regardless of time period. The first is that the mind and body are somewhat inseparable, and what affects us mentally will also affect us physically, and vice-versa. (We often refer to the "body-mind" as a single entity prior to the entrance of Descartes on the scene.) The second is that the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorder are necessarily influence by demographic categories, and as such any exploration of "madness" or its modern cognates must take an intersectional approach. I hope this offers a good glimpse into what I'm working on!

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