In addition to a governing committee, led by its Hon. Officers, MHRA has also in the past had a post of President. This was an honorary position, elected usually for a one-year term, and carried no duties except to deliver a formal Address. It has its origins in a time when public life in the UK revolved around in-person public meetings, and when the Association was less able to reach out to its community, though after 1970 reports of the Addresses would often appear in Modern Language Review.

Our final Presidential Address was delivered on 11 May 2018 by the leading comparatist Dame Marina Warner, and was published as part of the Centenary Lectures website. In our second century, we will continue to honour our distinguished colleagues, and to spread their ideas, but now through ventures such as our Selected Essays book series. (Early authors in this series include Alison Sinclair and Martin McLaughlin, Presidents in 2016 and 2015.)

Past Presidents and their Addresses

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