The department also supports the local branch of the Classical Association, the BMCA.
The BMCA is the Birmingham and Midlands branch of the Classical Association, an educational charity, dedicated to making classical subjects widely accessible. We support everyone who has an interest in the ancient world and our members are diverse – from the general public to academic specialists.
From its beginning in 1903 the Classical Association is linked to Birmingham through its founders John Percival Postgate (1853-1926), who had gone to school in Birmingham and Edward Adolf Sonnenschein (1851-1929), who was the first professor of Classics at the University of Birmingham.
Today at the local BMCA, our mission is to engage with the wider Birmingham and Midlands community to share enthusiasm for classics, ancient history and archaeology through a range of events and initiatives from lectures, book clubs, Athena's Owls, conferences and Teacher Days.
We are based at the University of Birmingham, but we are not just for students and professors - we are here for everyone!
Follow us on Instagram: @CA_BMCA
For any enquiries please contact us at midlands.classicalassociation@contacts.bham.ac.uk
People
Lindsey Davis, the historical novelist, is our branch president. She was born and raised in Birmingham and read English at Oxford. Her first novel, The Silver Pigs won the Authors’ Club Best First Novel award in 1989; since then she has won the Crimewriters’ Association Dagger in the Library and Ellis Peters Historical Dagger,has been Chair of the UK Crimewriters’ Association, Honorary President of the Classical Association and Chair of the Society of Authors. In 2010 the city of Rome awarded her thePremio Colosseo for ‘enhancing the image of Rome’. She also holds the Crimewriters’ Association Cartier Diamond Dagger for lifetime achievement.
Sarah Bremner, is our branch secretary. She grew up in Sutton Coldfield and is an alumna of the department of Classics, Ancient History and Archaeology where she completed her PhD on the rhetorical use of identity and ideology in Demosthenes' deliberative speeches. Sarah was an Associate Lecturer in Classical Literature and History at the University of Kent in 2017, before moving into academic publishing. She then completed a PGCE in Secondary History in 2021 and taught History and Classics in state and independent schools. She has now returned to both the Midlands and publishing, and is currently the Commissioning Editor in Humanities for Educake Ltd.
Events