William Robins

William Robins is an Associate Professor of English and Medieval Studies at the University of Toronto, and he has also served as President of Victoria University there. According to the university’s English department, his teaching and research focus on late medieval literature, with interests that stretch from Late Antiquity through the Middle Ages and into the Italian Renaissance.

His scholarship looks at how literary works are transmitted, reshaped, and reinterpreted across different cultures, languages, and forms of the book. The University of Toronto notes that two of his major research areas center on Boccaccio’s Decameron and on the long influence of Apollonius of Tyre in medieval and Renaissance Italy.

Alongside his research, Robins has contributed as an editor and teacher. The university profile highlights his work on edited collections in medieval literature and Italian textual culture, as well as a critical edition of Antonio Pucci’s Cantari della Reina d’Oriente. It also notes that he received the Faculty of Arts and Science Outstanding Teaching Award in 2014.