About

Francesco Arcalas Morriello, PhD, FRHistS is an Assistant Professor in the Book & Media Studies program at St. Michael’s College, University of Toronto. He holds a PhD in History from the University of Cambridge, a specialized MTS in Religion from Harvard University, and a BA in English Literature from York University with a focus on Early Modern Literature. In 2024, he was awarded a Fellowship by the Royal Historical Society in London in recognition of his original contribution to historical scholarship with the publication of his first book, Messengers of Empire: Print and Revolution in the Atlantic World (Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment: 2023). Messengers of Empire was shortlisted for the Literary Encyclopedia Book Prize 2024.

F.A. Morriello is an author of both nonfiction and fiction. In March 2024, his book chapter on early modern printing was published by Boydell & Brewer Press in James Raven’s edited nonfiction book, Global Exchanges of Knowledge in the Long Eighteenth Century: Ideas and Materialities c. 1650–1850.

In nonfiction, his research has received numerous awards and grants amounting to over $25,000 USD (£20,021 GBP). Among them are major research grants from the Society for Nautical Research, the Board of Graduate Studies at the University of Cambridge, the Ellen McArthur Fund for Economic History, the Prince Consort & Thirlwall Fund, the Sir John Plumb Charitable Trust, and the History Project which is organized by the Joint Center for History and Economics at Cambridge and Harvard Universities. In 2014, he received the Barry Bloomfield Award from the Bibliographical Society in London for his research on early modern almanacs, astrological charts, newspapers, books, and communication patterns. In 2015, he was awarded a research fellowship at the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University in Providence, RI.

In fiction, F.A. Morriello enjoys writing epic adventures, with high stakes, detailed world-building, and memorable characters that reveal the surprising power of friendship. His stories often feature complex villains that do the wrong things for the right reasons, as well as heroes who are flawed and struggling to find their place in the world.