Kenzie Scott

Mondays 6pm at 7 Owengate Monday 13 October Isaiah Silvers (Durham University) Auxilios: "Reform" and "Aid" in the Hospital Institutions of New Spain, c. 1730-1770 Monday 27 October Lottie Thompson (Durham University) Medieval Durham and the Ancient World: Lawrence of Durham’s Dialogi and Virgil’s Eclogues and Georgics. Monday 24 November Alastair Forbes (Independent Scholar) The Vision of Boso and Moral Soundscapes in Simeon of Durham's Libellus de exordio Monday 10 November Ido Kons (University of Cambridge) Manuscript Transmission and the Spread of Learning in Late Anglo-Saxon England, c.950-1066 Monday 8 December Eugenia Vorobeva (University of Oxford) Devil in the Detail: Language and Laughter in the Passio Domini Homily

🎺 HEAR YE, HEAR YE! 🎺
We are proud to announce the official MEMSA seminar series term card for this autumn!

Make sure to put the dates in your calendar so you don't miss our amazing speakers! We can't wait to see you there!

Wishing y'all a productive week #AcademicWriting #AcademicChatter

Yes, we’re an in-person conference, as in the last years it’s been the predominant demand. If that poses issues and you’d want to shoot us an email, you’re more than welcome to, though!

Pssst, I've been quiet on social media, but I'm one of the conference coordinators for this year's MEMSA conference! 👀 Applications for speakers are open through the end of April, and we have some great keynotes heading our way; come join us! #renaissance #earlymodern #medieval #medievalsky

The medieval and early modern world was marked by a desire to understand the world and humanity's place in it. Whether through religious experiences, scientific experimentation, magical ritualism, or many other means, the people of the time sought to explore the natural world and their place within it. To apply, please submit a short abstract of no more than 250 words, along with a brief biographical statement and sent this to memsa.conference@durham.ac.uk

MEMSA is thrilled to announce that the CfP for our 19th Annual Conference is now open!

The theme is 'Illuminating Nature: Explorations of Science, Religion, and Magic'

Please see below for the full CfP

The deadline is the 30th April!

Absolutely! It’s important to consider the ethics of AI just as much as any benefits/problems etc.

Book cover reveal!!! So excited to see this 🌟🎉@reaktionbooks.bsky.social

Speaking of our conference: there's no deadline on this, but do follow all participants we've been able to capture thus far. And let us know if you're joining us, #EarlyModern #Skystorians! go.bsky.app/DVyFCxt

#RenSoc25

Renaissance Studies is one of the leading journals in the field of Renaissance studies, with an interdisciplinary emphasis, and a worldwide readership. Established in 1987, Renaissance Studies is published in partnership by the Society for Renaissance Studies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd (Wiley). The Council of the Society for Renaissance Studies (SRS) seeks to appoint an Editor for Renaissance Studies to succeed Professor Kevin Killeen, who retires as Editor in December 2025. It is hoped that the new editor(s) will be able to take over responsibility from 1 January 2026 and serve for a 5-year term until 19 December 2031. Interviews will be held online in February/March 2025. The Editor is responsible for the editorial content of the journal, for obtaining peer reviews of articles submitted, and for the supply of edited copy to Wiley. The Editor works with, and leads, a team consisting of an Associate Editor (whose main responsibility rests with the Special Issues of the journal), Book

*VERY EXCITING VACANCY*

Join our team behind the superb Renaissance Studies as editor -- guided expertly by Wiley.

Ability to combust into flames and shrug it off not a requirement. #EarlyModern excitement is

Deadline: 31 Jan 2025
All info: rensoc.org.uk/vacancy-edit...

Join us in Bristol and especially; join us in these exciting seminars!

Deadline for sign-up is 22 January. You've got some time, but it's closer this side of Christmas... #RenSoc25

Our own conference is in July, but #EarlyModern 'ists are very welcome at this cross-time-period conference about British History Today taking place @qmul.ac.uk 1-2 May.

Deadline: 24 January

Sneak preview from Council: 120 panels! ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY *PANELS*! #EarlyModern scholarship alive and kicking.

You’re going to want to join us in Bristol, with all these exciting thinkers gathering.

Please consider applying to the OBS for a small grant -- up to £500. We particularly encourage early-career applicants and projects that use Oxford collections. Deadline 7 February.

Talk to us!

You can read these three books FREE for an entire month here: cornellpress.manifoldapp.org/projects/pro...

Print Matters summer school: Thin Ice Press — Thin Ice Press What does it mean to think about matter and materiality through the medium of letterpress printing?  We invite scholars of matter, materiality and/or material culture (broadly conceived) in any ...

So this is very exciting! We have 16 places on our AHRC-funded Print Matters Summer School. There is no course fee, and applicants get 4 nights B&B accommodation and a travel bursary of up to £100. The Summer School is open to all disciplines and career stages.

www.thinicepress.org/events/print...

Some glorious #BooksInBooks for the first #ManuscriptMonday of 2025 📚

@theul.bsky.social Dd.9.18, Dicts of Philosophers, 15th century, England.

@theulspeccoll.bsky.social
#CambridgeUniversityLibraries #CuriousCures #CULconservation

Thanks to everyone who has signed up for this or helped to spread the word. The course has recruited well so far, but there are still a few places available. #MedievalSky #ScottishHistory

Shakespeare’s Borrowed Feathers by Darren Freebury-Jones Reviewed by Harriet, 7 Jan 2025 When I was young, I spent several summers in Stratford-upon-Avon. My parents were working at the theatre there, so I was fortunate to be allowed to sit quietly at th…

'a fascinating read which draws attention to a number of playwrights who deserve to be better known.'

The latest review for SHAKESPEARE'S BORROWED FEATHERS @manchesterup.bsky.social.

My heartfelt gratitude to @shinynewbooks.bsky.social

shinynewbooks.co.uk/shakespeares...

CFP: Material Scotland, Stana Nenadic Memorial Conference, 15-16 May 2025, University of Edinburgh.

Celebrating the career of Prof Nenadic (1954-2024) papers invited on Scottish material & visual cultural history. Deadline for proposals 31 Jan. ECR and postgrad particularly welcome. Please share!

Speaking of Hamlet … ! 😱 👻
#hamlet #shakespeare #snowman

I am also stepping down from my panel at the Oxford Literary Festival, which I would have shared with AJ. I've agonized over this decision, but for my own personal safety and my conscience as a trans nonbinary author, I believe this to be the only way forward. 1/3

This is brilliant! Right up my street as a reader, writer and educator, and with such importance for thinking about literary study as engaging with a living tradition.

NEW BOOK: Woke Shakespeare: Rethinking Shakespeare for a New Era
#drama #theatre #Shakespeare #performance #adaptation #appropriation #historicism #empire #culture #materialism #TeamEnglish #renaissance #bardolatry #postcolonial #woke #socialjustice #theory #queer
www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0DQYB2TS5

A sample of the automated index from Dennis Duncan’s INDEX book, set in two columns: APPENDIX: A COMPUTER-GENERATED INDEX acquaintance, familiar, 148 acrostic form, 30 Acrosticks, 147 acrostics, 30 alphabetic, 29 Active indexes, 254 activity, 12, 58 extra-curricular, 97 Addison, 156–57, 186 hauling, 156 skewering, 157 Addison’s Book, 156 Addison’s Grand Tours, 159 Addison’s words, 156 ad hoc verbal guidepost, 255 Adjective Relative, 156 adjustment, small, 105 Adler, 203 Irene, 203 administrative apparatus, 22 admired Christopher Eccleston, 138 affectations, 30 afoot, 144, 217 Africa, 92 After-Burden, 167 afterthought, 96 Againe, 27 Agatha Christie, 39 age, 2–3, 6–7, 9, 137–38, 169–70, 186, 205, 208, 229, 232–33, 251, 254, 256 industrious, 228 old, 12 twenty-first-century, 233 age finding, 6 agent, 213 estate, 76 age of search, 51, 230, 251 age sticking, 185 aggressive coachmen, 162 Agoa, 243 Agrigento, 142 aid, 28, 30, 62, 67, 117, 191 visual, 66

A sample of the first page of the human indexer's index from Dennis Duncan’s INDEX book, set in two columns. Index Note to the gentle Reader: Page numbers in italic indicate figures. Page numbers in the form 273n1 indicate endnotes. Entries are sorted in letter-by-letter order, except where noted. This index was created by Paula Clarke Bain, who is a professional indexer and a human being. [PCB] A, a, a 77,78,79 abbreviations 38, 40, 72, 78, 79, 242 ABC Murders, The (Christie) 39 abecedaria 28, 29, 35 Abish, Walter, Alphabetical Africa 39 abstracting 4, 245, 248 accuracy 15, 64, 98, 100, 178, 252 acrostics 29, 30, 147, 311 active indexes 254 Addison, Joseph 30, 156–7, 159, 174, 186 loathes acrostics 30 portrait 154 Remarks on Several Parts of Italy 156–7 Spectator indexes 173–7 addresses to reader see introductory notes ‘Adventures of a Quire of Paper’ 171–2, 174 advertisements 42, 101, 176, 183, 186, 214, 249 Aeneid (Virgil) 39, 242, 243 Aesop's Fables 144, 146 agencies, indexing 260, 296–7n22 Age of Distraction 9, 251 Age of Enlightenment 170 Age of Industry 205-6 Age of Search 51, 233, 251 see also search Agoa, Helen S. 243 AI (Artificial Intelligence) 2, 254 aide-mémoire 66, 126 Aitken, Jonathan, goes to jail 137 Akraiphia stones 36 Aldus Manutius, Dictionarium graecum 110 Alexander of Ashby, De artificioso modo predicandi 49 Alexander the Great 30, 93 Alexandria see Library of Alexandria algorithms 100, 233, 251, 258 Alice stories (Carroll) 177–8, 180, 181 alphabet Cyrillic 45–6 Greek 29, 36, 71, 89 Hebrew 29 history of alphabets 28–30 Latin 29

More talk this week on AI vs human indexing. The book ‘INDEX, A History of the’ by @djbduncan.bsky.social has two indexes – a computer-generated one by automated software, and an index created by a human indexer (me). They are really not the same.
(See also @indexers.bsky.social and #IndexSky.)

Exactly how high was submitting a proposal for our #medieval and #earlymodern studies conference on your list of new year's resolutions? Might as well get that one done early. Come join us in Melbourne on 3-5 Dec, just get your proposals in before 14 Feb.

conference.anzamems....

As a social historian of magic I've always had a problem with the concept of the "Enlightenment". Our world today proves we are just on a continuum of disbelief & disregard for rationalism, which more or less impacts on society in general.

Yesterday I wrote to the organiser of my OLF session asking that it be cancelled. That was forwarded to the Festival organisers today. OLF has failed its own stated policy of 'courteous debate', and shown gross insensitivity to vulnerable individuals who enrich our lives - and our literature.

The Conservative Turn in Literary Studies In a time of uncertainty, scholars seek a return to the fundamentals.

Cultural studies, for all its many institutional contradictions, introduced working class/proletarian literature into the field of English and the discipline has never forgiven it

www.chronicle.com/article/the-...