School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures (LLC)

Professor Rob Dunbar wins the RSE Sir Walter Scott Medal | Literatures, Languages & Cultures | Literatures Languages and Culture We speak to the medallist and his students about his work promoting and protecting minority languages.

“Meal do naidheachd!” to Rob Dunbar who has won the RSE Sir Walter Scott Medal for his work on language policy, literature and culture. We spoke to students Elizabeth and Chris about the man behind the medal: https://llc.ed.ac.uk/news/professor-rob-dunbar-wins-the-rse-sir-walter-scott-medal

Canna Lecture | Celtic & Scottish Studies | Literatures Languages and Culture Join The Gaelic Texts Society and Celtic and Scottish Studies at the University of Edinburgh for their annual Canna Lecture by Dr Martin Macgregor (University of Glasgow), entitled ‘“Ach thèid an cran...

The #ScottishGaelic Texts Society Annual #CannaLecture will take place at the University of Edinburgh on 21 November 2025, delivered by Dr Martin Macgregor.

llc.ed.ac.uk/celtic-scott...

Programación | 40° Festival Internacional de cine de Mar del plata Descubrí la programación, invitados, películas y actividades del 40° Festival Internacional de Cine de Mar del Plata.

Filming took place in the summer of 2022 in Santiago Atitlán, San Lucas Toliman, and Guatemala City involved both professional and non-professional actors in what would become a 100% Guatemalan crew.

The film screens three times at Mar del Plata > mardelplatafilmfest.com/40/es/progra...

7/7 🔚

The script, co-written by Bustamante, Margarita Kénefic and Luis Carlos Pineda, was inspired by testimonies gathered by Ixchel team members in Guatemala; on screen these experiences transcend the local context with striking global resonance.

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Starring María Mercedes Coroy in the lead role as an Indigenous volcanologist, the feature explores the potency of a volcanic eruption to reveal a social drama marked by the legacy of civil war and discrimination, and driven by the struggle of Indigenous peoples.

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Back in 2019, the Ixchel team approached Guatemalan counterparts to propose a creative partnership for revealing the complex relationship between a disaster and its environment through cinematic art. Five years later, with award-winning director Jayro Bustamante at the helm, here is the result!
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The Ixchel Project, led by University of Edinburgh, brought together researchers and institutions to investigate different dimensions of volcanic disasters in Guatemala, with funding from the Global Challenges Research Fund @ukri.org and @scotfundcouncil.bsky.social.

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Cordillera de fuego is the result of a unique collaboration between the Guatemalan production house La Casa de Producción and an international and interdisciplinary team of academics (including our very own Charlotte Gleghorn), whose research served as the basis for the film's development.

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Today’s the day! Cordillera de fuego (Mountains of Fire) – co-produced by the Ixchel research project – has its world premiere 🌎at the 40th Mar del Plata International Film Festival📽️

Read on for the back story of this fascinating new feature >

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west writer for the author Simon West

Abner is a middle-grade fiction novel about a flooded world, and how the titular young captain navigates it. You can read all about it on Simon’s website: westwriter.org

@bethp1.bsky.social

A thumbnail for Series 3 of Beyond the Books. Graphic includes title, then images of a megaphone, computer, books, microphone, globe, and newspaper.

A quote from Episode 6 of Series 3 Beyond the Books. It reads, "You're a writer. I'm not a contract lawyer. I'm not a publicist. I'm not a marketing manager."

A quote from Episode 6 of Series 3 Beyond the Books. It follows on from slide 1, reading, "And yet now all of these things have to be some sort of string to your bow."

Omniscient narration, being published, returning to academia as a mature student – this Beyond the Books has it all! 🤩

Creative Writing PhD student and author Simon West takes us through his research & academic journey – as well as his new novel Abner.

Full episode: https://youtu.be/0wr96MwLsoQ

Jonathan has recently joined us as a @leverhulme.ac.uk Early Career Fellow. His research largely focuses on the literary and legal cultures of early modern England and his Leverhulme project is 'An English Legal and Literary History of the Alien, 1603-1677'.

All the firsts! 1️⃣🎉Huge congratulations to Jonathan Powell who is one of the first 10 early career researchers to win the first Oxford University Press First Book Prize. He'll have his debut book Common Law and English Commercial Theatre, c. 1597-1624 published fully open access and in hardback.

@bethp1.bsky.social
@sgsah.bsky.social

Madeleine Banatvala

This episode’s guest is Madeleine Banatvala, a PhD student in French & Francophone Studies. Madeleine’s research offers up new ideas of female selfhood, and examine the ways in which these were previously off-limits to scholars.

Read Madeleine’s PhD profile: edwebprofiles.ed.ac.uk/profile/made...

A thumbnail for Series 3 of podcast Beyond the Books. Graphic includes a pencil, megaphone, globe, books, computer, newspaper and microphone.

Quote from the podcast episode Beyond the Books Series 3 Episode 5. It says 'People are really interested about philosophy's ideas, because-'

Quote from the podcast episode Beyond the Books Series 3 Episode 5. It follows on from the first slide, saying 'love and friendship and anxiety and being are all ideas which everybody feels day to day.'

Calling those who know the value of female friendships – this episode's for you! 👯‍♀️

New Beyond the Books dives into the works of French writers Simone de Beauvoir & Violette le Duc to explore bonds between women, and how they tie into philosophy & society.

Full episode: https://youtu.be/HNwMH44h9wE

That's quite the all-you-can-eat breakfast 😆

You can visit the Creole Connections hub here: www.creoleconnections.cahss.ed.ac.uk/interactive/...

@bethp1.bsky.social
@gcrf-ixchel.bsky.social

During the episode, Charlotte touches on Creole Connections, an online bilingual media platform she helped build that features interviews and media from people living in San Andrés and Providencia.

The platform shares stories, needs and experiences of people across the Raizal-Creole diaspora.

Quote from the podcast episode Beyond the Books Series 3 Episode 4. It says '...in Latin America to access, but also because I try-'

Quote from the podcast episode Beyond the Books Series 3 Episode 4. it follows on from the first slide, saying 'to complement the works with voices of the-'

Quote from the podcast episode Beyond the Books Series 3 Episode 4. it follows on from the second slide, saying 'director and community members in some-'

Quote from the podcast episode Beyond the Books Series 3 Episode 4. it follows on from the third slide, saying 'cases, I conduct interviews and try and co-author'.

What can Indigenous Latin American cinema and filmmaking tell us about memory, cultural identity, and the need for different stories? 📽️

Find out all this and more from Dr Charlotte Gleghorn as she discusses her research in the new episode of Beyond the Books.

Full episode: youtu.be/jOfjUtz1Yew

💬 🤝 We'll be hosting a range of seminars this semester, run in collaboration with students and staff from across our university and beyond.

💻 ⬆️ You can follow the link in our bio to find out more about these events, as well as the reading and discussion groups we have planned over the next months!

Why Mary Queen of Scots' murdered private secretary David Rizzio was a political scapegoat History shows that political anger is often channelled towards outsiders, a pattern that is being repeated today

"Every country has its scapegoats... David Rizzio became one of Scotland’s most haunting."

Read Dr Emanuela Patti's timely piece on why Mary Queen of Scots' murdered private secretary was a political scapegoat in @scotsman.com

www.scotsman.com/news/opinion...

👨‍🏫 🧭 We’ll be kicking off the new academic year with the return of the Denys Hay lecture to @edinburgh-uni.bsky.social, as we welcome @philippebuc.bsky.social from @unileiden.bsky.social to deliver a talk on his recent comparative historical research looking at both medieval Europe and Japan.

This is such an exciting new project on young people, creativity, literacy and wellbeing. It's one to watch and you can do so on various platforms:
Website: rewriting-worlds.ed.ac.uk
Bluesky: @re-writer.bsky.social
Instagram: www.instagram.com/rewriting.wo...

Bravo 👏 Patrick Errington

Read the Dramatic 17th-Century Memoirs of Alice Thornton, Who Wrote Four Versions of Her Life Story Researchers have digitized all four volumes, which are now available online. The autobiographies offer a compelling window into a tumultuous period in English history

Lovely to see this write up of our project in the Smithsonian Magazine. #EarlyModern 📜 🗃️ @hcaatedinburgh.bsky.social
www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/r...

For a great blog read on the genesis of this project, including a text from her Dad and a bus stop encounter with LLC’s Professor Suzanne Trill (Co-Investigator), do check out Cordelia’s very first post on the Alice Thornton’s Books website: thornton.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/posts/blog/2...

Thrilled to see our very own Dr Jonathan Wild has been awarded a Spring 2025 Research Award for his project, 'The Influence of Scotland on Charles Dickens’ Life and Work'!

Jonathan's project will be the first major study of Dickens' engagement with Scotland - we can't wait to see how it develops! 🤩

LLC's former Head of School, Professor Jeremy Robbins, is among the British Academy's newly elected Fellows! 🎉

Jeremy's outstanding contributions within Hispanic Studies has been recognised with one of the Academy's highest honours, and we're all thrilled for him.

See the full list below 👇

Achebe Redivivus In this two-day conference, world-leading scholars and rising stars in the fields of anthropology, literary modernism, African politics, African literature, African history, and African art will offer...

Join LLC's own Dr Terri Ochiagha (English Literature) at her free @britishacademy.bsky.social conference on acclaimed African writer Chinua Achebe ✍️

Leading experts and interdisciplinary researchers will gather to discuss the author in a range of lights.

📆 3 - 4 July
📍 Online
🎟️ edin.ac/3TEPVKl

Scents of China Cambridge Core - Asian Literature - Scents of China

Further reading! If you want to go deeper into Xuelei’s work, her book Scents of China: A Modern History of Smell is now available @universitypress.cambridge.org‬

www.cambridge.org/core/books/s...

@asianstudiesed.bsky.social
@bethp1.bsky.social
@hanofdan.bsky.social
@aaronwmoore.bsky.social