Past events

Selected seminars, conferences, lectures, film screenings, exhibitions, and workshops in European Languages and Cultures (2015 -).

DELC Research Seminar Series (DRSS)

The DELC Research Seminar Series (DRSS) encourages collaboration and co-production between staff and students across European Languages and Cultures and beyond.

Each series is designed on a transversal exploration of a common theme, for example Decolonising Minds and Methods (2021 to 2022).

Typically, each event consists of:

  1. a workshop co-produced by staff and students
  2. a seminar presented by a guest speaker
  3. a roundtable discussion led by respondents
a yellow background with lines and DELC Research Seminar Series overlaid

DateTitleSpeaker(s)
24 March 2026Norway 1940: Violation of Neutrality and the Viking FightbackDr Andrew Orr
20 March 2026Ecocritical Approaches to Franz KafkaDr Conor Brennan (University of Galway)
9 March 2026Constructing a Cultural History of the Russian LanguageProfessor Simon Franklin (University of Cambridge)
12 February 2026Among Women: Cultural Agency, Sociability, and Sexuality on the Margins of Portuguese ModernismProfessor Anna Klobucka (University of Massachusetts Dartmouth)
12 February 2026Colonial Placenames, Collective Memories, and Indigenous Histories on Whale Island (Sállir/Kvaløya)Dr Erika De Vivo (Norges arktiske universitetsmuseum og akademi for kunstfag)
4 February 2026Manoeuvring (in) Languages: Manœuvres Translingues - a Creative Writing WorkshopDr Élise Hugueny-Léger and Dr Élodie Laügt (University of St Andrews)
29 October 2025Translating Scots into French and French into ScotsProfessor Philippe Laplace (Marie et Louis Pasteur University)
22 May 2025ZERRBILDER: Strategies of the Traumatic SurrealProfessor Patricia Allmer (Edinburgh College of Art)
12 May 2025Sexual Knowledge Production beyond the Human: Gender, Animality and Vitality in Mysterium des Geschlechtes (Mystery of Sex, 1933)Dr Ina Linge (University of Exeter)
8 May 2025Lydia and Alice: Literary and Photographic (Mis)adventuresDr Caroline Verdier (University of Strathclyde)
9 April 2025Postsecular Demographies: Social Diversity in Virginie Despentes's Vernon Subutex and Sabri Louatah's Les SauvagesDr Sura Qadiri (University of Cambridge)
26 March 2025Uncovering the Afterlife of the Italian EmpireProfessor Charles Burdett (School of Advanced Study, University of London)
17 March 2025'Visages écrits et visages photographiés – comment la photolittérature a-t-elle représenté le visage ?' (Professor Tsukamoto) and 'L’image n’est pas une et indivisible – à propos des lettres dans l’affiche et la bande dessinée' (Professor Suzuki)Professor Masanori Tsukamoto (University of Tokyo) and Professor Masao Suzuki (Waseda University, Tokyo)
13 and 14 March 2025Intermediality workshopKeynote speakers: Niklas Salmose (Linnaeus University) and Shuangyi Li (University of Bristol)
4 March 2025Re-examining Early Soviet Approaches to Propaganda and DisinformationProfessor Vera Tolz (University of Manchester)
28 February 2025Using Library Heritage Collections to Enhance Your Research in DELCKirsty Stewart (archivist at School of Scottish Studies Archives) and Robert O’Brien (LLC Academic Support Librarian)
10 January 2025Book launch: European Minorities in Times of Crisis: Negotiating IdentitiesDr Ruairidh Tarvet (Lecturer in Scandinavian Studies), Alex Payne (PhD student) and Emma Dussouchaud (PhD student)
12 November 2024Filming Karen Blixen: Danish Literature, Spanish Cinema and the BiopicDr Barbara Tesio-Ryan (Scandinavian Studies); Dr Anna Vives (Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies); Dr Inma Sánchez García (Intermediality Studies); and María Pérez Sanz (director)
24 April 2024Cinematicity and Affective IntermedialityProfessor Ágnes Pethő (Sapientia University)
1 April 2024Ferreira, Boscán, and the Lesser Spotted Matrimonial Canzoniere of IberiaDr Paul Joseph Lennon (University of St Andrews)
13 March 2024Darkening Blackness: Race, Gender, Class, and Pessimism in 21st-Century Black ThoughtDr Norman Ajari (French and Francophone Studies, University of Edinburgh)
7 Feburary 2024(De)Fencing the boundaries of order, logic, and control: An end to the Finnish-Russian pragmatic frameProfessor Jussi Laine (University of Eastern Finland)
30 January 2024Glottal Yoga For Language TeachersDr Rebekka Puderbaugh (School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh)
27 November 2023"Over the Years, You'd Become Your Own Archivist": Exploring Transnational and Generational Dynamics of Memory Among French- and German-Speaking Writers from the Former YugoslaviaDr Michel Mallet (Université de Moncton, Canada)
12 October 2023Troubling Archives: Belgian Colonialism and its (many) legaciesDr Sarah Arens (University of Liverpool)

Please note that speaker titles and universities, as listed, date from the time of the event and may have changed. 

Date(s)Title Guest speaker(s)Team
9 May 2023Done into Dance: Choreographic Translations of Emily Dickinson’s PoetryDr. Adeline Chevrier-Bosseau (Sorbonne Université) 
3 April 2023Sports in South America: A HistoryProfessor Matthew Brown (University of Bristol) and Dr Timo Schaefer (University of Edinburgh) 
24 March 2023PhD Work-in-Progress Research PresentationsBeth Blakemore (Hispanic Studies); Maxime Geervliet (Comparative Literature); Elisa Vivaldi (Italian Studies) 
9 March 2023Trauma, memory and disruptive genealogyProfessor Max Silverman (University of Leeds) 
23 January 2023Contemporary Ukrainian Literature in War and Peace: A Translator's PerspectiveElena Marinicheva (IASH and Edinburgh UNESCO City of Literature Fellow) 
18 January 2023Academia in the wartimeLilia Miroshnychenko (Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv) 
9 November 2022Architects of Modernism: The Case of ProustProfessor Patrick O'Donovan (University College Cork) 
4 April 2022Imagined (Linguistic) Communities in the USA: The Case of Danish in the Mid-West and Spanish in New MexicoDr Ruairidh Tarvet (Scandinavian Studies, The University of Edinburgh) and Dr Carlos Soler Montes (Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies, The University of Edinburgh) 
29 March 2022Book Talk with Ben Bollig: Moving Verses and The Poetry-Film NexusProfessor Ben Bollig (University of Oxford) 
17 March 2022Mediating VoicesDr Isabel Seguí (Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies , University of Edinburgh) and Dr Katie Pleming (French, University of Edinburgh) 
10 February 2022IntermedialityDr Emanuela Patti (Italian, DELC, University of Edinburgh) and Dr Inma Sánchez-García (Intermediality Studies, DELC, University of Edinburgh) 
18 November 2021Crisis as an Art of GovernmentDario Gentili (University of Roma Tre) 
27 April 2021Performing Latin Americanism: Body, Technology, ActivismProfessor Fernando Degiovanni (The Graduate Center, CUNY)Jessica Gordon-Burroughs; Julie Gibbings
6 November 2020Multimedia Urban Politics in Agnès Varda's DaguerréotypesRebecca DeRoo (Rochester Institute of Technology)

 

 

3 February 2020
  • Icons in the Making | Tintin and The Obscure Cities (masterclass)
  • The obscure cities "between utopia and dystopia" (mastertalk)
Professor Benoît Peeters (Lancaster University)Edouard Notte; Dr Claire Boyle
4 and 5 December 2019
  • Language Obsolescence in Context: Empirical Evidence from Northern Catalonia (laboratory)
  • Mapping Bilingual Regions in Europe. Language Size, Language Status and Language Policy. (roundtable)
Dr James Hawkey (University of Bristol)

Students and staff from the Schools of Literatures, Languages and Cultures (LLC) and Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences (PPLS)

  • Stephen McNulty
  • Professor Wilson McLeod; Professor Lara Ryazanova-Clarke; Professor Antonella Sorace 
4 November 2019
  • Italian Art and Design in the 1960s: Visual Narratives of the Italian Economic Boom (workshop)
  • The Making of Modern Italy: Through the Looking Glass (Darkly) (seminar)
Professor Giuliana Pieri (Royal Holloway, University of London)

Students and staff from the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures (LLC) and Edinburgh College of Art (ECA)

  • Alessandra Pellegrini de Luca
  • Dr Peter Clericuzio; Professor Marion Schmid; Tommaso Zerbi 

Prior to 2019, seminars were organised along subject lines. 

Please note that speaker titles and universities, as listed, date from the time of the event and may have changed. 

French and Francophone Studies  
DateTitleSpeaker(s)
12 March 2019Estranging the Mother TongueDr Anne-Isabelle François (Université Sorbonne-Nouvelle Paris 3)
24 January 2019Killing Time: Death, Feminism, and the Future in Leïla Slimani's Chanson douceDr Sarah Arens (University of Edinburgh)
22 November 2017

Settlement, treatment and employment of French-speaking Belgian refugees in France, the Netherlands, England and Scotland. 

[also part of the ‘Uncovering civilian war trauma among female Belgian refugees in Scotland during the First World War’ workshop series]

Dr Christophe Declercq (University College London)
7 November 2017Civil Disobedience and DemocracyProfessor Sandra Laugier (Paris Sorbonne)
20 March 2017Bernard Stiegler’s Automatic PoliticsProfessor Martin Crowley (University of Cambridge)
8 March 2017'Tot ot escrit an la cortine': Reconstructing Female Voice and Identity from the Literary Clothwork of Old French RomanceMorgan Boharski (University of Edinburgh)
15 February 2017La campagne référendaire de 2014 vue de la FranceProfessor Didier Revest (Université Côte d'Azur)
17 May 2016Narrating Trauma in French Women’s Writing of the Extreme ContemporaryProfessor Barbara Havercroft (University of Toronto) 
24 February 2016Imagining Brussels: Diasporic Writing and the Transnational Urban SpaceSarah Arens (University of Edinburgh)
20 January 2016Elles ne savent pas ce qu'elles disent, c'est toute la différence entre elles et moi: Lacan et les féministesProfessor Benedicte Coste (Université de Bourgogne)
German  
DateTitleSpeaker(s)
27 March 2019Drama in the World: A.W. Schlegel, Walter Scott, and Two Takes on Theatre HistoryDr Michael Wood (University of Edinburgh)
28 February 2019Die Waffen nieder!: Bertha von Suttner as Novelist and Peace ActivistDr Barbara Burns (University of Glasgow)
30 January 2019German “Provincialism”, the World and Saša Stanišić’s Vor dem FestDr Frauke Matthes (University of Edinburgh)
21 November 2018How German philosophy won the First World War: An Introduction to Viscount HaldaneRichard McLauchlan
2 November 2018Racing Back to the Future: Rosmer/Bernstein’s Neo-Classical TragediesDr Robert Gillett (Queen Mary, University of London)
5 October 2018Cultural Learning in Interaction: Researching meaning-making processes in the foreign language classroomJulia Feike (University of Edinburgh)
23 March 2018Emil Nolde: Landscapes of LossFrances Blythe (University of Edinburgh)
2 February 2018

The history of learning and teaching German (and other modern languages) in Britain, 1500-2000

[hosted in collaboration with Cultural Encounters/Cultural Dialogues]

Professor Nicola McClelland (University of Nottingham)
1 December 2017

The Disappearance of the Subject in Writing: The Essay Film Beyond Auteurism

[hosted in collaboration with Film and the Other Arts]

Dr Angelos Koutsourakis (University of Leeds)
3 November 2017Digitally Distributing Liveness: Three case studies from the Berliner Theatertreffen (2017)Katie Hawthorne (University of Edinburgh)
Russian Studies  
DateTitleSpeaker(s)
4 November 2012Russian Film Festival 2012--
24 to 25 January 2013Global Russian: Exploring New Research Perspectives 
1 February 2013Word and Image in Russian Contexts 
17 May 2017Robert Burness - Vladimir Nabokov’s English TutorGavriel Shapiro (Cornell University)
27 November 2017The Pavlovian discourse of species in Soviet literature and film in the 1930sProfessor Henrietta Mondry (University of Canterbury)
22 January 2018Translations of Robert Burns into Russian: from the Nineteenth to the Twenty-First CenturyDr Natalia Kaloh Vid (University of Maribor)
24 January 2018Retranslations of Literature: the Case Study of six English translations of Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and MargaritaDr Natalia Kaloh Vid (University of Maribor)
18 March 2018The Russian Play 2018: The Woman Question 
30 May 2019Russia and Europe: Linguistic and Cultural EncountersAlexandra Smith and Angelos Theocharis (University of Edinburgh)
Dashkova Research Seminars  
DateTitleSpeaker(s)
5 February 2015An Aesopian interpretation of Zoshchenko's RetributionDr Rose France (University of Edinburgh)
5 March 2015The Urals - Russia's CrucibleProfessor Paul Dukes (University of Aberdeen)
7 May 2015The Formalist Image of WarProfessor Jan Levtchenko (Moscow Higher School of Economics)
14 May 2015Russian Cosmism in the Depths of the Soviet CosmosDr Ilia Kalinin (Saint Petersburg State University)
21 May 2015Humpty Dumpty and the Troll FactoryProfessor Michael Gorham (University of Florida)
Scandinavian Studies  
DateTitleSpeaker(s)
30 April 2018Natural Disasters as Triggers: The Danish Assault on Frisia in AD 810Dan Haycraft (University of Edinburgh)
23 April 2018Swords from the Pagan Norse Graves of ScotlandDr Caroline Paterson (University of Stirling)
14 February 2018Prickly Puffins: Translating (pseudo-)profanities and other emotive language in Norwegian children’s literatureDr Guy Puzey (University of Edinburgh)
7 February 2018Dalastugor: Creating Images of Belonging through Diasporic Touch in Nordic ArtDr Sara Davies (University of Manchester)
30 January 2018Screening Privilege: Global Injustice and Responsibility in 21st Century Scandinavian Film and MediaJulianne Yang (University of Oslo)
23 January 2018Migrants in Scandinavian literatureAnja Tröger (University of Edinburgh)
25 January 2017The Finnish Workplace - How Finnish Employees Are LedSaku Tihveräinen (University of Helsinki / University of Edinburgh) 
7 December 2016The Topography of Salvation and Damnation - Heaven and Hell - in Old Norse LiteratureDr Haki Antonsson (University College London)
30 November 2016Playing Devil's Advocate? Ruben Östlund's "Play" (2011) and the Politics of Multiculturalism in Contemporary SwedenKate Moffat (University of Stirling) 
23 November 2016At the Crossroads: The Eastern Baltic in Viking-Age Long-Distance CommunicationDr Marika Mägi (Tallinn University)
16 November 2016The Forbes Family in Swedish Service during the First Half of the Seventeenth CenturyDr Kathrin Zickermann (University of the Highlands and Islands)
9 November 2016Nordic Italies: Representations of Italy in Nordic Literatures between the 1830s and the 1910sDr Elettra Carbone (University College London)
2 November 2016Decadence and the North: Symbolist Art in the Nordic CountriesDr Marja Lahelma (University of Helsinki)
19 October 2016Analogical Place-names in Western Iceland and Eastern Lewis; Connection or Coincidence?Geir Eysteinsson

Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies

  • 12 February 2020 - 'SPLAS Seminar Series: Jorge Consiglio'. Author event.
  • 7 February 2020 - 'SPLAS Seminar Series: Eduardo Moga'. Eduardo Moga (author). 'Streets Where to Walk is to Embark'. Co-sponsored by the Consulate General of Spain and the Cervantes Institute.
  • 16 November 2019 - 'Jornadas de Español en Edimburgo: Español en Andalucía'. A professional development event for Spanish teachers.
  • 8 October 2019 - '“Teatro político y comprometido en Argentina” by Professor Fernando Operé'. Professor Fernando Operé (University of Virginia, USA).
  • 21 October 2019 - '"Nation Through Landscape: Rodrigo Rey Rosa's Use of Environmental Themes in Lo que soñó Sebastián" by Professor Stephen Henighan'. Professor Stephen Henighan (University of Guelph, Canada).
  • 5 - 6 September 2019 - 'Transnational Perspectives on the Study of Spanish in Society'. The IX International Conference of Hispanic Linguistics and VII Biennial Meeting of the International Association for the Study of Spanish in Society.
  • 13 - 14 June 2019 - 'ELE-UK 2019: Research and Practice in Spanish Language Teaching'.
  • 23 April 2019 - 'SPLAS Seminar Series: María Ángeles Pérez López'. Professor María Ángeles Pérez López (Universidad de Salamanca). 'Intersecciones y retos de la poesía en 2019 (Intersections and challenges of poetry in 2019'.
  • 5 April - 29 June 2019 - 'Conectando: Scottish Encounters with Spanish & Portuguese'. An exhibition celebrating 100 years of the Spanish Degree at the University of Edinburgh.
  • 27 March 2019 - 'SPLAS Seminar Series: Bárbara Fernández Melleda'. Dr Bárbara Fernández Melleda (University of Edinburgh). 'Neoliberalism and its Discontents: Three Decades of Chilean Women’s Poetry (1980-2010'.
  • 4 March 2019 - 'Are you ready to catch the Basque wave?'. Basque taster session.
  • 12 February 2019 - 'SPLAS Seminar Series: Cinema of/as Garbage workshop with Luz Horne'. Instituto Camões and CCLAS in conjunction with Film Studies.
  • 28 November 2018 - 'The Cunninghame Graham Lecture 2017: Carlos Zanón'.
  • 28 November 2018 - 'Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies (SPLAS) Christmas get together'. DELC Festive Showcase.
  • 13 November 2018 - 'SPLAS Seminar Series: Maite Conde'. Dr Maite Conde (University of Cambridge). 'Foundational Films: Early Cinema and Modernity in Brazil. Mapping out a New Space of Analysis'.
  • 20 November 2018 - 'SPLAS Seminar Series: Beatriz Caballero Rodriguez'. Dr Beatriz Caballero Rodriguez (University of Strathclyde). 'María Zambrano y la filosofía; una relación incómoda'.
  • 31 October 2017 - 'The Cunninghame Graham Lecture 2017: Carlos Zanón'. Carlos Zanón (poet).
  • 30 October 2017 - 'Dos renovadores de la escritura del ‘yo’: Carmen Martín Gaite y Rosa Montero'. Professor José María Pozuelo Yvancos (University of Murcia).
  • 27 January 2017 - 'I Am Tango. Biography of María Nieves'. Elaine Newton-Bruzza (screening).
  • 18 October 2016 - 'Diálogo entre escritores'. Paula Varsavsky and Carlos Gamerro (writers).
  • 30 September 2016 - 'Tango Negro - The African roots of Tango'. (screening).
  • 7 - 11 March 2016 - 'Spanish Play: 'Maribel y la extraña familia'. Various students.
  • 18 - 20 March 2015 - 'Spanish play 2015 - Enseñar a un ERASMUS'. Various students.
  • 23 May 2013 - 'La defensa de los indios en dos filósofos novohispanos'. Caribbean and Latin American Research at Edinburgh (CLARE).
  • 6 - 8 March 2013 - 'El Florido Pensil'. Basque group Tanttaka.
  • 2013 series - 'One Region, Many Peoples'. Various events on race in Latin America.
  • 30 January 2013 - 'Seminar: An Early American Diaspora'. Dr Dodds Pennock.
  • 2013 - 'Spanish play 2013 - El Florido Pensil'.
  • 2012 - 'Spanish play 2012 - Bajarse al moro'. 

Centre for the History of the Book Seminar Series

  • 29 March 2019 - Lucinda Byatt (Teaching Fellow in Translation from Italian and Lecturer in History), 'Janet Coats, founder of the James Tait Black Prizes' (in celebration of International Women's Day)

Conferences and symposia

Dates: 18 and 19 September 2024

Venue: Senate House, London

Speakers: Dr McKenna Marko (University of Leeds); Professor Roma Sendyka (Jagellonian University, Kraków); Dr Steven Samols (University College London)

In brief: A two-day conference hosted by DELC with three panel sessions, three keynote lectures, a film screening and a pedagogy workshop. The conference showcased research on and discussed the legacy of Holocaust mass shootings, as well as the literary, cinematic and artistic representation of these events.


Dates: 16 to 20 July 2024

Venues: National Museum of Scotland and Old College

Featured guests: Keynote speakers - Asunción Gómez-Pérez (Spanish Royal Academy), Aris Moreno Clemons (University of Tennessee) and Francisco Moreno-Fernández (Global Observatory of Spanish Language). Guests of honour - Rosa Montero (journalist and writer, Premio Nacional de las Letras), Miguel Falomir (Director of the Prado Museum) and Luis García Montero (Director of the Cervantes Institute)

Organisers: Cervantes Chair; ASELE (Association for the Teaching of Spanish as a foreign language), and ELEUK (UK Association for the Teaching of Spanish in Higher and Adult Education)

In brief: The 34th International Conference of ASELE, and the 10th conference of ELEUK, this event ran over four days and brought together the UK Spanish teaching community to explore themes such as artificial intelligence, social justice, linguistic diversity, transmedia literacies and genres, and integrating cultural, literary and artistic contents in the classroom. The conference featured three keynote talks, a roundtable. a symposium on Spanish language teaching in Latin America, 130 papers, 30 workshops, and 5 posters.


Dates: 27 to 28 October 2023

Venue: 50 George Square

Plenary speakers: Antonella Sorace (University of Edinburgh); Iraide Ibarretxe-Antuñano (Universidad de Zaragoza); Eloi Puig-Mayenco (King’s College London); Alfonso Zamorano Aguilar & María Martínez-Atienza de Dios (Universidad de Córdoba)

Organisers: School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures; Bilingualism Matters Edinburgh; Instituto Cervantes of Manchester-Leeds; ELEUK Association

In brief: A two-day conference that examined the acquisition, learning and teaching of Tense, Aspect and Modality (TAM) in second languages (L2). Further, it aimed to complement previous research perspectives by providing a dynamic exploration of recent, up-to-date issues in contemporary research.


Dates: 3 to 5 October 2024

Venues: 50 George Square

Speaker: Professor Barbara Havercroft (University of Toronto)

Organisers: Dr Fabien Arribert-Narce (University of Edinburgh) and Dr Elise Hugueny-Léger (University of St Andrews)

In brief: A three-day in-person conference that explored the universal dimension of Annie Ernaux’s books and her influence beyond France in the first international, English-speaking conference focusing on her work. It was preceded by an opening film screening of 'The Super 8 Years' (2022, dir. by Annie Ernaux and David Ernaux-Briot), and thereafter consisted of a keynote lecture from Professor Barbara Havercroft (University of Toronto), a series of parallel and plenary sessions, two creative responses, and an online conversation with Annie Ernaux herself.


Lectures, talks, discussions and readings

Date: 6 December 2025

Venue: MacLaren Stuart Room, Old College

Speaker: Izaro Arruti

In brief: An in-person talk by Basque sociolinguist and television presenter Izaro Arruti on Basque and its successful revitalisation process, as well as her own journey between local and global languages. The talk was part of celebrations of the International Day of the Basque Language, and followed by a quiz and a musical concert from a band of Basques living in Scotland. It was sponsored by the Etxepare Basque Institute.


Date: 22 October 2025

Venue: Playfair Library

Featured performer: Florian Kaplick

In brief: An evening of poetry, piano performances and storytelling that explored the legacy of concrete poets Ian Hamilton Finlay, Ernst Jandl, and Eugen Gomringer, and featuring German performer, Florian Kaplick, with piano music by Erik Satie. This event had support from:

  • Goethe Institut
  • Consulate General of Germany in Edinburgh
  • Austrian Consulate in Edinburgh
  • Consulate General of Switzerland in Edinburgh
  • Austrian Cultural Forum

Date: 21 October 2025

Venue: Online via Zoom

Speaker: Dr Karolina Watroba (German Studies, University of Edinburgh)

In brief: An online lecture that discussed how Thomas Mann's landmark German modernist novel "Der Zauberberg" ("The Magic Mountain", 1924) has developed something of a cult following among non-academic readers around the world over the course of the past century.


Date: 13 October 2025

Venue: 50 George Square

Speakers: Çetin Gültekin and Mutlu Koçak

In brief: A bilingual (English and German) reading and discussion event with Çetin Gültekin and Mutlu Koçak that told the story of Çetin's brother Gökhan, who was murdered in a racially-motivated attack, and of racism in Germany more broadly. This event was in collaboration with the Goethe Institut, DAAD United Kingdom and Ireland, and Scotland's National Centre for Languages (SCILT).


Date: 26 September 2025

Venue: Old Medical School and online

Participants: Carlos Soler Montes (School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures); Julius Ruiz (School of History, Classics and Archaeology); Katerina Stergiopoulou (School of History, Classics and Archaeology)

In brief: A hybrid roundtable discussion that explored questions concerning the dominance of the English language in scholarly publication, pulling from each participant's related expertise.


Date: 28 March 2025

Venue: 50 George Square

Speaker: Itxaro Borda (Basque writer and speaker)

In brief: A talk by Itxaro Borda that touched on the concept of 'inner exile' - how an individual existing within a society can still be isolated within it - as well as how this exile can also be provoked when an individual uses the language of their homeland in a diglossic environment. Followed by an audience Q&A, as well as pinxto food and drinks. It was sponsored by the Etxepare Basque Institute.


Date: 14 March 2025

Venue: 50 George Square

Speaker: Claudia Piñeiro (author)

Title: Encuentro con la autora argentina Claudia Piñeiro’ / Meet the author! Claudia Piñeiro

In brief: A conversation with Argentinian author Claudia Piñeiro, who read from her most recent novel, 'El tiempo de las moscas', and discussed her writing and activism. This event was in Spanish, and co-badged with the Cervantes Chair.


Date: 3 March 2025

Venue: 50 George Square

Speaker: Dr Marina Massaguer Comes (Universitat Oberta de Catalunya)

In brief: A lecture by Dr Massaguer Comes that examined the cultural place of language within intersectional identities in Catalonia. The event was sponsored by the Institut Ramon Llull, and the lecture was in English.


Date: 24 February 2025

Venue: 50 George Square

Speaker: Niall O'Gallagher (Gaelic Writer in Residence)

In brief: A seminar by Niall, who presented new translations of Carner’s poems into English, Gaelic and Scots, prompting a discussion about the translation of Catalan poetry and the position of the Scottish poet for whom the target language is never stable.


Date: 11 February 2025

Venue: 50 George Square

Speaker: Julia Nemirovskaya

In brief: A talk from distinguished Russian poet, prose writer, and literary scholar Julia Nemirovskaya. Julia discussed her latest project 'Kopilka', a closed database containing thousands of pages of protest poetry. 


Date: 13 November 2024

Venue: 40 George Square

Speaker: Professor Alberto Peña Rodríguez (University of Vigo)

Title: Fear, Mobilization and Misinformation: Portugal's reaction to the Spanish Civil War

Organisers: School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures; Camões – Instituto da Cooperação e da Língua

In brief: A lecture that examined what Portuguese Estado Novo propaganda can reveal about the country's totalitarian ideological mythos, and its reaction to the Spanish Civil War. The lecture was in English and followed by a Q&A.


Date: 7 November 2024

Venue: French Institute

Speaker: Professor Jean-Louis Jeannelle (Sorbonne University)

In brief: A talk that explored Charles de Gaulle's memoirs and observations of the French military force in the Second World War. This event was organised in collaboration with the Institut français d’Écosse, and the Department of Higher Education and Research from the French Embassy in the United Kingdom.


Date: 31 October 2024

Venue: 50 George Square

Speaker: Professor John London (Queen Mary University of London)

Title: Catalan Culture and the Multilingual Translation of the Image

In brief: A lecture to celebrate the opening of LLC's new Catalan Studies pathway that asked a series of related questions about translating a culture: How do you translate a foreign language within a source text? Does the author know best? What do you lose and gain by explanation?

The event was sponsored by the Institut Ramon Llull.


Dates: 16 and 17 October 2024

Venues: 40 George Square (16 October) and Chrystal Macmillan Building (17 October)

Speakers: Marcos Colón and Laís Lorenço

Organisers: Inés Lima and Charlotte Gleghorn (University of Edinburgh); the Latin American Bureau

In brief: On 16 October, the event began with a screening of Pisar Suavemente na Terra/Stepping Softly on the Earth (2022), by the author and documentary filmmaker Marcos Colón. On 17 October Marcos Colón was in conversation to talk about the film and its connection to his new book, The Amazon in Times of War (2024). This collection of essays features first-hand accounts that detail physical assaults and economic and institutional harm against the Amazon rainforest.

The discussion also featured Laís Lorenço, PhD candidate in Film Studies at UNICAMP in Brazil, who presented on 'Memory Traces: Archival Material, Space and Absence in Documentaries of the Self'.

The event was co-sponsored by the Latin American Bureau.


Date: 25 September 2024

Venue: 50 George Square

Speaker: Nina Six

In brief: A seminar by author and illustrator Nina Six on the life of writer Stella Benson, who is the subject of Nina's upcoming comic book. This event was organised by the Centre de Recherches Francophones Belges in conjunction with Intermediality Studies.


Date: 23 September 2024

Venue: 50 George Square

Speaker: Professor Hannah Pollin-Galay (Tel Aviv University)

In brief: A discussion of the new publication by Professor Pollin-Galay, 'Occupied Words: What the Holocaust did to Yiddish', which explores the origins of Khurbn Yiddish as a testament to collective memory and the sensation of speech under genocidal conditions. It also featured a panel discussion with Professor Hannah Holtschneider (School of Divinity), Dr Phil Alexander (Edinburgh College of Art) and Dr Hanna Schumacher (German), which was introduced by Dr Jenny Watson (German).


Date: 28 March 2024

Venue: 50 George Square

Speakers: Andrzej Tichý and Dr Nichola Smalley

In brief: A panel discussion with author Andrzej Tichý and translator Dr Nichola Smalley on transnational identities and belonging, organised LLC Scandinavian Studies. The event was followed by a Q&A and informal conversation.


Date: 20 March 2024

Venue: 50 George Square

In brief: A launch event for a new anthology of poetry, 'Tiny Flames' written in Ukrainian and translated into English by students from the University of Edinburgh and Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. Graduates from the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures who were involved with the project are:

  • Alice Eaves
  • Olivia Thomakos
  • C.T Hilton
  • Raine Bracken
  • Salvor Solnes

Date: 12 March 2024

Venue: 50 George Square

Speaker: Fikri Anıl Altıntaş (Berlin-based journalist and author)

Organisers: LLC; DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst; German Academic Exchange Service); Centre Stage Deutsch

In brief: A reading and discussion of journalist Fikri Anıl Altıntaş' debut novel, 'Morgen wächst ein Birnbaum' (“A pear tree grows in the morning”), which explores masculinity and role models, anti-feminism, and the (de)construction of non-white, Muslim-read masculinities in Germany. The event was followed by a bilingual (English and German) Q&A and a short reception.


Date: 26 January 2024

Venue: 50 George Square

Speaker: Vera Gheno

Organisers: Chiara Avanzato (Italian Institute of Culture in Edinburgh), Michela Prevedello (Italian Studies, University of Edinburgh)

In brief: A talk by visiting sociolinguist Vera Gheno about language and gender and the debates they have generated in Italy. The talk was delivered in English.


Date: 20 November 2023

Venue: 50 George Square

Research strand: Cultural encounters/dialogues

Speaker: Dr Evgeny Pavlov (University of Canterbury, New Zealand)

In brief: A lecture by Dr Pavlov on the work of prominent Russian-Ukrainian writer, Arkady Dragomoshchenko, and his relationship to Ukraine. It was organised by Dr Alexandra Smith (Russian).


Date: 9 November 2023

Venue: 50 George Square

Organisers: Audrey Debard (French and Francophone Studies), Hugo Lázaro Ruiz, (Spanish and Latin American Studies) Michela Prevedello (Italian Studies)

In brief: A hands-on, interactive workshop on using French, Italian, and Spanish more inclusively today, moving beyond linguistic stereotypes and sexist forms. While this event was aimed at students at any level, it was open to any interested party.


Date: 26 October 2023

Venue: 50 George Square

Speaker: Professor Iraide Ibarretxe-Antuñano (Universidad de Zaragoza)

Title: Is Basque really that different from other European languages?

In brief: A lecture that launched the new Basque language and culture course at The University of Edinburgh. It was given in English, and the event was sponsored by the Etxepare Basque Institute.


Film screenings and festivals

Date: 28 October 2024

Venue: 50 George Square

Featured guest: Josu Martínez

In brief: A film screening of Bizkarsoro (dir. Josu Martínez, 2023), a Basque-language film about the inhabitants of a a fictional village in the 20th century. It was followed by a Q&A with the director. The event was sponsored by the Etxepare Basque Institute.


Date: 15 February 2024

Venue: 40 George Square

Organiser: Centre Català d’Escòcia

In brief: VOC-Versió Original en Català, an in-person evening which was dedicated to screening a series of Catalan short films, from fiction to documentary films. All films were curated by Òmnium Cultural, and the event took place simultaneously throughout the world. The films were screened in Catalan with English subtitles.


Date: 24 May 2023

Venue: Pleasance Theatre

Organisers: Irene Ros and the Italian Society

Title: Fuori Programma - Performing the 70s: memories of the Italian 'Years of Lead'

In brief: A vintage multimedia documentary performance, 'Fuori Programma', based on the memories of Italian women who lived through the 1970s in Italy. The performance was the first creative outcome of the PhD project “Performing Stragismo and Counter-spectacularisation: Italian right-wing Terrorism and Its Legacies”.


Exhibitions, workshops and performances

Date: 4 May 2018

Venue: 50 George Square

Featured guests: Dr Victoria Donovan (University of St Andrews), Stefhan Caddick, and Simon Gore

In brief: As part of their 'Enthusiasm' project exploring the story of Welsh industrialist John Hughes founding the mining town of Donetsk in Eastern Ukraine, the three featured guests presented a multimedia piece of work by the same name at this event. This event combined music, image, and discussion.

a black and white photo of a young boy dressed as a Ukrainian peasant

Date: 2 November 2017

Venue: City of Edinburgh Methodist Church

Guest performer: Vera Pavlova

In brief: An evening of music and performance with Russian poet and pianist Vera Pavlova, who played Tchaikovsky's 'Childhood' cycle. This was interspersed with readings from her poetry which she read in Russian, but English translations of her poetry was provided on a screen.

Vera Pavlova artistic portrait image

Date: 31 May 2018

Venue:  L’Institut français d’Ecosse, Edinburgh

Organiser: Dr Séverine Genieys-Kirk 

In brief: The second in a series of workshops examining the lives and literature of female writers from the early modern period (16th to 18th centuries). Held in French, this event centred on the novels of Madame de La Fayette, with a particular focus on La Princesse de Montpensier.

Related research: Cultural Encounters/Dialogues; Learning to see the power of women

Find out more about research in DELC
Portrait of Madame de la Fayette

Date: 17 May 2018

Venue:  L’Institut français d’Ecosse, Edinburgh

Format: Workshop

Organiser: Dr Séverine Genieys-Kirk 

In brief: The first in a series of workshops examining the lives and literature of female writers from the early modern period (16th to 18th centuries). Held in French, this event centred on the work of seventeenth-century playwright and novelist, Mme de Villedieu, with a focus on her play, Le Favori (1665) (H. Goldwyn and A. Evain (eds.), Théâtre de femmes de l’Ancien Régime, XVIIes, 2008).

Related research: Cultural Encounters/Dialogues; Learning to see the power of women

Find out more about research in DELC
Portrait of Madame de Villedieu

Date: 29 March 2018, 17.30 - 19.00

Venue: 50 George Square

A celebration of the first issue of our online Creative Writing magazine for students in European Languages and Cultures.


Dates: 16 to 17 June 2017

Venue: The Princess Dashkova Russian Centre, 14 Buccleuch Place

Research strand: Global Russians: Transnational Russophone Networks in the UK

In brief: Part of the AHRC-funded research project, 'Global Russians', this two-day workshop concerned the imaginaries of 'Londongrad' - the British spaces populated and inflected by Russians, with a particular focus on cultural and media productions on the Russian presence in the UK.

Date: 14 March 2017

Venue: 50 George Square

Guest performers: Grigory Kruzhkov; Lev Oborin; Marina Boroditskaya; Christine De Luca; Jen Hadfield; Stewart Sanderson

In brief: A reading of poetry by three of Russia's leading contemporary poets, as well as three of Scotland's. The poems used Shakespeare's sonnets as a stepping-off point, and the Scottish poets translated the work of their Russian counterparts into Scottish and Shetlandic. Guests received a complimentary copy of a pamphlet of the poems and translations produced by the project. The exchange was organised by the British Council in co-operation with The Scottish Poetry Library, and supported by the Edwin Morgan Trust.

Dates: 29 July to 8 October 2016

Venue: Talbot Rice Gallery, University of Edinburgh

In brief: Associating with Andy Warhol and the Beat Generation, Alice Neel (1900-1984) tended to exist on the peripheries of society. Telling the story of the turbulent events that shaped Neel’s life, The Subject and Me was the first solo exhibition of her work in Scotland. It was the latest in a series of exhibitions at Talbot Rice Gallery promoting the work of leading women artists, previously including Jane and Louise Wilson, Hanne Darboven, Jenny Holzer and Rosemarie Trockel. A guided tour of the exhibition with Principal Curator, Pat Fisher, was included in the programme of the Recovering Women’s Past conference in September 2016.

Related research: Learning to see the power of women

Find out more about research in DELC
Alice Neel Hartley and Ginny

Date: 8 September 2016

Venue: Centre for Research Collections, Main University Library

In brief: An exhibition of artefacts from the University of Edinburgh's Special Collections. A guided tour of the exhibition was included in the programme of the Recovering Women’s Past conference in September 2016.

Related research: Learning to see the power of women


Date: 29 February 2016

Venue: The Princess Dashkova Russian Centre, 14 Buccleuch Place

Speaker: Dmity Vodennikov

In brief: An evening of poetry and performances from Dmity Vodennikov, an acclaimed Russian poet and essayist. This event took place in Russian.

Dmitry Vodennikov

Date: 23 February 2016

Venue: Princess Dashkova Russian Centre, 14 Buccleuch Place

Organisers: The Russian department and Princess Dashkova Russian Centre

In brief: A performance of Anton Chekhov's 'The Marriage Proposal' by three undergraduate Russian Studies students: Deana Davis, Anastasia Lopoukhine and Robin Veale. This 30-minute sketch was one of Chekhov's famous 'Шутки' (Jokes), and was performed in Russian.

Portrait of the Russian playwright Anton Chekhov

Date: 27 November 2015

Venue: The Princess Dashkova Russian Centre, 14 Buccleuch Place

Research strand: Global Russians: Transnational russophone networks in the UK

In brief: This workshop developed the Dashkova Centre's ‘Global Russian’ research strand and is part of the research project ‘Travelling Cultures: Discourses of Russian Tourism in Scotland’. It brought together international scholars examining tourism from the linguistic, historical and cultural perspectives, and the practitioners who produce tourist discourses. The workshop explored tourist narratives as a product of cross-cultural interaction, and addressed the questions of how globalisation affects the narratives produced for and by Russian tourists, and what meanings are attached to the newly emerged phenomenon of the Russian globe-trotter.

It also featured an evening with Dmitry Krylov, a travel journalist and author of ‘Neputevye Zametki’, chaired by Lara Ryazanova-Clarke and Vera Zvereva (University of Edinburgh).


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