About the event
Sam Fern (MSc Intermediality alumni) and Julia Larsen (PhD Intermediality candidate) will be in-conversation at this Intermediality-focused event. Together they will discuss Sam's new illustrated book, 'Where the Dead Live', and how the course has changed and stayed the same since Sam graduated in 2022 as part of the first ever cohort of the MSc programme.
About the speakers
Sam Fern
Sam Fern is a children’s author and editor from the English countryside, now living in Edinburgh. After graduating from Queen Mary University of London, Sam became an editor for Bonnier Books, then went freelance to attain an MSc in Intermediality from the University of Edinburgh.
His first book, ‘Escape Castle Dracula’ (2024), invites readers to test their wits against classic literary horror monstrosities. His second book, ‘Where the Dead Live’ (2025) is a non-fiction globe-trotting journey of living memory from our world to the underworld: festivals, catacombs, afterlives, and how we go on beyond the end. His short fiction has been published by Shrapnel Magazine.
When not writing his own work or editing other people's, Sam can usually be found watching horror movies and sculpting clay monsters.
Julia Larsen
Julia is a third year PhD student in Intermediality, working under the supervision of Professor Marion Schmid and Dr Inma Sánchez Garcia. Her current research centres on the representation of monsters in post-millennial American screen media.
She recently completed her MSc in Intermediality: Literature, Film and the Arts in Dialogue. Her thesis explored race, queerness, and the vampire in Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire and its 2022 television adaptation. Before coming to Edinburgh, Julia worked as a high school English teacher, sharing her love of literature and creating a safe space for young people to be themselves.
When she isn't watching corny vampire movies (for research, of course) Julia enjoys crocheting and walking with her toy poodle, Mia.
How to attend
This event is open to all, and free to attend. No registration is required, simply turn up on the day.
Are you interested in studying Intermediality?
As the first UNESCO World City of Literature, home of the Edinburgh International Festival and a major cultural hub, Edinburgh is the ideal place for the study of intermediality. Our one-year taught masters programme draws on world-class teaching and research expertise across media, from literature to film, music, painting, photography and visual culture more widely.
The programme will make you conversant with intermedial theory and equip you with the critical tools and historical background for understanding and analysing a wide range of intermedial phenomena across different periods and cultures. It can also be completed part-time over two years.
