Talks and readings
Join us for a series of talks and readings exploring the development of literature as a subject of study over the past two hundred and fifty years.
Speakers include distinguished authors, academics and our most talented Edinburgh students.
Enlightenment lecture

A highlight of the series is a lecture, presented by Stefan Collini, Professor of Intellectual History and English Literature at the University of Cambridge.
His lecture, 'From 'Belles-Lettres' to 'Eng-Lit': Criticism and its Publics', is held on 24 May, 2012 in the George Square Lecture Theatre.
This event is also the next lecture in our renowned Enlightenment Lecture series.
Programme
English Literature 1762-2012: Hugh Blair, belletrism and popular readingTuesday 24 January 2012, 5.30pm -
7pmFaculty Room South, David Hume TowerEve Bannet (George Lynn Cross Professor, University of Oklahoma).
Burns in EdinburghWednesday 25 January 2012, 6pm -
8pmFaculty Room South, David Hume TowerPoets and critics discuss the Bard and the city - SWINC Roundtable.
1762Friday 3 February 2012, 4.30pm -
6pmFaculty Room North, David Hume TowerProfessor Susan Manning, Dr Bob Irvine - Edinburgh Literature Seminar.
English Literature 1762-2012: From Belles Lettres to English Lit: the Victorian Regius Chair in Glasgow and EdinburghTuesday 7 February 2012, 5.30pm -
7pmFaculty Room South, David Hume TowerNigel Leask (Regius Professor of English Literature, University of Glasgow).
Reading: Marianne BoruchTuesday 7 February 2012, 6.30pm -
8pmConference Room, David Hume Tower Shakespeare's Cheek: Another Bard in ScotlandFriday 17 February 2012, 4.30pm -
6pmFaculty Room North, David Hume TowerDr James Loxley - Edinburgh Literature Seminar.
English Literature 1762-2012: The Regius Chair and its incumbentsTuesday 21 February 2012, 5.30pm -
7pmFaculty Room South, David Hume TowerAlistair Fowler (Emeritus Professor of Rhetoric and English Literature) and Greg Walker (Professor of Rhetoric and English Literature).
English Literature 1762-2012: Daniel Wilson, Scotland and Canada: the export of EnglishTuesday 6 March 2012, 5.30pm -
7pmFaculty Room North, David Hume TowerDeidre Lynch (Chancellor Jackman Professor of English, University of Toronto).
International Women's DayThursday 8 March 2012, 6pm -
7.15pmRoom G.1, Paterson's LandPhilippa Gregory, best selling author and the University of Edinburgh's Alumna of the Year 2009. This event is free but ticketed.
Readings: Translated IdentitiesThursday 8 March 2012, 9.30am -
5pmIASH, University of Edinburgh, Hope Park SquareAn event to mark International Women's Day bringing together creative writers, scholars and critics. The event is free but booking is essential as space is limited. To book email iash@ed.ac.uk.
The SWINC Annual Lecture: Stevenson Among the PsychologistsThursday 15 March 2012, 6pm -
8pmAppleton Tower, Lecture Theatre 2The SWINC Annual Lecture, sponsored by Royal Society of Edinburgh: Professor Roger Luckhurst (Birkbeck College, University of London). This event is free but ticketed.
The Edinburgh Review: Then and NowFriday 16 March 2012, 4.30pm -
6pmFaculty Room South, David Hume TowerProfessor William Christie (Sydney) and Dr Alan Gillis - Edinburgh Literature Seminar.
Theatres of Learning: Drama, the University and performance in ScotlandTuesday 20 March 2012, 5.30pm -
7pmFaculty Room South, David Hume TowerOlga Taxidou (University of Edinburgh), Peter Arnott (Resident Playwright, Genomics Forum), David Maclennan (Director, Oran Mor).
Readings: Student Writing Prize AwardsThursday 22 March 2012, 6.30pm -
8.30pmFaculty Room South, David Hume TowerWith readings by the winners; followed by our annual Creative Writing Staff Reading (Alice Thompson, Robert Alan Jamieson, Miriam Gamble, Allyson Stack, Dilys Rose and Alan Gillis).
Readings: Honorary FellowsWednesday 28 March 2012, 6.30pm -
8pmRobson Lecture Theatre, Hugh Robson Building, George SquareReadings by Honorary Fellows Andrew Greig and Douglas Dunn.
Alan Warner ReadingWednesday 25 April 2012, 6.30pm -
8pmLecture Theatre 175, Old College, South Bridge The Business of WritingFriday 11 May 2012, 2pm -
5.30pmTeviot Dining Room, Teviot Row HouseA series of panel discussions involving publishers, agents and editors, giving advice and information to budding writers (panellists tbc).
MSc Creative Writing Student's ReadingFriday 11 May 2012, 8pmTeviot Dining Room, Teviot Row House8pm until late.
Thinking with LiteratureFriday 11 May 2012, 7pm -
8.15pmHugh Robson Lecture Theatre, Hugh Robson Building, George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9XD.Professor Terence Cave (Emeritus Research Fellow, St John's College, Oxford University). Professor Cave will draw on new cognitive approaches to literature and illustrate them through close readings of literary texts. Terence Cave is a recipient of the prestigious Balzan Prize for his literary research.
Auden and 'the Flesh We Are'Wednesday 16 May 2012, 6.15pmSt Cecilia's Hall, Niddry Street, Cowgate, Edinburgh, EH1 1NQ.Professor Edward Mendelson (Columbia University). Professor Mendelson is the executor of the Estate of W H Auden and one of the world's leading authorities on the works of the poet. The evening will also include the world premiere of a setting of one of Auden's poems by composer, Tom Cunningham, and a new pipe tune, "Professor Edward Mendelson's visit to Edinburgh".
From 'Belles-Lettres' to 'Eng-Lit': Criticism and its PublicsThursday 24 May 2012, 6pm -
7.15pmGeorge Square Lecture TheatreProfessor Stefan Collini re-examines the history of the activity of literary criticism and discipline of English Literature.
The History of Essences and Transhistoricals: An Approach to Modernist StudiesMonday 9 July 2012, 2pm -
3.15pmConference Room, David Hume Tower, George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9JX.Professor Stephen Kern, Ohio State University. Distinguished scholar, and innovator in the study of modernist art, literature and thought, Professor Kern will discuss his approach to modernism and the historical method he developed during the writing of his best-known book, "The Culture of Time and Space: 1880-1918". This lecture is being held in association with the Scottish Network of Modernist Studies.
Thomas Carlyle and the University of EdinburghThursday 15 November 2012, 5.15pm -
6.15pmFaculty Room South, David Hume Tower, George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9JX.Ian Campbell, University of Edinburgh
Book Festival events

As usual, the Edinburgh International Book Festival will host the awards ceremony for the James Tait Black Prizes.
Additionally, in celebration of English Literature's 250th anniversary, there will be a further Book Festival session, on 'Literature and Criticism in Edinburgh'.
Date and time to be announced.
This article was published on Mar 14, 2012