News includes

Colleagues reflect on the passing of former colleague, Francis O'Gorman, a passionate and prolific expert on the English literature of the long nineteenth century.

We talk to the final year student about overcoming her fears to win the top prize in the 19th Japanese Speech Contest.

Colleagues in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies reflect on the passing of Jaakko Hämeen-Anttila, renowned scholar of classical Arabic and Persian literature, culture and historiography.

Margaret Mackay tells us about the long-standing relationship between two of our key subject areas and the people who shaped them.

Elisabeth Goemans, a PhD candidate in Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies, tells us about writing an opinion piece for the newspaper De Standaard, and what happened next.

Teaching Fellow Esther Tyldesley tells us about her PEN Translates award-winning work on The Sacred Clan by Liang Hong.

We speak to Dr Hephzibah Israel about the research and creative process behind her exhibition மொழிபெயர்ப்பு / the nature of difference.

Francesca Lutje-Wilkes, a final year student of Japanese, has won the University’s book collecting prize for her collection of the historical work of female manga artists.

A Latin American Literature PhD graduate, Carolina is the co-founder of Edinburgh-based publishing house, Charco Press.

Working full time as a playwright, Francisca Da Silveira has held two year-long fellowships and had plays staged across the USA this year. She is a Susan Smith Blackburn Prize 2023 finalist.

An award-winning playwright and screenwriter, Laurie studied with us between 2010 and 2015, completing an MA Hons in History of Art and English Literature, and an MSc in Playwriting.

Twenty years after her first degree, Lynn completed an award-winning MSc in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies and now drives forward skills and training for social businesses tackling global challenges.

We hear from alumni and staff in Asian Studies and Film, Exhibition and Curation about the very first edition of a new festival showcasing films by and about Chinese women.

Shortly after graduating in Film, Exhibition and Curation, Yixiang developed her final masters project into the MINT Chinese Film Festival of which she is Co-founder and Lead Curator.

Tsz Ho (Brian) Wong, an East Asian Studies PhD candidate, tells us about working with the Hong Kong Young Historian Institute on this year’s International Symposium for Young Scholars in Asia Seas.

A two-time postgraduate alumnus in Asian Studies, Carol now owns and runs an independent cinema in northern England where she has co-founded the MINT Chinese Film Festival.

Julian Ward reflects on the passing of our friend and colleague Paul Dundas, Sanskrit expert and author of The Jains.

We chat to Fraser Fifield about his plans to make new music inspired by the School of Scottish Studies Archives and about his "adopted home city" of Edinburgh.

Having graduated with an MA in Spanish and History in 2020, filmmaker Harry’s short film SANTI was selected for the BFI Future Film Festival 2022.

Former Hispanic Studies student, Susan Harrison, pays tribute to two long-standing members of our languages’ community.

Artist, curator and teacher Dr Anke-Beate Stahl came to Edinburgh in 1989 as an undergraduate student to study Swedish and Old Icelandic and fell in love with Scotland.

Deputy Editor of The Local in Sweden, Becky graduated with an MA (Hons) in German and Scandinavian Studies in 2017.

We sit down with Scandinavian Studies graduates Christian Cooijmans and Ian Giles, editors of two new books honouring the work of their PhD supervisors Arne Kruse and Bjarne Thorup Thomsen.

English Literature student Susanna Demelas tells us about spending the summer working on some of the biggest festivals in Edinburgh as the College Festival Projects Intern.

PhD student in English Literature Carolina Buffoli talks to us about her role as a Teaching Assistant on the 'How to Read a Novel' MOOC.

We sat down with online student-run magazine The Film Dispatch to catch up on their first six months and hopes for the future.

Patrick Errington talks about his Emerging Writers Award win and helping his students find their voice and community.

We hear from Katia Popova and students about helping displaced Ukrainians adjust to life in Edinburgh.

Shona Thomson tells us how the making of her FOCAL Award-shortlisted film is being used on our Film, Exhibition and Curation programme to help students explore working with archives.

We talk to Creative Writing student Tim Tim Cheng about her experience as a mentee of the Roddy Lumsden Memorial Mentorship and getting involved with the creative community in Edinburgh and beyond.

We hear from the researchers behind Remediating Stevenson, a new three-year project to engage contemporary readers in Samoa, Scotland and Hawai'i.

Vidisha Ghosh and Olivia Thomakos, Editors-in-Chief of Volume Seven of our Creative Writing anthology, tell us about guiding a student publishing team and embracing the unpredictability of the creative process.

We have been rated 3rd in the UK by Times Higher Education for the quality and breadth of our research in Modern Languages using the latest Research Excellence Framework (REF 2021).

Over 90 per cent of our research and impact in English Literature has been classed as world-leading and internationally excellent by Research Professional using the latest Research Excellence Framework (REF 2021).

PhD in English Literature candidate Céleste Callen shares her experiences of being a Student Reader for the James Tait Black Prize for Fiction.

Dramatist and podcaster JD Stewart completed our MSc in Playwriting in 2020 and was one of the National Library of Scotland’s 10 Fresh Ink writers of 2021.

Project Manager at Screen Language, Mark is a Translation Studies graduate whose dissertation led to a collaboration with graphic novelist Moderna de Pueblo.

We talk to Hoi Lun Law about being BAFTSS-shortlisted for Best First Monograph and how our students can engage with ambiguity and film criticism.

We talk to students Lucy, Nina, Ella and Harriet about their involvement in the eighth Edinburgh Spanish Film Festival.

A tribute to the first Head of the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures.

Students of Spanish, Rachel Weller and Gabriel Vargas, talk to us about their involvement in the second Una Europa Student Congress.

Shortlisted for this year’s James Tait Black Awards and the Dylan Thomas Prize, Dima graduated with an MSc in Creative Writing in 2013.

Professor John Renwick reflects on winning the RSE Sir Walter Scott Medal for his work on Voltaire and Marmontel.

We hear from a Year 3 French and German student about attending an online summer school on the European Union.

German and History MA Hons graduate Rosie tells us about Wanderbücher for a post-Brexit Europe.

Having graduated with an MSc in Comparative Literature in 2015, Cristina is now a prize-winning writer and translator.

Dr Charlotte Bosseaux talks to us about her new, AHRC-funded, practice-based research project.

First year PhD in English Literature candidate Aiswarya Jayamohan talks about their experience as a Student Reader for the James Tait Black Prize for Biography.

Recent French and Spanish MA (Hons) graduate, Anna, talks us through her final year experience.

Having graduated in 2021 in Arabic and French, Zara is the co-founding Director of the Inspire Launch Grow Awards emerging enterprise finalist, Edventure.

Students Annabel, Jasmine and Lia tell us about their virtual Karneval workshop with P6 learners from Craigentinny Primary School.

First year PhD in English Literature candidate Heather Milligan tells us what it's like to be a Student Reader for the James Tait Black Prize for Fiction.

Graduates Sarah Partington and Rosie Shackleton talk about a German classroom interview project that led to voluntary roles at the National Museum of Scotland.

Will Lamb outlines what Automatic Speech Recognition means for the future of Scotland’s Gaelic language.

The joint winner of the inaugural Pontas & JJ Bola Emerging Writers Prize talks to us about developing her Creative Writing dissertation into an award-winning novel-in-progress.

We talk to Scottish Ethnology and English Literature student Hector Shaw about combining university with working on his debut EP.

A graduate in Arabic and French, who won awards for her student volunteering work, Emily is now a journalist in Beirut, Lebanon.

We talk to the author of “Nothing by Accident: Brazil on the Edge” about how studying languages at Edinburgh led to a career in human rights and building a world-class skatepark.

What does it take to be a good supervisor during a pandemic? Neill reflects on reimagining research.

Three Film, Exhibition and Curation students talk to us about their experiences of Sundance and how it feels to have their research used by the Festival.

It’s 70 years since the University began collecting images, stories and voices of unheard Scottish lives. Lori Watson and Neill Martin reflect on this cultural milestone.

Research on the Anna Murray and Frederick Douglass Family has led to the development of an online learning resource on African American revolutionaries.

Poetry Editor Aarti Mukhedkar, a second year English Literature and History student, tells us what it's like to be involved in the PublishED society.

Graduate Marka Rifat reflects on her time in Les Escogriffes in the late 1970s and how student societies and creative networks can add so much to the university experience.

We hear from student Sam Shackleton and graduate Scott Gardiner about the joy of performing in the University’s annual St Andrew’s Day concert.

An MSc in Comparative Literature graduate, Kimaya is the founding editor of the bilingual Bilori Journal, part of the ‘decoloniszing our bookshelves’ project on marginalised and intersectional identities.

Wilson McLeod talks about his Saltire Society honour, one of six Fletcher of Saltoun Awards given to Scotland’s leading figures in 2020.

We talk to graduates Laura Tribaudino and Tessa Duncan about their experiences of the Edinburgh Spanish Film Festival. ESFF 2020 runs from 6th-25th October.

Just one year on from graduating in Playwriting, Amy was longlisted for the inaugural Women’s Prize for Playwriting and had a play, Matterhorn, commissioned by Traverse.

We talk to Patrick Jamieson and Daniela Silva about Taproot Press and its origins in Scotland's radical publishing scene.

Literature and Classics PhD student Alice Rae describes how being Lead Student Reader for the James Tait Black Prize for Fiction has added to her interdisciplinary study experience.

In her second year as Lead Student Reader for the James Tait Black Prize for Biography, we talk to PhD student June Laurenson about judging Britain's oldest literary awards.

We chat to Nadin Akta, Celeste-Marie Bernier, Fiona Carmichael and Christine Lennie about being nominated by their peers for their contribution to our community.

She reflects on what the award means, particularly during a time of crisis, and on our very special community of Creative Writing students.

We chat to PhD candidate, and Web and Communications Postgraduate Intern, Ellen Davis-Walker about our new podcast on research and the people who make it happen.

The Scandinavian Studies team have met senior members of the Nordic Council at the Scottish Parliament to talk about strengthening and promoting Scottish and Nordic languages.

We talk to Royal Society of Literature award-winner, David Farrier, about why it’s important for literature to engage with place, time and the environment and about how students can get involved.

MA (Hons) Arabic and French student, Emma Penney, talks about the student-run charity SolidariTee and how translating for refugees has helped shape her future.

Final year Scottish Studies student Euan Lownie tells us about his first book, ‘Never, Ever Take Anybody’s Advice on Anything’, featuring words of wisdom from successful Scots.

The winner of this year’s Anna Balakian Prize is a three-time Edinburgh graduate who completed his PhD in French in 2015 and is now a Swedish Research Council Research Fellow at Lund University.

Tracey S. Rosenberg chats about sharing her writing expertise with students across the university, and about why Edinburgh is such a great place for creative writing.

The recent English Literature PhD graduate traces her journey from book historian to digital encoder of Fanny Van de Grift Stevenson’s previously-unknown short stories.

Fourth year student Natalie Hotchkiss talks about taking time out and changing degrees midway through her undergraduate programme.

While working as a trainee solicitor, Francesca (MA Hons, 2017) had her research on “Positive Energy” in Chinese discourse published in the British Journal of Chinese Studies.

Final year Scottish Studies student, Euan Lownie, reflects on the legacy of one of the most prolific contributors to the School of Scottish Studies Archives.

PhD in Japanese candidate Olivia Putyer tells us about the public engagement skills she’s developed through Venus Bound, a week-long exhibition of over 30 artworks.

Magali Roman, Editor-in-Chief of this year's Creative Writing anthology, shares her experiences of leading a large student publishing team.

Having completed her PhD in Chilean Women's Poetry in 2019, Bárbara is now an Assistant Professor in Latin American Studies at the University of Hong Kong.

Playwriting students Francisca Da Silveira, Ahmad Musta'ain Khamis and Joanna Glum share their experiences of pre-viewing work at Traverse Theatre.

Literature and History PhD student, Thom Pritchard, talks to us about the student-run Edinburgh Early Modern Network of postgraduate students and staff.

We chat to the Playwriting MSc student about the impact of the Drama Prize on her own creative development.

MSc Book History and Material Culture students, Amber Matthews and Hailey Brock, talk about the highlights and challenges of organising the mini-conference, Off the Shelf.

Jokha Alharthi reflects on her time in a "literature paradise" as a postgraduate student of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies in Edinburgh.

We talk to Film Studies MSc student Simon Galván about developing his skills at the fifth annual Edinburgh Spanish Film Festival.

Based in the Scottish Borders, Harriet completed our Film Studies MSc in 2010 and is now Partnerships Coordinator at Regional Screen Scotland. She is also the founder of feminist film project, Behind the Curtain.

PhD student Gina Maya Roberts tells us what she’s learned about bringing a range of people together for an international conference on the transgender experience.

The Lead Student Reader for this year’s James Tait Black Prize for Biography tells us about her experience of judging Britain's oldest literary awards.

The PhD student and reader for this year’s James Tait Black Prizes reflects on being involved in 100 years of literary celebration.

She reflects on working in partnership with undergraduate students and colleagues to reshape Japanese courses and excellent peer support.