Dr Linden Bicket (MA M.Phil PhD AFHEA)
Lecturer in Literature and Religion

Address
- Street
-
School of Divinity, Mound Place
- City
- Edinburgh
- Post code
- EH1 2LX
Background
In May 2020 I took up the post of Lecturer in Literature and Religion in the School of Divinity at the University of Edinburgh, having previously been Senior Teaching Fellow in the School. Before that, I was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Studies in the Humanities, also at the University of Edinburgh.
I completed my doctorate on the Catholic imagination of the Orcadian writer George Mackay Brown (1921-1996) at the University of Glasgow in 2012, and my publications to date reflect my inter-disciplinary work in the fields of literature and religion. I am particularly interested in twentieth-century Catholic fiction and poetry, modern Scottish literature, and children's literature, but my research interests also include patterns of faith and scepticism in literature (and film and theatre) more broadly.
I am responsible for postgraduate tutor support, development, and mentorship in the School, and work closely with tutors throughout the academic year.
Qualifications
MA M.Phil PhD AFHEA
Responsibilities & affiliations
I am a member of the Scottish Network for Religion and Literature.
External appointments
Assistant Editor for the journal of Scottish Catholic history, Innes Review
Member of Council and Trustee of the Scottish Catholic Historical Association
Associate Member of the St Andrew's Foundation for Catholic Teacher Education
Member of the Association for Scottish Literary Studies
Useful Links
Innes Review - http://www.euppublishing.com/journal/inr
Undergraduate teaching
I teach on the following undergraduate courses:
Scottish Literature and the Religious Imagination
The Bible in Literature
Film, Religion and Ethics
Religion and Ethics in Literature
Postgraduate teaching
Scottish Literature, Imagination, and Faith
Issues of Religion and Ethics in Literature
Literature and Religion: Exploring the Connections
Approaches to Research: Religion and Literature
Religious Identity through Story
Open to PhD supervision enquiries?
Yes
Research summary
The Catholic imagination in twentieth-century British and American fiction and poetry
Patterns of faith and scepticism in literature
Twentieth century and contemporary Scottish Literature
The Bible in literature
Theology and the arts
Children's literature and religion
Current research interests
Current research focuses on Catholic women's writing of the twentieth century.Affiliated research centres
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George Mackay Brown and the disenchantment of Orkney
Research output: › Chapter (Published) -
Religion
Research output: › Chapter (peer-reviewed) (Accepted/In press) -
George Mackay Brown’s ‘Beachcomber': A study in miniature
In:
The Dark Horse, pp. 39-42
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Rhythms and images and legends are everywhere: George Mackay Brown's Orkney
Research output: › Chapter (peer-reviewed) (Published) -
A Catholic understanding of literature
Research output: › Chapter (Published) -
An Orkney Tapestry
(304 pages)
Research output: › Book (Published) -
And finally.. literature and faith
(1 page)
In:
Expository Times, vol. 131, pp. 522
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0014524620905268
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Comment/debate (E-pub ahead of print) -
Catholic and Protestant sensibilities in Scottish literature: Stevenson to Spark
(17 pages)
Research output: › Chapter (peer-reviewed) (Published) -
Unlocking Scottish balladry and folklore in George MacDonald's "The Golden Key"
Research output: › Chapter (Published) -
George Mackay Brown and the Scottish Catholic Imagination
(208 pages)
Research output: › Book (Published) -
Two neglected poets of late Victorian Scotland: John Luby and James Lynch
In:
Scottish Literary Review, vol. 9, pp. 59-81
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
The Fiction of Robin Jenkins: Some Kind of Grace
(280 pages)
Research output: › Book (Published) -
Football colours allowed: Sectarianism and contemporary Scottish theatre
Research output: › Chapter (Published) -
Reprise or Resolution? A Would-Be Saint, and Robin Jenkins's Final Novel, The Pearl Fishers
Research output: › Chapter (Published) -
Our peace is to do God's will: Peacebuilding through hagiography in the work of George Mackay Brown
Research output: › Chapter (Published) -
George Mackay Brown's 'Celia': The Creative Conversion of a Catholic Heroine
In:
Studies in Scottish Literature, vol. 40, pp. 167-182
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
The Short Stories of George Mackay Brown
(82 pages)
Research output: › Book (Published) -
George Mackay Brown's Marian Apocrypha: Iconography and enculturation in Time in a Red Coat
In:
Scottish Literary Review, vol. 5, pp. 81-96
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published)
In the press
I am a regular contributor to BBC Radio Scotland's 'Thought for the Day' segment, and often appear on BBC Radio Scotland's 'Sunday Morning With...' programme. I also contribute to 'Prayer for the Day' and 'The Daily Service' on BBC Radio 4.