Part of a special issue on Comparative Literature and Translation edited by my colleagues @hpartzsch.bsky.social and @drmirnasolic.bsky.social.

My essay 'Italo Pizzi’s Shahnameh: Oriental Studies, Comparison, and Translation at the Origins of the Italian Nation' is now live on @modlangopen.bsky.social ! It expands the origin story of Comparative/World Literature via Oriental Studies by looking at a forgotten Italian. doi.org/10.3828/mlo....

I was very happy to be part of this special issue on Julia's wonderful book, which I used as an opportunity to reflect on the broader history of Persian literature in Europe and the limits of viewing translation and literary history through a national lens.

It was so intellectually rewarding to work with @global-ih.bsky.social on a special section on my book! The essays by @paulbabinski.bsky.social and @drjoeford.bsky.social extended the reflection temporally, while @saraharens.bsky.social and Richard Hibbitt made me reflect on my critical method.

Over the moon for having been awarded a 12-month Leverhulme Research Fellowship for 'Experimental Empire: Science, Technology, and Belgian Colonialism, 1897-1958' and beyond grateful to my wonderful academic pals + my endlessly patient colleagues at @livunihss.bsky.social 💚

MOST READ | 'Multilingual Locals and Significant Geographies: For a Ground-up and Located Approach to World Literature' by Karima Laachir, @saramarzagora.bsky.social & Francesca Orsini. Read it #OA: bit.ly/MLO-LMO @saraharens.bsky.social @ritorneropoeta.bsky.social @fmussgnug.bsky.social

Great culture can save lives. Literally. Amazing letter in today’s @thetimes.com about Tom Stoppard

Excited to give the keynote for the Dante Futures conference tomorrow at Warwick, where I was a Leverhulme ECF. The interconnection between Medievalism and Orientalism is a new topic for me and I look forward to the conversations at the conference and beyond with Dantists & scholars of Orientalism.

So a book I need to see — Albert Schouteet, De klerken van de Vierschaar te Brugge met inventaris van hun protocollen (Brugge, 1973) — seems only to exist in a couple of libraries in Belgium and the Netherlands. If it's near you and you could take some pictures, I'll happily pay for your time!

Popular article on MLO this week⬇️ 'Investigating the Canon: The Reader as Detective in Reworkings of Madame Bovary and Jane Eyre' by Dr Katie Jones @standrewsenglish.bsky.social Read it #OpenAccess: bit.ly/_Detective @saraharens.bsky.social @ritorneropoeta.bsky.social @saramarzagora.bsky.social

We are on! Alexander’s Feast staets now live on @bbcradio3bot.bsky.social I’ll be doing the interval commentary at 8.30pm, telling more about Achaemenid Persia, the burning of Persepolis and its Western retellings.

🚨 Tim Unwin Early Career Researcher Grant 🚨 Early career researcher grants of up to £500 are available to SDN members to assist with a research project related to 19th-century French studies. Send us your application by 1 September! More info here: uksdn.co.uk/ecr-grant/

We are delighted to share this year's LUP Reviewer Rewards. Read the full list on the LUP blog: bit.ly/ReviewerRewards24 Winners include: ‪ @amyhubbell.bsky.social @sonjasg.bsky.social @ritorneropoeta.bsky.social @goringpd.bsky.social Congratulations to all recipients!🏆

The University of Glasgow & the British Library have announced a fully funded PhD Studentship on "Fanfiction and Online Fan Communities: Collecting Practice and Inclusion in a National Collection" www.gla.ac.uk/scholarships...

A truly special occasion and a great reminder of why we chose a career in academia.

Very excited to see the BBC Proms programme released today and to share that I'll be returning this year as an interval commentator for the performance of Handel's 'Alexander's Feast' on 30/8/25! I'll be talking Persepolis🔥 🏛️🔥 and operatic treatments of Persia 🎼 👑🗡️📯 www.bbc.co.uk/events/e8qbc....

In today's episode of Julia's deep dive into Italian Orientalism, Italo Pizzi (who was to become Italy's first Professor of Persian) writes in 1878 of the dejection of being thirty and having to rely on precarious teaching positions due to not having found permanent academic employment in his field.

Out now! www.taylorfrancis.com/books/edit/1...

After almost a decade of working on French Orientalism, I'm turning to Italian Orientalism. Today's two highlights from De Gubernatis, founding father of Italian Oriental Studies: 1) he brags about Renan blowing him a kiss at a conference 2) proudly declares his right to research everything he loves

2000 Black prisoners of war were brought to Portchester Castle in 1796. Abigail Coppins has been meticulously researching them since 2008 but unscrupulous writers are taking her research without citing her properly. If you read someone else on Portchester, it’ll be her work they’re basing it on 🗃️

Both my books and several articles. Enraging.

As it’s that time of year, here is a throwback to a Nowruz (Persian New Year) special of BBC Radio’s 3 Thinking that I recorded last year in excellent company: Michelle Assay, Susan Babaie and our own @UofGlasgow Ide Haghi. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Belgian university VUB is offering funding and a dedicated point of contact to attract US researchers whose work is in jeopardy 🇧🇪 press.vub.ac.be/vub-zet-deur...

this is a really great starter job in early modern French - in a wonderful place to work in that field. please circulate! www.sjc.ox.ac.uk/discover/vac...

The challenge of teaching Mary Renault's The Persian Boy is... fighting back the tears before class 😭❤️

Off to Liverpool to give a talk on my current book project! If you are in town it's tomorrow (Wednesday) at 1pm at 7 Abercromby Square, Seminar Room 6, hosted by @saraharens.bsky.social as part of the Languages, Cultures and Film Departmental Seminar Series.

Yesterday I had the trepidation and then the joy of reading the Journal of @frenchstudies.bsky.social review of my book Iran and French Orientalism by none other than Prof Michèle Hannoosh. 🤩