New publications by our members: the essay 'Scottish Travellers, National Character, and Cross-border Storytelling' by Angela Esterhammer has been published in the latest issue of @litterariaprag.bsky.social. The essay is available in open access: litterariapragensia.ff.cuni.cz/2026-71-3/

The IASSL PhD Award is aimed at outstanding PhD dissertations on Scottish literature submitted outside of the UK (written in English or other languages). The first round is open for submissions! 🏆🎓 scotlit-iassl.org/awards/iassl...

New publications by our members: the article 'Patrick Geddes’s Influence on France and Beyond' by Murdo Macdonald has appeared in the latest issue of 'Cahiers victoriens et édouardiens: on 'Inspirations et modèles écossais'. 🇫🇷 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Available in open access: journals.openedition.org/cve/18477 🔓

New projects by our members: @profdanielcook.bsky.social has launched the website 'Mary Shelley's Dundee' maryshelley.co.uk, an open access learning resource that highlights Shelley's formative connections with Scotland.

New publications by our members: in the latest issue of 'The Bottle Imp' @asls.org.uk, David Manderson discusses twentieth-century urban Scottish literature, focusing on Alan Sharp, who, born in Perthshire and adopted by a Greenock shipyard family, wrote extensively about his industrial background.

The new Interactive Map of Burns Suppers Worldwide by @glasgowburns.bsky.social is going to be launched soon, in person at the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum in Alloway and online. ⬇️

The call for papers for the 5th World Congress of Scottish Literatures is open until 30 November 2026. The congress will be held at Nanjing Normal University in Nanjing, China, on 17-20 June 2027. The main theme of this congress is 'Scotland Along the New Silk Road'.

New publications by our members: the article 'Scottish Food Patriotism and the Literary Antecedents of Robert Burns's "To a Haggis"' by Gerry Carruthers and @paulmalgrati.bsky.social has been published in the IRSS @uguelphscottish.bsky.social @edinburghup.bsky.social. Available in open access!

Call for participants: 'National Theatre of Scotland at 20: Culture, Democracy, and the Stateless Nation', organised by our member Paula Śledzińska @iashedinburgh.bsky.social. Scottish Storytelling Centre @scotstorycentre.bsky.social, 23 October 2026. Application form: tinyurl.com/yc6s7cvs

Newly finished PhDs: @mathieubokestael.bsky.social has defended his dissertation, ‘Reading Immunofiction: The Immunitary Unconscious in Contemporary Scottish Writing (1981-2023)’ at @ucddublin.bsky.social. The viva was passed with no corrections. tinyurl.com/yu82cy9p Congratulations!

New publications by our members: the latest issue of 'Studies in Hogg & His World' 33-34 (2024-25), edited by Holly Faith Nelson. Available from the James Hogg Society. tinyurl.com/yeybzf2j Holly Faith Nelson & Sharon Alker on Hogg, ecology, and class; Patrick Scott on Hogg and Francis Jeffrey.

Achievements of our members: Caroline McCracken-Flesher (U of Wyoming) has been named the recipient of the 2026 National Tartan Day Award by the Scottish Coalition USA, for 'her unwavering leadership support and passion for Scottish Studies heritage and carrying forward to the next generation.'

New publications by our members: Alan Sharp’s 'A Green Tree in Gedde' (1965) in a scholarly edition prepared by @paulmalgrati.bsky.social @insuhi.bsky.social and Colin Mcilroy @natlibscot.bsky.social and published by @asls.org.uk. asls.org.uk/publications...

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🇮🇹 A new Scoto-Sicilian literary collaboration is being developed at @uniofaberdeen.bsky.social by IASSL members Derrick McClure and Letizia Leonardi, including a book featuring 11 poets and 6 translators. 📣 The team are looking for Sicilian writers interested in translating from Scottish poetry.

The latest episode of the podcast @thecarryingstream.bsky.social, founded and hosted by our member @paulmalgrati.bsky.social, features French historian Clément Guézais and focuses on the medieval Auld Alliance. 🇫🇷 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 pod.link/1865430519

New publications by our members: Murray Pittock has published 'The Shortest History of Scotland' in the Shortest History Series. It was the no. 4 bestselling book in Scotland in May. tinyurl.com/3actvxcn

The latest issue of the IASSL quarterly newsletter has been dispatched to all members earlier this week, with information about projects, awards, publications, conferences, and upcoming events. All recent newsletter issues, including the current one, are available on our website. 📬📩

In May, IASSL held its election for offices. Bob Irvine is the new convener, supported by a committee of re-elected and newly elected members, based at universities in Scotland, Spain, Portugal, Czech Republic, USA, and China, representing IASSL's global reach. tinyurl.com/yf5j35c6

CfP: 'Hogg’s Worlds Now'. The James Hogg Society is delighted to announce that it will be holding a conference at @glasgow.ac.uk on 2-4 July 2027. tinyurl.com/432anhdm

New publications by our members: the article 'Periodicals Published under the Banner of Waverley' by Anne McKee Stapleton has appeared in the Victorian Periodicals Review @vpreditors.bsky.social, published by @rs4vp.org.

On 11-12 May 2026, IASSL members Nigel Leask and Peadar O Muircheartaigh @pomuirch.bsky.social organised a symposium in the Barbados Museum & Historical Society, entitled ‘Perspectives on the Gaelic Caribbean: Irish, Scottish and Caribbean Connections’. The recording is now available on YouTube.

If you missed the first webinar in the new series 'Narratives of Illness and Dis/ability in Scottish Literature' last week, featuring talks by Holly Faith Nelson and Graham Morgan, the full recording is now available on the IASSL YouTube channel. 🎦

The Scottish Polish Cultural Association organises an online launch for 'Eagle and Lion: Polish Poems and Scots Translations' (Grace Note Publications, 2025), edited by IASSL member Derrick McClure and Tom Hubbard. 3 June, 7:00 pm, on ZOOM. To register, please email: [email protected] 🇵🇱 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Forthcoming publications by IASSL members: the monograph 'Esther Inglis, 1570-1624: Franco-Scottish Creative Woman' by Georgianna Ziegler @folger.edu will be published by @edinburghup.bsky.social. It will be the first monograph biography of the calligrapher, artist, embroiderer, translator and poet.

The symposium 'A Kingdom in Perplexity: Voices of Seventeenth-Century Scotland' @scot17thcentury.bsky.social is organised by PGR students with support from the @glasgow.ac.uk History Department on 11 June 2026. It is designed for those with an interest in any aspect of early modern Scotland.

Registration is now open for the annual conference of our partner @asls.org.uk, held at @sabhalmorostaig.bsky.social, 26–28 June 2026, on the theme "'Our three-voiced country': Twentieth-century cross-currents in Gaelic and other Scottish writing".

New publications by our members: the article 'Black, Black Oil: Petromasculinity and Slow Violence in The Black Eden' by @monikaszuba.bsky.social has been published in @cl-journal.bsky.social. Read in open access: cl.uwpress.org/content/66/3...

The next IASSL webinar is going to be the first session in the new series 'Narratives of Illness and Dis/ability in Scottish Literature', featuring talks by Holly Faith Nelson & Graham Morgan. 15 May 2026, 8:30 pm UK time on MS Teams, all welcome!

The call for submissions and nominations for the 2026 Jack Medal is now open. The award recognises the best article/book chapter on a subject related to Reception or Diaspora in Scottish Literatures (including Scots, Gaelic, English, and Latin). Conditions: scotlit-iassl.org/awards/the-j...

New publications by our members: the essay 'Stevenson, Principal Tulloch and Scottish History' by Graham Tulloch @flindersuniversity.bsky.social has been published in the latest issue of Studies in Scottish Literature @edinburghup.bsky.social.

If you missed our Environmental Scotland IV webinar with Garry MacKenzie and Coinneach Maclean this Monday, the recording is now available on the IASSL YouTube channel, together with previous events in the series. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏔️

The new episode of the podcast @thecarryingstream.bsky.social, hosted by IASSL member @paulmalgrati.bsky.social @insuhi.bsky.social, interviews poet and scholar Robert Crawford. Available on all podcast platforms.

New publications by IASSL members: the essay ‘Scottish by Formation’: Michel Faber’s Under the Skin and National Ambiguities' by @rodgeglass.bsky.social has bee published in the latest issue of Studies in Scottish Literature 51:2 @edinburghup.bsky.social.

The new 'Edinburgh Companion to Alasdair Gray and the Arts' @edinburghup.bsky.social, edited by Marie Hedon, Camille Manfredi, and Kirsten Stirling, is now available for pre-order!

The latest issue of Études écossaises (25 | 2026), entitled 'Scottish Territories and Memories', is available in open access. It features contributions by IASSL members Kristel van Soeren, Monika Kocot, Julie Gay and Camille Manfredi. journals.openedition.org/etudesecossa...

In a week's time (Monday 20 April 2026, 5 pm UK time), join us for the next webinar in the Environmental Scotland series, featuring talks by Garry MacKenzie and Coinneach Maclean. All welcome! scotlit-iassl.org/2026/01/15/e...

IASSL welcomes new members from all around the world. If you research Scottish literature in any language (English, Gaelic, Latin, Scots), whether at a university, as an independent scholar, or as a PhD student, we'd love to have you on board!

Congratulations to IASSL member Rob Sutton who has just defended his PhD thesis on '"Cultural Jacobitism" in the Writing of Anne Grant (1755-1838)' at @ljmuofficial.bsky.social. The dissertation is available in open access: researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/28...

Upcoming events with IASSL members: this year's annual John Galt Lecture will be delivered by Robert Irvine @edinburgh-uni.bsky.social on 1 May 2026 at the Wellwood Burns Centre & Museum on 'John Galt and Scotland's Forgotten Revolution.'

Next IASSL webinar in the 'Environmental Scotland' series is coming up on Monday 20 April 2026 at 5 pm (UK time) on Zoom. The event will feature two talks, by Garry MacKenzie and Coinneach Maclean, and will be followed by a discussion. Free to attend, all welcome! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🌿 tinyurl.com/ca9bs4nt

The IASSL PhD Award is aimed at outstanding PhD dissertations on Scottish literature submitted outside of the UK (written in English or other languages). The first round is open for submissions! 🏆🎓 scotlit-iassl.org/awards/iassl...

New publications by IASSL members: David Manderson's essay ‘Promiscuous Sympathies: Alan Sharp and Robert Burns' has been published in The Burns Chronicle @edinburghup.bsky.social. It examines Sharp's screenplay 'Burns,' written between 2001–2010. tinyurl.com/383v37tz

The 2026 @mcgill.ca Chair in Canadian-Scottish Studies Colloquium will take place on 10 April 2026. The keynote address will be delivered by Rob Dunbar, @edinburgh-uni.bsky.social & Chair of @bordnagaidhlig.bsky.social. The event is going to be livestreamed: tinyurl.com/3x8c6ry5 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🇨🇦

Call for Papers: 'Politics, Place and Print Culture: The 14th International Walter Scott Conference', @edinburgh-uni.bsky.social, 28-30 June 2027, organised by @mckeever.bsky.social & team. Deadline for proposals: 1 October 2026. Details of financial support for PGRs to follow. tinyurl.com/yt2vj4x7

Research & impact by IASSL members: the plans to restore Ellisland farm, the only home designed and built by Robert Burns, are underpinned by research carried out at Barnbougle Castle in East Lothian by Gerry Carruthers @glasgow.ac.uk who is also a trustee of Robert Burns Ellisland Museum and Farm.

New publications by IASSL members: the article 'Adventures in Mind and Landscape: Poetics of Emptiness in Gary Snyder and Kenneth White' by Monika Kocot (University of Lodz) has been published in the Polish Journal for American Studies 19 (2025). Available in open access: tinyurl.com/evw6jmsd

New projects of IASSL members: @ainsley76.bsky.social (@uniofaberdeen.bsky.social) has been awarded funding from the @royalsoced.bsky.social to support the second stage of her project on Walter Scott’s Lighthouse Yacht Journal (1814), with heritage partners at Abbotsford and the @nlb-uk.bsky.social.

@uniofstandrews.bsky.social is currently looking to hire a new permanent lecturer in Scottish Literature with specialism anywhere within the period c. 1760-present. Closing Date: 16 April 2026 | Interview Date: 7 May 2026. www.vacancies.st-andrews.ac.uk/Vacancies/W/...

New publications by IASSL members: the monograph 'The Matter of Genre: Ian Rankin and the Tartan Noir Novel' by @agnieszkasch.bsky.social (University of Gdansk) has been published by Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu w Siedlcach. tinyurl.com/4bekfkd2 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🇵🇱 Congratulations!

New projects of IASSL members: Craig Lamont @glasgow.ac.uk has been awarded an AHRC Curiosity Award for his project on memory and care experience in Scottish life-writing. The project is supported by partners across Scotland: @aberlourcharity.bsky.social, @celcis.org, @scottishbooktrust.bsky.social.