DALC Hosts the 3rd World Congress of Scottish Literatures

On 22-26 June, DALC hosts the 3rd World Congress of Scottish Literatures, organized in cooperation with the International Association for the Study of Scottish Literatures.

Approximately 150 delegates from around the world will attend the Congress. In addition to Scottish and UK universities, universities from a number of European countries (France, Croatia, Iceland, Italy, Hungary, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain), North America (Canada, USA), Asia (China, Japan, Turkey), and Australia are represented.

Keynote lectures will be delivered by Prof. Angela Esterhammer (University of Toronto), Prof. Glenda Norquay (John Moores University Liverpool), Prof. Joep Leerssen (University of Amsterdam), and Christopher Whyte, a leading Scottish critic, translator, and author. The plenary reading will be given by Prof. Alan Spence, acclaimed poet and novelist who served as Makar (official poet) of the City of Edinburgh in 2017-2021.

The congress programme highlights the European and global dimension of Scottish literature, including international inspirations and influences, translations and reception, and the work of Scottish authors who lived and wrote abroad. It also reflects the diversity of Scottish literature by including papers on Scottish literature in English, Gaelic, and Scots, and from a range of regions, from Edinburgh and Glasgow to the northern archipelagos of Orkney and Shetland. Apart from panels on the best-known writers such as R. L. Stevenson, Robert Burns and Walter Scott, the programme features papers focusing on the most contemporary literature. A number of sessions are devoted to Scottish women writers, as well as to literary works dealing with nature, landscape, and ecology.

The first World Congress of Scottish Literatures was held in Glasgow (2014) and the second in Vancouver (2017). The fact that the third Congress has been entrusted to DALC is an expression of international recognition of the efforts to develop the field of Scottish Studies at the Faculty of Arts. At the opening ceremony in the Karolinum, the delegates will be welcomed by Dr Eva Lehečková, Dean of the Faculty of Arts, the organizers of the congress, Prof. Martin Procházka and Dr Petra Johana Poncarová, and the Convenor of the International Association for the Study of Scottish Literatures, Prof. Carla Sassi.

During the congress, the bilingual exhibition “Česko-skotské vztahy / Czech-Scottish Relations” will be launched. Afterwards, it will be freely accessible at the main building of the Faculty of Arts. Twelve panels present the relations between the two countries, historical intersections, translations of Scottish literature into Czech, as well as achievements in the field of Scottish studies at the Faculty of Arts so far.

The programme also includes an evening of Scottish music and dance on Friday 24 June 2022, which is open to faculty members and students by appointment (those interested may contact Dr Poncarová at PetraJohana.Poncarova@ff.cuni.cz).

The full programme is available on the congress website.

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