iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Association for Scottish Literature @asls.org.uk · 12h

“I wish the wind may never cease, Nor fishes in the flood, Till my three sons come hame to me, In earthly flesh and blood” —in “The Wife of Usher’s Well”, a #ballad first collected in Walter Scott’s 𝘔𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘤𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘉𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳 (1802), a woman is visited by her three dead sons #WyrdWednesday

There lived a wife at Usher’s Well,
And a wealthy wife was she;
She had three stout and stalwart sons,
And sent them o’er the sea.

They hadna been a week from her,
A week but barely ane,
Whan word came to the carline wife
That her three sons were gane.

They hadna been a week from her,
A week but barely three,
Whan word came to the carlin wife
That her sons she’d never see.

—“I wish the wind may never cease,
Nor fishes in the flood,
Till my three sons come hame to me,
In earthly flesh and blood.”—

It fell about the Martinmas,
When nights are lang and mirk,
The carline wife’s three sons came hame,
And their hats were o’ the birk.

It neither grew in syke nor ditch,
Nor yet in ony sheugh;
But at the gates o’ Paradise,
That birk grew fair eneugh.

—“Blow up the fire, my maidens,
Bring water from the well:
For a’ my house shall feast this night,
Since my three sons are well.”—

And she has made to them a bed,
She’s made it large and wide;
And she’s ta’en her mantle her about,
Sat down at the bed-side.

Up then crew the red red cock,
And up and crew the gray;
The eldest to the youngest said,
—“’Tis time we were away.”—

The cock he hadna craw’d but once,
And clapp’d his wings at a’,
When the youngest to the eldest said,
—“Brother, we must awa.

“The cock doth craw, the day doth daw,
The channerin’ worm doth chide;
Gin we be miss’d out o’ our place,
A sair pain we maun bide.

“Fare ye weel, my mother dear!
Fareweel to barn and byre!
And fare ye weel, the bonny lass
That kindles my mother’s fire!”—

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Scott Lyall @scottlyall.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Good to have the latest book on Hugh MacDiarmid through the post. Published by Brill, with my chapter on MacDiarmid's religious poetry.

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Rebekah Higgitt @rhiggitt.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

REMINDER: the deadline for proposals is 4 September. We have some additional guidelines added to the call below: teleskopos.wordpress.com/wp-content/u... #histSTM #envhist

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Linda Andersson Burnett @lindaaburnett.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Mine & @brucealexb.bsky.social book 'Race and the Scottish Enlightement: A Colonial History' is reviewed in the recent nr of The William and Mary Quarterly. Thanks to C. D. E. Willoughby for his close engagement with our book yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300... muse.jhu.edu/issue/57168 #skystorians

yalebooks.yale.edu

Race and the Scottish Enlightenment

How colonialism shaped the Scottish Enlightenment’s conception of race and humanity In the decades after 1750, an increasing number of former medical st...

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Association for Scottish Literature @asls.org.uk · 07/08/2026

#OTD, 7 Aug, 1879, Robert Louis Stevenson set sail in the SS 𝘋𝘦𝘷𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘢 from Greenock to New York in pursuit of love. In THE AMATEUR EMIGRANT he gives a vivid, sharp, & engaging account of his (impoverished) travels to & in America – read the first 5 chapters free 👇 1/3 #C19 asls.org.uk/publications...

asls.org.uk

The Amateur Emigrant

by Robert Louis Stevenson Introduction by Julia Reid Published in: PDF “In the steerage there are males and females; in the second cabin ladies and gentlemen. For some time after I came aboard I…

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CARAA Center @caraacenter.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Louvre to lend Islamic art treasures to the Smithsonian. www.theartnewspaper.com/2026/08/05/l...

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Caitríona Beaumont @caitbeaumont.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

🥳 Happy to report our co-ed collection, me + @ruthdav.bsky.social & @evecolpus.bsky.social, now has 40k+ hits & is being cited a lot 🥳. Fully #OA & incl: @katebradleyhistory.bsky.social @chrismillard83.bsky.social @sarahcrook.bsky.social @jennycrane.bsky.social ++. link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

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Kit Baston @kgbaston.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

Friends of Edinburgh University Library event with the Friends of St Cecilia's Hall - ‘A Concord of Sweet Sounds’ - The Dolmetsch Lute Book in Context and Performance: Eric Thomas - 7 September 2026, 18:00 at St Cecilia's Hall: friendsofeul.co.uk/2026/08/02/a... #LuteConcert #Edinburgh 🎶

friendsofeul.co.uk

‘A Concord of Sweet Sounds’ -The Dolmetsch Lute Book in Context and Performance: Eric Thomas

A Joint event with the Friends of the Edinburgh University Library and the Friends of St Cecilia’s Hall To be held at St Cecilia’s Hall, Niddry Street, Monday, 7 September 2026 at 18:00…

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Journal of Art in Society @artinsociety.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

24/7/26 French artist Jean Béraud, chronicler of life in late 19th century Paris, depicts a fashionable woman in black pausing ambiguously on a street corner (‘The Wait, Rue de Chateaubriand’, c1900). But is the man in the distance her lover, her client, or just a pedestrian?

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Matthew Sangster @mjrsangster.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

The hardback of my first book, Living as an Author in the Romantic Period, appears to be deeply but mysteriously discounted at the moment (to £23.99): link.springer.com/book/10.1007.... If you've been waiting on purchasing a Palgrave book, might be worth a check to see if this discount applies.

link.springer.com

Living as an Author in the Romantic Period

To allow for a greater understanding of Romantic-period culture, this work explores how authors profited from their writings in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, contending that the ...

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British Online Archives (BOA) @boapublishing.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

New primary source collection coming soon—The Strand Magazine, 1891–1930. Associated, famously, with Sherlock Holmes, The Strand became a British cultural institution, blending literary sophistication with broad, popular appeal. Learn more at buff.ly/99WFqyn.

britishonlinearchives.com

The Strand Magazine, 1891–1930 - Overview

The Strand Magazine was one of the most influential and popular illustrated monthly periodicals of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Founded by George Newnes in 1890, the first issue…

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Romance, Revolution & Reform @rrrjournal.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

📣CfP Alert📣 We are delighted to announce that our CfP for the 2027 RRR conference is now open! The deadline for abstracts is the 25th of October. The focus will be on ecosystems of the long nineteenth century 🌱 We can’t wait to read your submissions!

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UHI Institute for Northern Studies @insuhi.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

PhD candidate Niamh MacKenzie, UHI Institute for Northern Studies, chairs an event to celebrate the book 'Craftland' by James Fox at The Portobello Bookshop, Edinburgh. September 3rd, 2026, 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM. Live stream available tinyurl.com/mymtrs98

tinyurl.com

James Fox - Craftland at The Portobello Bookshop

Please come and join us for James Fox - Craftland on 3rd September, at The Portobello Bookshop

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Jamie Fairbairn @drfairbairn.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Delighted that my interview was successful and I have been offered the position of the next Director of the Scots Language Centre. Me an Robert F in Aul Reekie.

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École française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO) @efeo-paris.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

#EFEO - DiPiKA Project 📣 Attend the lecture: "Faces of Tradition : The Essence of Kerala Mural Painting" by M. Nalinbabu Thursday, July 16, at 3 p.m. IST (11:30 a.m. CET) On site and online Learn more: swll.to/JL16zq

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International Association for the Study of Scottish Literatures @iassl.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

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/

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Dr Jennie Orr @drjenniferorr.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

And... I have a conference paper draft for #BARS2026! As always, it is the framing that takes the most time.

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Brad Congdon @brcongdon.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

Publication News! You can now pre-order the Cambridge Companion to Literature and the Weird, edited by me and @jasonhaslam.ca Look at that cover!! www.cambridge.org/core/books/c...

cambridge.org

The Cambridge Companion to Literature and the Weird

Cambridge Core - Literary Theory - The Cambridge Companion to Literature and the Weird

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International Association for the Study of Scottish Literatures @iassl.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

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 🔓

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Dr Laura Eastlake @victorianmasc.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

Totally outside my research expertise, but I've just discovered that @uofglasgowasc.bsky.social has the House of Fraser archive dating from 1849. It's a gorgeous peek into changes in fashion, culture & consumerism. Call your fashion historian pals! #c19th housefraserarchive.ac.uk

Pencil sketch of a woman skiing in winter hat and scarf. Back cover of Dickins & Jones Ltd Winter Sports catalogue. Image Source: The House of Fraser Archive at the University of Glasgow

A bride stands in front of a mirror in a fashionable early-Victorian boudoir. An older woman stands by the mirror in a blue gown. Three bridesmaids stand nearby with flowers in their hair. Image: 'The wedding morning' (1839). 'Upwards of a Century'. Dickins and Jones catalogue illustrating 100 years of fashion, 1909. Image Source: The House of Fraser Archive at the University of Glasgow

Image: Front cover of McDonalds Ltd, Christmas gifts catalogue, 1916 showing a christmas tree adorned with candles and gifts. Gifts include lamps, scarves, cushions and among the regular festive decorations there are national flags of Britain, France, Belgium and other allied from WW1. Image Source: The House of Fraser Archive at the University of Glasgow

Image: Photograph of the interior of the House of Fraser store in Buchanan Steet, Glasgow, decorated for Christmas, 1981. Several floors of sumptuously garlanded staircases around the central hall. Chandeliers decorated in green and red hang overhead. Image Source: The House of Fraser Archive at the University of Glasgow

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The Linnean Society of London @linneansociety.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Nominations open for Linnean Medal for research! Awarded for significant and sustained advances in the understanding of nature, including academic research into any relevant branch, including science, history and the humanities. Deadline Sept 30. For more details and past winners 👇️ buff.ly/X52reM9

linnean.org

The Linnean Medal (for research)

An awarded to scientists for an outstanding contribution to the natural sciences.

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Association for Scottish Literature @asls.org.uk · 01/07/2026

“John Bull is ignorant of the States; he is probably ignorant of India; but, considering his opportunities, he is far more ignorant of countries nearer his own door…” —Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Foreigner at Home” in MEMORIES & PORTRAITS via @gutenberg.org #C19 www.gutenberg.org/files/30598/...

It is so, perhaps, in all countries; perhaps in all, men are most ignorant of the foreigners at home. John Bull is ignorant of the States; he is probably ignorant of India, but, considering his opportunities, he is far more ignorant of countries nearer his own door. There is one country, for instance—its frontier not so far from London, its people closely akin, its language the same in all essentials with the English—of which I will go bail he knows nothing. His ignorance of the sister kingdom cannot be described; it can only be illustrated by anecdote. I once travelled with a man of plausible manners and good intelligence—a University man, as the phrase goes—a man, besides, who had taken his degree in life and knew a thing or two about the age we live in. We were deep in talk, whirling between Peterborough and London; among other things, he began to describe some piece of legal injustice he had recently encountered, and I observed in my innocence that things were not so in Scotland. “I beg your pardon,” said he, “this is a matter of law.” He had never heard of the Scots law; nor did he choose to be informed. The law was the same for the whole country, he told me roundly; every child knew that. At last, to settle matters, I explained to him that I was a member of a Scottish legal body, and had stood the brunt of an examination in the very law in question. Thereupon he looked me for a moment full in the face and dropped the conversation. This is a monstrous instance, if you like, but it does not stand alone in the experience of Scots.

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British Association for American Studies @officialbaas.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

🏛️ The Metropolitan Museum Journal invites articles &  research notes that contain original research on works of art in The Met’s collection. The deadline for submissions for the December Volume is 15th September.

buff.ly

☀️ Your Summer Writing Inspiration: Submit to the Metropolitan Museum Journal - British Association for American Studies

Submit to the Metropolitan Museum Journal (vol. 62, published December 2027)

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Emma Butler-Marr @19thcenturyem.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

Reposting again for the algorithm ✨️Still time to email to attend if you'd like (I can't promise it'll be any cooler than outside, but it will be fun!!)

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British Association for Romantic Studies @bars.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

Our next digital event will be an interactive workshop on making TikToks about your research! Run by yours truly, Chloe (@sadpphicstanza.bsky.social) and Amy (@wilcocksonamy.bsky.social). Join us on 30th June at 5pm BST. Meeting link on the blog: www.bars.ac.uk/blog/?p=6502

Poster for 'BARS Digital: TikTok, Short-form Content Creation, and Romantic Research', which reads: 'BARS’s TikTok account provides a platform for sharing tidbits of Romanticism with a wider audience. All of our members are welcome to contribute to the TikTok page to share their expertise, but we understand that short-form video is a confusing format for many people to work in. In this lunchtime workshop run by the BARS communications team (Amy Wilcockson and Chloe Wilcox), we will provide practical information of how to make TikToks for us, showing you:
- How TikTok works;
- How to choose a topic to speak about and tailor it to the time limit;
- How to film and edit videos.
The workshop will include a breakout session in which you’ll have the opportunity to draft a script for your own video.
We hope that attending will make the prospect of making a TikTok for us less intimidating, and allow us to feature a wider range of expertise on our account (from people like you!). It’ll also help you with other academic and Romantic social media work by getting you familiar with the mysterious but ever-growing world of short-form vertical video.'

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Shannon Mattern @shannonmattern.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

One thing I like to do in public talks: mention relevant work @ the host institution. Even just a quick shout out — I see you! — is not only rhetorically advantageous in building pathos; it also highlights projects that are often invisible internally + lets local leaders know abt external validation

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Dr Johnson's House @drjohnsonshouse.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

Join the Team! We are recruiting for a Learning Officer and Collections Engagement and Access Officer, two new roles at an exciting time in the development of this Grade I listed, literary house museum in the historic heart of London. www.drjohnsonshouse.org/jobs

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International Association for the Study of Scottish Literatures @iassl.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

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!

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For the Love of Missy @missybbbobtail.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

A lot of people are confused by the concept of “cat years" so here's a little guide: 0-1 years - just a little baby 1-3 years - just a little baby 4-9 years - just a little baby 10+ years - just a little baby

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Journal of British Studies @jbritishstudies.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

📢New article in JBS! 📗"'Captured at Sea': Maritime Conflict and the Circulation of Art in Early Modern Britain" by Rebecca Earle Open access here: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

cambridge.org

“Captured at Sea”: Maritime Conflict and the Circulation of Art in Early Modern Britain | Journal of British Studies | Cambridge Core

“Captured at Sea”: Maritime Conflict and the Circulation of Art in Early Modern Britain - Volume 65

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Anna Kornbluh @annakornbluh.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

"When scholars from historically excluded groups entered the academy in significant numbers they did not simply add new faces to existing conversations. They expanded the conversations themselves. They introduced new questions new archives new methods and new frameworks for understanding the world."

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International Association for the Study of Scottish Literatures @iassl.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

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.

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We are thrilled to announce the winner of VPFA's First Book Prize 2025: Rebecca Nesvet, James Malcom Rymer, Penny Fiction, and the Family! Honourable mentions were Riley McGuire, Dysfluent in Fiction: Vocal Disability & Nineteenth-Century Literature and Jay Sullivan, Egyptian Gothic: 1884-1920.

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BSECS @bsecs.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

Not only is the #CFP for #BSECS2027 out, the @isecs-sieds.bsky.social #CFP has also been released. 'Enlightenment and (in)equality' will take place in Zaragoza, Spain on the 12-16 July 2026.

The image is a poster for the ISECS conference with details of the date, and the location, overlaying an image of an ornate coach while people sell their wares and a small dog curled up in the corner

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ESSE @essenglish.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

Call for Contributions. Lexis – Journal in English Lexicology: Words about… #3: Words about Olfaction. #essecfp 👉 essenglish.org/cfp-volumes-...

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International Association for the Study of Scottish Literatures @iassl.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🇮🇹 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.

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Women's History Network @womenshistnet.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

Women’s History Scotland has a Call for Papers for its Annual Conference 2026. Submissions are welcome from all career stages, especially postgraduate researchers. ❗The deadline for proposals is 1 July 2026. Details can be found here: womenshistoryscotland.org/2026/05/04/c... #womenshistory

womenshistoryscotland.org

Call for Papers: Women’s History Scotland Annual Conference 2026 – Women's History Scotland

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ESSE @essenglish.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

Call for Papers. 2026 BAAHE conference: Human and Human-like Voices. Host and dates: UCLouvain (Louvain-la-Neuve) | 27 November 2026. #essecfp. 👉 essenglish.org/cfp-conferen...

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TCMFanatics @tcmfans.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

Sean Connery in Highlander (1986).

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Anna Fancett @annafancett.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

Romanticism folks, I am looking for new contributors for The Year's Work in English Studies (YWES). YWES is an annual review of scholarly work. It's the largest & most comprehensive work of its kind. I am looking for two people to join the poetry team and one person to take over drama.

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Jennifer Findlay @jenniferfindlay.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

My essay for the Old Edinburgh Club and Edinburgh Libraries competition is out in the wild! If you're into the history of John Knox's grave markers (and frankly, who isn't) you can read it here talesofonecity.wordpress.com

talesofonecity.wordpress.com

Tales of one city

news from Edinburgh Libraries

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Association for Scottish Literature @asls.org.uk · 30/05/2026

Hafiz, old nightingale, what fires there have been in the groves, white dust, wretchedness, how could you ever get your song together? —Edwin Morgan, “The New Divan” (1977) Morgan’s vivid, 100-stanza poem invokes the 14th-century CE Sufi poet Hafez & draws on Persian aesthetics #BookWormSat

The New Divan

1.
Hafiz, old nightingale, what fires there have been
in the groves, white dust, wretchedness,
how could you ever get your song together?
Someone stands by your tomb, thinks
as a shadow thinks: much, little, any?
You swore you'd be found shrouded in another
grave-cloth of pure smoke from a heart as
burning dead as beating, but the names
of cinders are thick where passions were.
Whole cities could be ash. But
not the song the Sufi says we have
but our dying song, you knew, gives us our beings.

2.
Go on then, dance yourself into the masks.
The Old Man of the Sea has all the gales
within his heaving pack, get deep within
his folds, he's on your back, get deep
within gale-weary Sindbad, be the driver
of tritons and the triton, be before
the mast and be the aftermath, what might
be, what could never be, and keep
no form but water. Let matter
envy you the metamorphoses a
dancer steals and cannot stay.

3.
The prince in the miniature has brilliant colours
to commend his hunting, his courage, his
little prancy dog; the toy trees shine. When
did the colours really run, his sighs, his
sunken furrows, yellow skin? The humming
top goes round, but stumbles, and
its silence takes us back
to restless earth's bazaars that buzzed
a hundred princes out, spinning with all
their grim viziers and those
unpainted clouds of flies indifferent
to settling on dead kings or simnel-cake.

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Journal of Art in Society @artinsociety.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

Marie Bashkirtseff’s painting of an orphanage child in ‘The Umbrella’ (1883), one of her few works to survive WW2, was painted just before she died from TB at 25. Her journal became a widely-praised novelistic account of 19C European life publicdomainreview.org/essay/marie-...

Girl in black shelters under black umbrella

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Adrian Streete @profastreete.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

Proofs!

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Kit Baston @kgbaston.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

Got my contributor's copy of Volume I, Part II of the excellent 'Edinburgh History of the Book in Scotland'! (Part I is so popular that @edinburghup.bsky.social is already reprinting it! Part II has my contribution in it so I'm happy for now - lots of fun reading to do!) 📖✒️

Book cover of The Edinburgh History of the Book in Scotland, Volume one, part two

A book opened to a page showing the first page of a chapter entitled Early Lending Libraries: Borrowing Books in Scotland before circa 1700 by Karen Baston

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Association for Scottish Literature @asls.org.uk · 26/05/2026

I see the old woman behind the flowering broom. I have followed her from poem to poem … —Iain Crichton Smith, “Old Woman” from Deer on the High Hills: Selected Poems, ed. @greeningpoet.bsky.social. @carcanet.bsky.social 2021 #poem #poetry www.carcanet.co.uk/978180017094...

Old Woman
Iain Crichton Smith

I see the old woman behind the flowering broom.
I have followed her from poem to poem

and her grey coat is almost hidden by that yellow and red
on a May day with white clouds overhead

billowing with pillows. Yes, she carries her bag
home from the village shop.
And behind her a stag

in my imagination rears its magnificent head
out of the stones and flowers and small hills of the dead.

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