Some of my favourite quiet coastal spots- right in the heart of Vancouver!

Vancouver's sailors: keeping it classical. Or maybe they know their Chaucer?

For the next couple of months, at Green College at the University of British Columbia, I get to think, write, and exchange ideas on the edge of Vancouver, in a forest by the sea. With many thanks to Green College for hosting me and Siân Echard for nominating me for the visiting fellowship!

Come be my colleague! Groningen is hiring in contemporary English literature and creative writing. The post has an 18-month probation period with an eye to a permanent position: tinyurl.com/bdeuphdz

Assistant Professor in Modern English Literature and Culture at University of Groningen

An opportunity for an academic position as a Assistant Professor in Modern English Literature and Culture is available, as advertised on jobs.ac.uk. Apply now and explore other academic job openings.

tinyurl.com

Had a lovely time at my inaugural lecture and party on Friday, silly hats and centuries-old rituals and all. Individual thank-yous to follow, but I'm grateful for all the cards, well-wishes, flowers and other gifts, and especially for the friends and colleagues near and far who offered them!

A reminder that applications are open until end of Feb for a fully-funded PhD in Arthurian Literature with the brilliant Louise D'Arcens @medievalafterlives.bsky.social and myself, based between Sydney (Australia) and Groningen (The Netherlands). Please share widely! tinyurl.com/f7su6urv

Medievalist friends! Applications are open until end of Feb for a fully-funded PhD in Arthurian Literature with the brilliant Louise D'Arcens @medievalafterlives.bsky.social and myself, based between Sydney (Australia) and Groningen (The Netherlands). Please share widely! tinyurl.com/f7su6urv

Happy New Year to everyone except the guy who just got given a knighthood for having axed Medieval English at Leicester...!

Out of office auto-reply is on and the tree is up. Here's to the holidays!

Spotted in front of Groningen's Academy Building: a horse-drawn carriage attended by two footmen. I have clearly stepped into a neo-gothic alternate reality...

Medievalist friends! Applications are open until end of Feb for a fully-funded PhD in Arthurian Literature with the brilliant Louise D'Arcens @medievalafterlives.bsky.social and myself, based between Sydney (Australia) and Groningen (The Netherlands). Please share widely! tinyurl.com/f7su6urv

Dutch Duolingo is having a Star Wars moment, and I am here for it

I'm delighted that Dr Roberta Magnani (Swansea) will be giving our final medieval guest lecture of the year here in Groningen on Monday 26 May. Details as follows, and online attendees very welcome!

Just a quick reminder of Prof Corinne Saunders' lecture here in Groningen later today - link for online attendees below!

Prof Megan Leitch@meganleitch.bsky.social · last yr.

I'm delighted to say that on Mon 28 April Prof Corinne Saunders (Durham) will present the 7th Annual MacDonald Lecture at the University of Groningen (17.30 - 19.00 CEST). “Thinking and Feeling: Love and Loss in Chaucer’s Romance Writing” Online attendees are welcome! meet.google.com/voz-rogm-jmt

I'm delighted to say that on Mon 28 April Prof Corinne Saunders (Durham) will present the 7th Annual MacDonald Lecture at the University of Groningen (17.30 - 19.00 CEST). “Thinking and Feeling: Love and Loss in Chaucer’s Romance Writing” Online attendees are welcome! meet.google.com/voz-rogm-jmt

After a few months of not being allowed to touch a computer/phone due to tendonitis in my wrists, it's a delight to share photos of this week's trip to Bern to give a guest lecture & Amiens for a conference on emotions & space in romance. Five stars for the company & cathedral spires in both cities!

Happy to be on my way to Amsterdam today to give a guest lecture and meet new colleagues! aihr.uva.nl/content/even...

The Medieval Middlebrow: Rewriting Romance and Reshaping the Literary Marketplace - Amsterdam Institute for Humanities Research (AIHR)

English Literature and Culture guest lecture on 03 October from 17:00—18:30 in PCH 1.05. The talk will be given by Professor Megan Leitch of the University of Groningen.

aihr.uva.nl

Dutch Duolingo is feeling Dantean today

After a fantastic conference in Dusseldorf on multilingual medieval text traditions, I'm happy to be heading *home* to Groningen

Interested in sleep and insomnia and how they relate to wellbeing, now and in the past? Check out this podcast in which Dr Brigitte Steger and I compare the perspectives of medieval Japan and England! podcasts.ox.ac.uk/sleep-insomn...

Sleep, Insomnia and Wellbeing: Historical Perspectives

Abstracts: Brigitte Steger (Associate Professor in Japanese Studies, University of Cambridge): "At night I lie in bed but cannot sleep" - Insomnia and loneliness in early Japanese literature

podcasts.ox.ac.uk

My new office! And my current mood after unpacking that lot...

First day in the new job! Groningen looking its delightful best

Adventures in trying to leave Britain: council system requires new address, has drop-down menu of countries from which I can select THE NETHERLANDS, but still tells me this isn't a valid address b/c it doesn't have a UK postcode. Sigh. All places are belong to the UK, it seems!

I've begun packing up my office, and have discovered that I've wildly underestimated how many boxes I need for my books... #academiaproblems

The view from my Edinburgh accommodation is not so bad... Next up: a rendezvous with the Auchinleck Manuscript!

Today, a chimney sweep's response to me decamping to the Netherlands for my dream job: "I would never've guessed that you was a professor. You're far too young and pretty to be a professor." Sigh. I fear my attempts to show him that this is not a compliment were unsuccessful!

Delighted to announce that this year's Arthurian Literature Derek Brewer Prize winning essay is Ashley Walchester's perceptive ‘A Variant Reading in Wynkyn de Worde’s 1529 Edition of Le Morte Darthur: The Question of Bors’ Threnody' Many congratulations Ashley!

Happy World Sleep Day! In John Trevisa's words, 'slepe is kinde and temperat, it doþ to þe body ful mony profitis and fele.'

For anyone who missed the event last week and fancies learning more about medieval sleep and wellbeing - in both Europe and Japan - my talk alongside Dr Brigitte Steger is now available on the TORCH Oxford website! torch.ox.ac.uk/video-record...

Glad to be in Oxford for the week, consulting manuscripts for my Leverhulme-funded Medieval Middlebrow project!