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THE INTERNATIONAL ARTHURIAN SOCIETY British Branch
The Secretary Dr Laura Chuhan Campbell French Department Durham University, Elvet Riverside, New Elvet Durham DH1 1XH Tel: 01913 43425 [email protected]
22 February 2016
Dear Colleagues, I hope this letter finds you well. I’m delighted to report that the British Branch continues to thrive; 2015 has been a great year for Arthurian research, and the Society continues to attract new members from a range of disciplines and career stages. This year’s conference was a great success. Held at the lovely King’s Manor in York, it featured papers from both new and established members of the Society, covering topics as diverse as book history, Arthurian children’s literature, television, medieval romance and modern narratives. Many thanks to Helen Fulton and Bex Lyons for putting together an excellent programme and making sure everything ran smoothly. The conference in September saw a change in president, as Elizabeth Archibald came to the end of her term. Members at the AGM expressed their gratitude for Elizabeth’s longstanding service to the society, and she will remain on the committee as immediate past president. Raluca Radulescu was elected in her place, and we very much look forward to working with her. Members at the AGM also approved the decision elect a web officer as a permanent member of the committee, due to the increasing importance of having a coherent online presence for the Society. Bex Lyons was elected to the role, and will now oversee the Society’s website and social media pages. Members were also treated to a special session on the ‘Academic Book of the Future’ project by principal investigator, Samantha Rayner, and project manager, Bex Lyons, followed by a roundtable discussion on the past and future of Arthurian publishing. Following on from this, the investigators invited members of the Society to submit blog posts about the academic books that most influenced their Arthurian research, and offered the winner not only the chance to have their post published on the project blog, but also the opportunity to spend a week as a Visiting Fellow at the new collection of Arthurian books housed at Bangor Library. The prize went to Anastasija Ropa, who recently completed a PhD on the grail legend in medieval and modern literature; you can find more details and a link to her post, entitled ‘Why We Like Reading an Old Story in an Old Book’ here: http://www.internationalarthuriansociety.com/british-branch/news/anastasija-ropa-wins-iasbb-blog-post-competition. Many congratulations,
Anastasija! In other news, Bangor University will be hosting an International Arthurian Summer School in June and July, taught by Raluca Radulescu, Peter Field, Thomas Crofts, and Aled Llion Jones. Students will learn about the history of the Arthurian legend, from its earliest sources, through medieval and Victorian versions and right up until modern 21st century reinterpretations. More details can be found on the course web page: https://www.bangor.ac.uk/international/summerschool/arthurian_summerschool.php. Our next branch meeting will take place at Milton Abbey School, Dorset, 15-17 August, and will be organised by Josh Bradbury. Please see the call for papers (below) for more information on submitting abstracts. Finally, we have been contacted by Terry Elwick, who sells the china plates that belong to the Society. As he is downsizing his business, he has requested that anyone in the Society who would like to buy them get in touch with him. If any members are interested, they can send me an email and I will put them in touch with him. CALL FOR PAPERS: 2016 BRITISH BRANCH ANNUAL CONFERENCE The International Arthurian Society, British Branch Annual Conference 2016 will be held at Milton Abbey School, Dorset (www.miltonabbey.co.uk) between Monday 15th August and Wednesday 17th August. The call for papers is now open and we welcome papers considering any aspect of the Arthurian canon along with its wider cultural impact. Please send abstracts of no more than 200 words to [email protected]. The closing date for receipt of abstracts is 1st May. The conference will cost approximately £130 including accommodation and a limited number of postgraduate travel grants will be available (between £20-£50) to assist with costs. Transport to and from Dorchester train station will also be available on Monday and Wednesday for those that require it. Any enquiries, please email [email protected].
Some photos of the views we can expect in August!
NOTE FROM THE PRESIDENT: Dear Arthurians, A brief note to wish everyone (new and continuing members) a belated Happy Arthurian New Year! I also take this opportunity to present updates on president’s business since our branch conference in York last September. Firstly, with Bangor’s new Centre for Arthurian Studies about to be formally established, we can proceed with the proposal of lodging existing hard copy archives of the British branch in the custody of the centre, pending plans to digitise all the material in the near future. The centre has already benefited from the award of a prestigious Drapers’ Company 3-year PhD scholarship, dedicated to a project tailored to the Bangor and Flintshire Harries Arthurian collections. The recent IASBB/ Bangor University Library Arthurian blog competition initiated by our member Dr Samantha Rayner, former British Branch secretary, and leader of the Academic Book of the Future project (AHRC/British Academy) (details in the letter from the secretary) is going to bring the winner to Bangor on a residential fellowship this summer, possibly to coincide with the international Arthurian summer school (details in the newsletter). Secondly, in my continuing role as editor of the IAS publications I can also announce that JIAS 3 (2015) was published online and distributed in hard copy at the end of the year, and BIAS 66 (2013) was also (finally) published online, after teething problems resulting from the new submission system for the branch bibliographies. From the next issue, BIAS 67 (2014), the interim editor of BIAS (up to the next congress, when a vote will be taken) will be Nathanael Busch, the bibliographer of the German branch, who has kindly agreed to take over this task from myself, while he is leading the working party on our BIAS database project (more on this later in the year). Last, but not least, I urge one and all to put the dates of our forthcoming annual conference in the diary – mid August rather than early September, in the splendid location of Milton Abbey school in Dorset, organised for us by our member (and Bangor alumnus!) Dr Josh Bradbury. I look forward to meeting as many of you as possible there. In the meantime, do not hesitate to write to myself, Laura (secretary) or Leah (treasurer) with any ideas/proposals or concerns related to our branch. With very best wishes, Raluca Radulescu, British branch president Correspondence Address: Prof. Raluca Radulescu, School of English Literature, Bangor University, College Road, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 2DG; email: [email protected]
NOTE FROM THE TREASURER: Happy 2016 to one and all. As every year, now is the time for me to remind you that your 2016 subs are now due. Please take a moment to check that your standing orders have gone as expected or contact me if you’d like to arrange an alternative payment method. Subs remain £20 for the waged and £12 for unwaged. Unpaid subs will be chased in March. Those who saw my report at the September AGM will know that there’s a small possibility that I’ll have to raise subs next year, since exchange rates on the Journal and Bibliography and waning interest rates on our bond are making funds a little tighter. For now, however, I’m happy to say that we’re solvent and were able to offer some quite generous travel bursaries for early-career scholars giving papers at the York conference, especially since the conference itself made a small profit. I’m hoping to be able to offer similar opportunities at our Milton Abbey School meeting, so please do look out for an email about that nearer the time. Please accept my best wishes to you for a healthy and happy 2016. Leah Tether Treasurer Best wishes to all, Laura
