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Forthcoming Scott-Related Events

This page lists forthcoming conferences, exhibitions, papers, lectures, talks, and other events relating to all aspects of Scott's life and work. The page editor would be glad to be informed of any omissions or errors, or to receive notification of other relevant events.

We also maintain an Archive of Scott-related events from 2003 onwards.


  1. 'Great Scott!: Celebrating Sir Walter Scott', Waverley Station, Edinburgh, from 14 October 2014

  2. 'By the Author of Waverley: Early editions from the Sir Walter Scott Collection', Exhibition, Reed Gallery, Dunedin Public Libraries, Dunedin, New Zealand, until 14 June 2015

  3. ‘A Great Many Trophies: Scott's Visit to Waterloo’, Talk by Dr Paul O'Keeffe, Abbotsford Library, Abbotsford House, Melrose, 12 May 2015

  4. 'Reading Waverley', talk by Jenni Calder, Edinburgh Sir Walter Scott Club, 14 May 2015

  5. Bird Song and Binoculars Walk, Abbotsford House, Melrose, 17 May 2015

  6. ‘A Monument to Poetry and Whimsy: Painting Scott's Vision’, Workshop, Abbotsford House, Melrose, 23 May 2015

  7. 'L'Engagement', 55th Conference of the Société des Anglicistes de l'Enseignement Supérieur (SAES), Université de Toulon, France, 4-6 June 2015

  8. 'Sir Walter Scott in Schools', One-Day Conference, MacKenzie Building, Edinburgh, 6 June 2015

  9. 'Sir Walter's Trip to the Battlefield of Waterloo', talk by the Hon. Lord Woolman', Edinburgh Sir Walter Scott Club, 19 June 2015

  10. 'Romanticism, Reaction and Revolution: British Views on Spain, 1814-1823', International Conference, Universidad de Oviedo, Spain, 25-26 June 2015

  11. ‘Home’, 33rd Standing Conference on Organisational Symbolism (SCOS), Nottingham Trent University, 11-14 July 2015

  12. 'Romantic Imprints', 14th International Conference of the British Association for Romantic Studies, Cardiff University, 16-19 July 2015

  13. ‘Poetic Justice: Legal, Ethical, and Aesthetic Judgments in Literary Texts’, 13th International Connotations Symposium, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Germany, 26-30 July 2015

1. 'Great Scott!: Celebrating Sir Walter Scott', Waverley Station, Edinburgh, from 14 October 2014

The 'Great Scott' campaign, developed by Edinburgh UNESCO City of Literature Trust, aims not only to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the publication of Waverley, but also to mark the 10th anniversary of Edinburgh’s designation as the world’s first UNESCO City of Literature. It is based in Edinburgh's Waverley Station, the only railway station in the world named after a book. In a collaboration with Network Rail, quotations from Scott’s writings will be written across the floors, windows and walkways of the station bringing Scott’s words alive for a new audience. As part of the campaign, 25,000 copies of a free book, Great Scott!, will be given away in the station.
Telling the story of Scott’s life, it includes a timeline, quotes, and musings, and gives tips on things to see, read, and do relating to Scott. The book is also available for download, in audio form, and as an ebook in many formats. The campaign website aims to be a 'virtual train ticket' to all that Scott contributed to Edinburgh, the Borders, the Scottish nation, and world literature in general. New content will be added daily, including trails, videos, quotes and 'did you knows'.

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2. 'By the Author of Waverley: Early editions from the Sir Walter Scott Collection', Exhibition, Reed Gallery, Dunedin Public Libraries, Dunedin, New Zealand, until 14 June 2015

Dunedin Public Libraries are marking the bicentenary of Waverley by mounting an exhibition of rare items from their Sir Walter Scott Collection in the Reed Gallery. This collection has its origins in a 1948 donation by Dunedin-born scholar and benefactor Esmond de Beer. The exhibition features a chronological sequence of almost entirely first editions of Scott’s prolific output as a novelist, including Waverley, Rob Roy, and Ivanhoe. First and early editions of Scott’s poetry including The Lay of the Last Minstrel, Marmion, and The Lady of the Lake are also prominently featured, complemented by dramatic works, autograph letters, and illustrative matter from Victorian era publications relating to the life and works of Scott.

3. ‘A Great Many Trophies: Scott's Visit to Waterloo’, Talk by Dr Paul O'Keeffe, Abbotsford Library, Abbotsford House, Melrose, 12 May 2015

On 9 August 1815, seven weeks after the Battle of Waterloo, Walter Scott was among the first tourists to visit the scene, collecting 'a great many trophies, from cuirasses down to buttons and bullets.' Join Dr Paul O'Keeffe talking about his acclaimed recent book, Waterloo the Aftermath, and his newly published edition of Scott' writings about the battle, Scott on Waterloo.

4. 'Reading Waverley', talk by Jenni Calder, Edinburgh Sir Walter Scott Club, 14 May 2015

Among many other publications, Jenni Calder is author of RLS: A Life Study (1980), The Nine Lives of Naomi Mitchison (1997), Scots in Canada (2003), Scots in the USA (2006), and Frontier Scots: The Scots Who Won the West (2010); she has also edited works such as The Robert Louis Stevenson Companion (1980) and The Enterprising Scot (1986). Details from Edinburgh Sir Walter Scott Club.

5. Bird Song and Binoculars Walk, Abbotsford House, Melrose, 17 May 2015

Join a late spring walk, led by expert ornithologist, Andrew Bramhall, around the designed landscape created by Walter Scott to identify birds by song and by sight. Scott delighted in the birdlife that was attracted by the improvements he made to the Abbotsford estate, and wrote in 1826  ‘I may congratulate myself on having literally made the desert sing’.  From woodpeckers and nuthatches in the woodland to buzzards circling over the meadow and wildfowl in the Tweed, visitors will be encouraged to bring their binoculars and get involved. A part of Borders Nature Festival and the Year of Food and Drink. Suitable for all ages, booking essential. Not wheelchair accessible.

6. ‘A Monument to Poetry and Whimsy: Painting Scott's Vision’, Workshop, Abbotsford House, Melrose, 23 May 2015

Visualise Scott's love of landscape, nature and architecture through a day of drawing and watercolour inspired by his writings with Amanda Phillips.  

7. 'L'Engagement', 55th Conference of the Société des Anglicistes de l'Enseignement Supérieur (SAES), Université de Toulon, France, 4-6 June 2015

The 55th Conference of the Société des Anglicistes de l'Enseignement Supérieur (SAES) at Toulon University, will feature two papers of particular Scott interest: 'L’Engagement paradoxal scottien, ou, Comment réconcilier l’irréconciliable' by Céline Sabiron (Lorraine) and 'Aymé Verd, parodie d’un auteur français du roman Quentin Durward de Walter Scott' by Jean Berton (Toulouse II).

8. 'Sir Walter Scott in Schools', One-Day Conference, MacKenzie Building, Edinburgh, 6 June 2015

Sponsored by Abbotsford House, the Association for Scottish Literary Studies, the Edinburgh Sir Walter Scott Club, and the Faculty of Advocates, this free one-day conference is designed to show how Scott's work can be used within the curriculum of Scotland’s schools and colleges.

9. 'Sir Walter's Trip to the Battlefield of Waterloo', talk by the Hon. Lord Woolman, Edinburgh Sir Walter Scott Club, 19 June 2015

Scott's trip to the battlefield of Waterloo in 1815 is related in his Paul's Letters to his Kinsfolk and inspired his poem The Field of Waterloo. The Hon. Lord Stephen Woolman is a Senator of the College of Justice and a former keeper of the Advocates' Library. Details from Edinburgh Sir Walter Scott Club.

10. 'Romanticism, Reaction and Revolution: British Views on Spain, 1814-1823', International Conference, Universidad de Oviedo, Spain, 25-26 June 2015

The year 1814 put an end to the Peninsular War in Spain. A six-year period followed during which an authoritarian Ferdinand VII ruled, in an era of great hostility towards liberal ideas. Triggered by Riego’s revolutionary coup, three years of tumultuous liberal and radical government ensued. This was of great concern to the conservative European powers (Britain among them), who eventually agreed to intervene in Spain by sending a French army. By the end of 1823, the old absolutist order had been restored in Spain, and the subsequent months saw the end of Spanish rule in continental America. In Britain as elsewhere in Europe, Romanticism was still in full production during those years. The ‘second generation’ poets, together with novelists like Mary Shelley, Jane Austen and Walter Scott, published much of their best work in this period, which also inspired a substantial part of Constable’s and Turner’s paintings. Many of these British artists and intellectuals were aware of what was going on in Southern and Eastern Europe, where authoritarian regimes were facing a number of consecutive and related revolutionary movements. This included Spain, whose image in Britain had been constantly shifting for two decades --from foe to friend, heroic to backward, war-winner to peace-loser, revolutionary to reactionary and back to revolutionary.

In accordance with the research objectives of Anglo-Hispanic Horizons, papers were invited addressing the following topics:

  • British (female) views of Spanish (female) myths
  • British (non)interventionist policies in (ex-)Spanish America
  • British (non) interventionist policies in Spain
  • British abolitionist policies on slavery in Spain and (ex-)Spanish America
  • British responses to Spanish exiles in London
  • British diplomats and representatives in Spain
  • British official reports on Spain (FO, WO, Parliamentary Papers...)
  • British soldiers, adventurers and voluntaries in Spain
  • British studies of Spanish language, literature and culture
  • British travellers in Spain and their accounts (travelogues, guides....)
  • Spain and the Spaniards in British painting and other visual arts
  • Spain and the Spaniards in British political caricature
  • Spain and the Spaniards in English gay writing (LGBT)
  • Spain and the Spaniards in English romantic drama
  • Spain and the Spaniards in English romantic fiction
  • Spain and the Spaniards in English romantic poetry
  • Spain and the Spaniards in English women's writing
  • Spain and the Spaniards in the English general-interest press (dailies, weeklies, yearbooks...)
  • Spain and the Spaniards in the English themed press (literary journals, art magazines...)
  • Spanish art market and art collections in Britain
  • Spanish fashion in Britain
  • Spanish music and dance in Britain
  • Spanish orientalism in British literature and art
  • Spanish translations into English, literary and artistic
  • Spanish translations into English, political and social
  • The London Spanish Committee
  • The Spanish book market in Britain

For further details, contact Alicia Laspra-Rodríguez or Agustín Coletes-Blanco.

11. ‘Home’, 33rd Standing Conference on Organisational Symbolism (SCOS), Nottingham Trent University, 11-14 July 2015

The 33rd Standing Conference on Organisational Symbolism will include a symposium on representations of Robin Hood (including Scott's Ivanhoe), which will consider the following themes:

  • Narratives of place and space in the construction of home
  • The tension between the ‘pure’ and ‘natural’ forest and the wickedness and corruption of the court
  • The outlaw as hero, maverick leaders
  • Corporate governance in the absence of formal authority
  • Robin Hood taxes
  • Local heroes and narratives and marketing cities
  • Homosociability
  • Contested narratives of home, homelands and local legends
  • Robin Hood, popular culture and organisation

12. 'Romantic Imprints', 14th International Conference of the British Association for Romantic Studies, Cardiff University, 16-19 July 2015

The 2015 International Conference of the British Association for Romantic Studies (BARS) is hosted by the School of English, Communication & Philosophy and the Centre for Editorial and Intertextual Research at Cardiff University, Wales. The theme of the interdisciplinary conference is Romantic Imprints, broadly understood to include the various literary, cultural, historical and political manifestations of Romantic print culture across Europe, the Americas and the rest of the world. The focus will fall on the ways in which the culture of the period was conscious of itself as functioning within and through, or as opposed to, the medium of print. The conference location in the Welsh capital provides a special opportunity to foreground the Welsh inflections of Romanticism within the remit of the conference’s wider theme. The two-hundredth anniversary of Waterloo also brings with it the chance of thinking about how Waterloo was represented within and beyond print.

Confirmed keynote speakers are John Barrell (Queen Mary, London), James Chandler (Chicago), Claire Connolly (Cork), Peter Garside (Edinburgh) and Devoney Looser (Arizona State). Among many panels of potential Scott interest is Editing Walter Scott’s Poetry led by Alison Lumsden and Ainsley McIntosh from Aberdeen University's Walter Scott Research Centre.

13. ‘Poetic Justice: Legal, Ethical, and Aesthetic Judgments in Literary Texts’, 13th International Connotations Symposium, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Germany, 26-30 July 2015

The 13th International Connotations Symposium, hosted by Tübingen University, features a paper by H. Michael Buck (Indiana Wesleyan University) on 'Poetic Justice and the Resolution of Walter Scott’s The Heart of Midlothian', which will focus specifically on widely criticized ending to Scott’s novel. Dr Buck has recently co-authored two articles on Scott with Prof. Peter Garside; see Buck and Garside 2010 and Buck and Garside 2013.

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Last updated: 12-May-2015
Edinburgh University Library