The Inaugural Bangor Conference of Celtic Studies

The Inaugural Bangor Conference of Celtic Studies will take place at Bangor University this weekend, the first-ever such event at Bangor. This major international conference has drawn scholars from all over the world, including Russia, Japan, Austria, the Netherlands, Poland, France, North America, Scotland, Ireland, England, and Wales.

The conference takes place from Friday, 20 July to Monday, 23 July in the university’s Main Arts Building, and is organised by Dr Kate Olson and Professor Raimund Karl in the School of History, Welsh History, and Archaeology. It includes a wide variety of papers in the field of Celtic Studies, including papers on medieval, early modern, and modern Celtic linguistics, literature, language, history, law, archaeology, art, music, and culture. Papers cover Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Brittany, the Isle of Man, and Cornwall.

Conference organiser Dr Olson said: ‘We are delighted to welcome so many outstanding scholars from around the world to Bangor for this conference. It offers leading international research in the field of the Celtic Studies, including the work of many Bangor University academics. We are very pleased by the outstanding response that we have had to our calls for papers for this inaugural conference, and are looking forward to this weekend.’

The conference has attracted over 60 scholars from all around the world to Bangor for four days to discuss a variety of Celtic Studies topics. These include: the Pictish, Cornish, and Welsh languages linguistics; medieval Irish kings and warrior-figures; the modern Irish Republican movement; Welsh queens and the famed Mabinogion in medieval Wales; football and Celtic identity; medieval Welsh and Irish archaeology; Breton, Manx, Irish, Scottish, and Welsh music; the history of Celtic kingship; archery in medieval poetry; poets and the French Revolution; a range of topics on modern literature, including post-colonialism, and children’s literature; and state of the Celtic languages today.

Some of the world’s leading scholars in the field of Celtic Studies, the plenary speakers for the conference include Professor Brynley Roberts (Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies), Professor Harry White (University College Dublin), Professor David Dumville (University of Aberdeen), Professor Colin Williams (Cardiff University), and Bangor University’s own Professor Nancy Edwards.

For further information regarding the conference and registration please contact Dr Kate Olson (his802@bangor.ac.uk) or by phone at 01248382143, or Linda Jones (l.c.jones@bangor.ac.uk). Please click for the conference programme and click for the registration details.

Publication date: 19 July 2012