The 40th Anniversary Spalding Symposium
The 2015 Spalding Symposium, held in Edinburgh on 10th-12th April, was a wonderfully stimulating experience as always. With two excellent keynote lectures, from Professors Stephen Berkwitz and Uma Chakravarti, nine other full-length papers, and three postgraduate presentations, there was a real richness of scholarship and conversation. It was a great personal pleasure to welcome all the speakers and other contributors to Edinburgh, and there was even some sunshine!
A particularly notable part of the weekend this year was a series of reflections on the history of the Symposium, to mark the fact that this was the 40th symposium. We had a message from our founder, Professor Karel Werner, and a lively and touching set of reminiscences from our most recent Convenor, Dr Anna King. (A version of these will shortly be added to our website.) Dr Dermot Killingley, long-serving member of the committee and convenor of our 2014 symposium, followed up with some comments making clear Anna’s own contributions to the success of the Spalding Symposium over the past decade and more.
Looking ahead to next year, we have provisional dates – 15th to 17th April 2016 – and a venue in Cardiff. Simon Brodbeck and James Hegarty will be hosting the Symposium with a theme of “narrative”. Keynote speakers will be announced shortly, and a call for papers will be circulated in a few months.
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