In a new blog post to mark International Translation Day 2026, World Writing in French series editors Charles Forsdick and Martin Munro reflect on translation's role in sustaining linguistic and literary diversity, and ask an urgent question: what can translation do?
New Towns, New Britain
Having worked for Historic England and its predecessor organisations for over forty years, Elain Harwood (1958–2023) was an immensely well-respected lecturer, tutor, tour guide, author and latterly, Senior Architectural Investigator. After Elaine's death in 2023, Alistair Fair was invited to come on board as editor of this book, using Elaine's manuscript as the basis of the present text, though with some important changes. Currently a Reader in Architectural History at the University of Edinburgh and a widely published specialist in the history of twentieth-century British architecture, Fair introduces the book in this blogpost, explaining the wider significance of the so-called 'New Towns' and the timeliness of the book's present publication.
The State Bibles
The State Bibles: The Anglo-Dutch Politics of the King James Version and the Statenvertaling, by Esther van Raamsdonk, published by the British Academy, is the first extended comparative study of two key bible translations of the early modern period – the King James Version (1611) and the Dutch Statenvertaling (1637).
Writing to win the prize: prize contests in 18th-century Europe
Essay competitions in the long eighteenth century, edited by Avi Lifschitz and Martin Urmann, recently published in the Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment Series.This book is the first to provide a preliminary, and necessarily incomplete, overview of this phenomenon across national and linguistic borders, institutional settings and media outlets. In this blog post, Avi Lifschitz and Martin Urmann explore how these essay competitions paved the way for one of the pillars of modern academia, the blind peer review, alongside the issues of the practice, which on the surface seemed egalitarian.
The Invention of Frenchness
This year, the Bayeux Tapestry is being displayed in the UK for the first time after 1,000 years. Here, Anne-Hélène Miller, discusses this significant moment and her new book, The Invention of Frenchness. Scene 51 of the Bayeux Tapestry, from the Bayeux Museum. Credit: https://www.bayeuxmuseum.com/la-tapisserie-de-bayeux/decouvrir-la-tapisserie-de-bayeux/explorer-la-tapisserie-de-bayeux-en-ligne The year 2026 marks the “return” of the Bayeux Tapestry … Continue reading
