A World of Words

A shorter version of this interview is published in HNR, May 2012  (and online at the HISTORICAL NOVEL SOCIETY website) “The border between truth and lies is permeable and blurred because it is planted thick with rumour”: Lucinda Byatt talks … Continue reading →

A new – and, for once, largely Italian – “take” on the development of the Italian Renaissance State has just come out from Cambridge University Press.  Edited by Andrea Gamberini and Isabella Lazzarini, this rich collection proposes a refreshingly “home-grown” ...

The Women of Moray project began with a book, Women of Moray, which tells of the lives of over seventy women connected with Moray.  The book will be published on 8 March 2012.  The project now looks set to become … Continue reading →

Yesterday evening the Italian Cultural Institute of Edinburgh sponsored a screening of Malachi Bogdanov’s film The Mandrake Root.  It was presented by Dr Davide Messina from the Italian Department of the University of Edinburgh and followed by a question session … Continue reading →...

With all the buzz about the Leonardo exhibition at the National Gallery in London, you might be forgiven for not knowing that there’s another Leonardo exhibition in progress in Torino (Turin).  It started on 17 November and the highlight is a rare self-portrait of the aged artist which has onl...

With all the buzz about the Leonardo exhibition at the National Gallery in London, you might be forgiven for not knowing that there’s another Leonardo exhibition in progress in Torino (Turin).  It started on 17 November and the highlight is … Continue reading →

Sadly, this is the last Solander – the bi-annual magazine published by the Historical Novel Society.  It’s had a great publishing life: from Spring 1997 to November 2011, 15 years and a total of 30 issues.  It’s also had an … Continue reading →

All Saint’s Day, 1 November 1512:  As Pope Julius II and his cardinals process into the chapel, all – with the exception of the pope who has seen the work in progress – are dumbfounded by the overwhelmingly “human” narrative … Continue reading →

Il Rinascimento a Roma – The Renaissance in Rome: this new exhibition at Palazzo Sciarra opened today and will run until 12 February.  Among other paintings rarely seen side by side – they have come from other museums in Italy, but also from St Petersburg and Vienna – pride of plac...