Dark Restless Borderers: Walter Scott and James Hogg

On Thursday, 12th October we had a joint lecture with the English Literature Dept of Edinburgh University. Dr. Valentina Bold was introduced by our Chairperson, Dr. Lucy Wood.

Dr Valentina Bold lives in Stirling, and works half of the week as Heritage Policy Officer with the Crichton Trust in Dumfries. The rest of the time she is freelance: writing, researching and presenting events. Prior to that, she was an academic for thirty years, working most recently at the University of Stirling. She is an Honorary Fellow at the University of Edinburgh, where she edits the Review of Scottish Culture, and also edits a successful series on the History and Culture of Scotland for Peter Lang.

Valentina has a significant back catalogue of publications on a wide variety of Scottish literary and cultural topics, with a particular interest in poetry and song. However, she is best known for her work on James Hogg, including her influential book James Hogg: A Bard of Nature’s Making. As part of the celebrations of James Hogg’s 250th anniversary, running 2020 – 2021, she organised and performed in the premiere of Hogg’s play The Royal Jubilee at the Scottish Poetry Library, and Valentina has talked about Hogg internationally too, in Europe, Canada and the USA.