The Gift of the Gabaldon
Published: 19 December 2025
A ground breaking new book, Outlander and Scotland: Touchstones and Signposts, has just been published and is based on an international Outlander conference hosted by UofG in 2023.
A ground breaking new book, Outlander and Scotland: Touchstones and Signposts, has just been published this week, based on an international Outlander conference hosted by the University of Glasgow in 2023.
The volume brings together 44 contributors, fans, historians and academics, who gathered at Glasgow to explore the global phenomenon of Outlander.
Diana Gabaldon, author of the bestselling Outlander series, contributes trenchant views on identity, cultural appropriation and feminism. While In ‘Ten Outlander Questions Answered’, she gives in-depth answers to Professor Willy Maley about her experiences as a writer.
Gabaldon is thrilled to see Outlander and Scotland come into print and said: “I was honoured beyond telling, by the University of Glasgow hosting of the first Outlander Conference - and more so by the chance to share this wonderful collection.”
Gabaldon is currently writing the 10th and final novel in the Outlander book series and this publication will ease her legion of fans through their 'Droughtlander' as they wait for the finale.
Edited by the conference organisers, University of Glasgow’s Dr Lisa Kelly, Gillebrìde MacMillan and Professor Willy Maley, the publication sets the bar for Outlander studies and fandom alike.
Dr Kelly, a Senior Lecturer in Film & Television Studies, based at the University’s School of Culture & Creative Arts, said: “Outlander has a had a significant impact on Scotland’s screen industries by boosting confidence, providing job opportunities, and showcasing what we can do on a global stage.”
Mr MacMillan, who is well known to Outlander fans as Gwyllyn the Bard and and Gaelic language consultant, was deeply involved in the project both as editor and with an essay on Gaelic community memories of the Jacobite rising.
Mr MacMillan, Senior Lecturer in Celtic & Gaelic at the University’s School of Humanities | Sgoil nan Daonnachdan, said: “I feel immensely privileged to have been involved in various aspects of Outlander - performing, language consultancy, writing a song but also being on the organising committee of the Outlander conference at The University of Glasgow, and now co-editing this collection with colleagues. Outlander has done a lot to showcase Scotland and the Gaelic language and culture on a world stage with many benefits for Scotland's languages, culture and economy and this collection of essays further shines a light on this worldwide phenomenon.”
Professor Willy Maley, is recently retired University of Glasgow Professor of English Literature and came up with the idea of an Outlander conference, said: “With the most diverse international line up of contributors, this will be an outlandishly influential book.”
The book’s contributors, armed with facts, attitude and enthusiasm, cover every imaginable aspect of the phenomenal ‘Outlander Effect’. Themes include Indigenous communities, slavery, medicine, feminism, witchcraft, Jacobite history, television studies, screen production, costume design and Outlander’s impact on Scottish tourism.
A poignant note is struck in the book’s dedication to the late Professor Sir Geoff Palmer, who gave a stunning keynote speech about Scotland’s role in the slave trade. In ‘An Actor’s Brush with Slavery’, Bill Paterson, who played Edinburgh lawyer Ned Gowan in Outlander Seasons 1–3, reflects on Scotland’s much airbrushed involvement in the slave trade.
The much anticipated eighth and final season of the smash hit television series is set to premiere in March 2026.
Watch the Official Launch of Outlander and Scotland: Touchstones and Signposts
About the Editors:
LISA W KELLY is a Senior Lecturer in Film & TV Studies at The University of Glasgow. An author and entrepreneur, she brings a lifelong love of TV to her work on the screen industries.
GILLEBRÌDE MACMILLAN is a Senior-Lecturer in Celtic & Gaelic at The University of Glasgow. Originally from the Gaelic speaking community of South Uist, he was Gwyllyn the Bard in Outlander and acted as a language consultant on the show.
WILLY MALEY recently retired as professor of English Literature at The University of Glasgow. A critic, editor, teacher and writer, he co-founded the Creative Writing Course at Glasgow University with Philip Hobsbaum
Outlander and Scotland: Touchstones and Signposts is published by Luath Press: https://luath.co.uk/
First published: 19 December 2025