School of Modern Languages & Cultures

Claudia Dellacasa wins the XXIV International Flaiano Prize in Italian Studies 

On 28 June, Dr Claudia Dellacasa, lecturer in Italian and Comparative Literature in our School, was awarded the XXIV International Flaiano Prize in Italian Studies Luca Attanasio, for her monograph "Italo Calvino and Japan: A Journey through the Shallow Depths of Signs" (Legenda 2024). 

Established in honour of Italian author Ennio Flaiano (1910–72), and awarded annually in his home town of Pescara, the Flaiano Prizes recognise excellence in creative writing, Italian Studies, cinema, theatre, radio, and television. 

Claudia won in the Under 35 Italian Studies category for her work on Calvino, which was recognised as a significant contribution to the international dissemination of Calvino and Italian Studies, and an excellent example of comparative analysis.

 

Dr. Soledad Montañez has been awarded the Creative Launch Fund to establish Glasgow’s first Latin American Cultural and Arts Centre.

Soledad Montañez, Lecturer in Spanish and co-convener of the Glasgow Latin American Research Network, has been awarded the Creative Launch Fund to establish a Latin American Cultural Arts Centre in Glasgow. This funding will support Soledad in conducting a series of workshops with various stakeholders to develop a business plan and strategic framework.

The Cultural Centre aims to celebrate the diversity of the Latin American region, providing a distinctive space for artists, academics, and the wider community. It will feature exhibitions, workshops, performances, language programs, and social initiatives, serving as a hub for Latin American voices and narratives. The Centre seeks to foster connections across communities and will contribute to Glasgow’s cultural and linguistic landscape. With Scotland already home to a growing Latin American population, this initiative will both reflect and enrich the city's cultural and linguistic landscape.In this sense, the project addresses a gap in Glasgow's creative and cultural sector, aligning it with established cultural institutions like the Goethe Institute and Alliance Française. 

The project builds on Soledad's work and research on community engagement with the Latin American diasporas in London and Glasgow. 

For more information on goings on in the new Latin American Cultural and Arts Centre, see our Upcoming Events article. 

Bednarowski Visiting Fellowship Award

The Islands in the Global Age ArtsLab’s long-standing collaboration with Dr Monika Kocot from the University of Łódź has received funding support from the Bednarowski Trust in the form of a Visiting Fellowship aimed at supporting a range of academic events and KE activities at the University of Glasgow focusing on the relationship between Scottish writers (Kenneth White and Alan Spence) and Japanese poets and philosophers (Matsuo Basho, Tetsuro Watsuji).

As part of this project, Dr Kocot will spend six weeks in the SMLC at the University of Glasgow, undertaking research and giving presentations at the ENOJP Conference on environmental ethics in September, and at the Islands in the Global Age ArtsLab workshop on wor(l)d archipelagos in October. Dr Kocot has contributed papers on Alan Spence, Kenneth White and Japanese aesthetics at the conference organised by the ArtsLab in conjunction with the Scottish Centre for Geopoetics in 2024 at the University of Glasgow, and at the workshop organised at the Alliance française in 2019 during the UK-Japan Year of Culture.

 

^{Left to Right : Ramona Fotiade, Saeko Yazaki, the Consul General of Japan, Nozomu Takaoka, Alan Spence, Monika Kocot and Olivier Salazar-Ferrer.}

 

Being Human Festival Award

Dr Shanti Graheli is leading a Being Human Festival events series entitled "Book Tales: Storytelling with Books between Text and Object", in collaboration with colleagues from the School of Critical Studies, the UofG Archives and Special Collections, and the Mitchell Library. The Festival Programme can be previewed here.  

Our events series links readers old and new through their engagement with books. We will be discovering heritage collections, emotional connections, and using books to tell stories beyond their text. By considering the material traces found between the lines (such as annotations, drawings, objects inserted between pages) we will explore the power of books in connecting people, places, and ideas. The Being Human Festival is a national event by virtue of being local, and this year it takes place from 6 to 15 November. There will be opportunities for colleagues and postgraduate students to contribute to some of our events, to be disseminated in due course. Watch this space! 

 

Towards A Radical Tenderness: Jenny Munro-Hunt publishes a poetry book

Our wonderful colleague from Professional Services, Jenny Munro-Hunt, not only nurtures us with her amazing homemade cakes but has also just published a powerful poetry collection, Towards a Radical Tenderness, with Black Cat Poetry Press. 
 
Described by Jen Feroze (author of Tiny Bright Thorns) as "a song that's part lullaby, part howl," the collection beautifully explores themes of faith, tenderness, injustice, and grief—held, as Feroze writes, "with beautiful balance in a mother’s arms." 
 
Congratulations, Jenny, on this inspiring achievement—proof that creativity and kindness truly go hand in hand! 

Towards a Radical Tenderness can be found here.

 

Nankai/Glagsow student Qing Guo successfully passes her PhD Viva

This June, dual PhD candidate Qing Guo concluded her PhD viva. Qing Guo's graduation will represent the SMLC's first dual Nankai/Glasgow PhD. Everyone here at the SMLc would like to congratulate Qing Guo and wish her the best of luck in this next phase of her career!

 

Suicide First Aid available via ASIST 

Tatiana Heise has recently completed a course from Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST), and would like to encourage others in the SMLC community to consider doing the same:

"I’ve recently completed an Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST), approved by the World Health Organization. The course has equipped me to assess suicide risk and develop a “safe plan” based on present and future risk, available resources, and the needs of the person. If you know someone who may be at risk but feel unsure about how to talk to them, please get in touch. I aim to get further training in the near future to become an ASIST trainer myself – watch this space! 

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First published: 5 August 2025