If you're in south London, come to Roehampton University and check out my exhibition @UR_Library (opening hours 8am - Midnight). This is the first time books from my AVaTAR collection (Archive of Victorian Translations from Asia & their Readerships) have been on public display.

The AVaTAR blog has just published its first guest post, by Rudabeh Gray of SOAS. Rudabeh has focussed on the collection's various annotated copies of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam:

My old friend Sahana Ghosh is speaking on her new book this Thursday at UCL, 5pm, about mobility and security across the India-Bangladesh border.

Did anyone get any photos of the ceilidh at #RSVP24?

A few last tickets (returns) remaining: grab yours while they are there! Friday 24th May, FREE workshop, 'Unforgotten Lives' @UR_ECW @UORHumanities @LdnMetArchives

What is a colonial era 'Imperial Press' doing in a museum in northeastern India? How did it get there? @sikandar_bubb @UR_ECW @lsehistory looks at the history & importance of this printing machine, & its role in the anti-colonial movement. https://t.co/lLSuUfWWWo

💡'Unforgotten Lives: Locating People of Colour in the 19th Century Archive', FREE workshop 24 May, hosted @LdnMetArchives in collab with @UORHumanities @RoehamptonUni @LondonC19 speakers: @_clairehynes @DrFarihaShaikh @Hannah_RoseM etc. Join us! https://t.co/IazlqnQcmw

Come along tonight to @ILCS_SAS for the London launch of Julia Hartley's "Iran and French Orientalism", and published by @ibtauris. @ritorneropoeta in conversation with @drsaraharens @sikandar_bubb and Dr Joe Ford. 5.30pm in the Woburn Suite, Senate House.

Come along to our first London Nineteenth Century Studies Seminar of 2024. Four speakers and our host, @matthewingleby, will transport us back to the year 1874:- 6pm, 25th Jan / Room 102, Senate House: https://t.co/0ub9TrG6u4… @LNCSSGS @BAVS_UK @BAVS_PGs

If you are Kolkata-based, do please come along to my talk @jadavpur at Jadavpur University on Thursday. Will be great to see you there.

Tomorrow at 5pm I'm giving a talk at the University of East Anglia about "Asian Classics on the Victorian Bookshelf: Flights of Translation". It's a hybrid event and anyone who wants to attend via a Zoom can register at this link: https://t.co/svA3n4SSbD.

I just wrote this post for OUP's blog, on the overlooked contribution of amateur translators to the Victorian reception of Asian literature (hopefully I haven't misrepresented the modern-day publishing world, but I welcome corrections):

On 20th June my book "Asian Classics on the Victorian Bookshelf: Flights of Translation" has its London launch in Room 104, Senate House. Launching alongside another new work of book history, "The Transatlantic Materials of American Literature" by my friend @KatieMcGettigan.

Much of my evidence for how readers responded to popular translations of Asian literature came from marginalia. I found this amazing example in 2017 @statelibrarynsw - it's a pocket edn Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam owned by an Australian soldier from WWI.

Another great example is @brooklynmuseum (1897), which features statues of Kalidasa, Shankara, Manu, Lao Tse, Confucius, Zoroaster, the Buddha, and the "Genius of Islam".

One chapter of Asian Classics on the Victorian Bookshelf looks at public buildings that embody a "canon" of Asian literature or philosophy. My favourite is this art deco relief at the Los Angeles Central Library.

Thank you for all your kind and generous words. And here is the link for those of you who wish to order the book (with discount code AAFLYG6):

After eight years of work, it's finally here! For a 30% discount, order from OUP's website using code AAFLYG6 (apple not included).

A little embarrassed to toot my horn like this, but was delighted to appear last night @BBCFreeThinking with @ritorneropoeta and @Yee_Jenn in a discussion on decadence and orientalism, chaired by @ShahidhaBari https://t.co/jhW4gKDZvZ