🦋 A few days at lovely @princeton.edu for the (De)Stabilizing Nabokov conference - talking about changing how we read his treatment of the Holocaust in Lolita & Pnin, alongside other great papers challenging all sorts of assumptions, and an exhibit of artist books

CFP: 'The Wandering Jew and other myths' special issue for Patterns of Prejudice, guest-edited by me and Elisabeth Becker Topkara, as part of our @volkswagenstiftung.de project & exhibition See details below! 1-page proposals due 12 June 2026 @parkesinstitute.bsky.social @uniheidelberg.bsky.social

Some new words from me on collaging the Wandering Jew after taking the exhibition and workshops to the 'Arts and Humanities Day' @unisouthampton.bsky.social: thewanderingjewexhibition.co.uk/reflections/...

🎊 @parkesinstitute.bsky.social at Limmud! I am organising the PhD engagement programme with 5 post/doctoral researchers presenting on Jewish studies. Participants include @josephfinlay.bsky.social, and @hannahewence.bsky.social as mentor! Also, sessions on heritage, academia & Wandering Jews 🎊

Now the contract is signed, my postdoc project 'Figuring the Wandering Jew: Jewish Artists and the Redrawing of Europe' with Elisabeth Becker-Topkara at the Max Weber Institute for Sociology @uniheidelberg.bsky.social begins! I'll be in Berlin for the next month then based at the Winchester Gallery

📜 Catching up … Having successfully passed my Viva in May, defending my doctoral thesis 'Vladimir Nabokov's Jewish Muse' examined by Leonid Livak (Toronto) and James Jordan (Southampton), supervised by Devorah Baum & @clairelefoll.bsky.social, I graduated yesterday! @parkesinstitute.bsky.social

📣 CFP for our EAJS Virtual 'Translating Maimonides' on 7th December 2025. We invite cross-disciplinary papers related to linguistics, intercommunal/interreligious dialogue, archives and material heritage, Sephardi identities, creative engagement & more… Abstracts due 18th September lnkd.in/ey3fie6c

and a British Jewish Heritage panel organised with Yulia Egorova as part of our ongoing project, with presentations on problematics of representation from Robin Makin, Tony Kushner, Hannah Ewence & @samsamev.bsky.social on Liverpool, Southampton, Chester & Marseille #BIAJS2025 @biajs.bsky.social

A pleasure to be part of a lively and interdisciplinary Liquid Jewish Studies panel with @bengidley.bsky.social Tony Kushner, @ophiragamliel.bsky.social & @samsamev.bsky.social on migration, oceanic perspectives, watermarks & @liminalwater.bsky.social - two pence added from me on the Wandering Jew 🌊

More #BIAJS2025 highlights: a tour of the wonderful Scottish Jewish Archives Centre; keynotes from @gavinschaffer.bsky.social & Tony Kushner on new storytelling perspectives; Yiddish dancing & ceilidh @sgollance.bsky.social; @josephfinlay.bsky.social Anglo-Jewish imperial travel @biajs.bsky.social

Really enjoyed presenting on 21st c regendered/postcolonial depictions of the Wandering Jew alongside Richard I Cohen & @llampertweissig.bsky.social, followed by a great panel on Sephardi studies with @samsamev.bsky.social @eliaou-balouka.bsky.social Karin Skinazi & Ilana Webster-Kogen #BIAJS2025

The Wandering Jew takes Scotland! Exhibition on display at #BIAJS2025 @biajs.bsky.social for all attending… @parkesinstitute.bsky.social @jewishhistorical.bsky.social 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🕯️

A whirlwind fortnight: exhibition launch with David Rudrum @holocaustnorth.bsky.social, Maimonides workshops in Manchester & Marseille & an afternoon discussing Jewish heritage beyond the UK @mcrjewishmuseum.bsky.social with @samsamev.bsky.social @clairelefoll.bsky.social @jaydprosser.bsky.social

🗺️ The Wandering Jew comes to @biajs.bsky.social! Our panel with Richard Cohen @hebrewuniversity.bsky.social and @llampertweissig.bsky.social @ucsandiego.bsky.social rethinks the legend across formal and literal borders, and my travelling exhibition will be on display throughout #BIAJS2025

Last week I submitted my PhD thesis 'Vladimir Nabokov's Jewish Muse!' - hugely privileged to be supervised by Professors Devorah Baum and @clairelefoll.bsky.social and to have the wonderful @parkesinstitute.bsky.social as my academic home! Thanks to many others who supported along the way… 🦋

Final (bittersweet? exhilarating?) visit to the BL today to check some references before I submit on Friday! Through 4 hour monitored slots during lockdown, a cyber attack, and getting to first name basis with many an Origin coffee barista, this place has been a rather important part of my PhD…

Some thoughts on unknown stories, names and renaming, and a duty to remember, inspired by @philippesands.bsky.social and Diana Matar (who I heard speak about the words and photographs of City of Lions last year at Jewish Book), ahead of tonight’s #HMD2025 with Janine

Final day! Particularly excellent panel on “new approaches to European anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim racism” @drdadabhoy.bsky.social @zcheema.bsky.social - the exhibit hall book leftovers (unpopular Jews! 💔), and misty NOLA #MLA25

Day 3 #MLA25: pre-paper prep, vegan po’boy, wonderful Nabokov session with papers on chiaroscuro, bell hooks, chess (and my paper on Wandering Jews and Magical Negroes, post-panel celebration at Arnaud’s! 🍒

Day 2 at #MLA25: a stellar last minute keynote from @benfried.bsky.social on commonwealth literature and Jewish publishers; excellent panel on gender in the Sephardi world with Rachel Kaufman, Karen Skinazi & more; celebratory lunch at the Cajun Kosher deli and lots of swag at the exhibit hall 🎁

In very good (and entirely French?) company I will be bringing Jewish Studies to our Nabokov panel - come along! 🃏 👁️‍🗨️ 🎹

Great papers today as part of “Jewish literature and its Transnational Tensions” and a discussion on “the Jewish Cold War” as historical metanarratives. With @bjschreier.bsky.social @karolinakrasuska.bsky.social @briankgoodman.bsky.social & others not on here!

Arrived in New Orleans! A full day of exploring and now at #MLA25 with the International Vladimir Nabokov Society as part of their panel on “Nabokov, Whiteness and Blackness” ♟️ 🌙 and making the most of a rich selection of panels on Jewish literature…

The Wandering Jew: a travelling exhibition is now at the @ghilondon.bsky.social! There are limited tickets left for the 23rd January where I will be in conversation with Elisabeth Becker-Topkara exploring the legend in German culture past & present. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-wander...

Other highlights include listening to the Unapologetic podcast live, a David Moss communal artwork session, organising the inaugural “PhD programme” inviting doctoral students to present on their research, and Maurycy Gottleib at the Rebbetzin’s disco!

A brilliant opportunity to bring the Wandering Jew exhibition to Limmud Festival and run a session on rethinking the legend alongside a collage workshop!

Find the Wandering Jew exhibition outside Red 1 throughout Festival, and come along on Sunday 5.25pm…

#ProofOfCat and 1 month until PhD submission… soliciting any and all nuggets of wisdom! (Yes, that is a post-it with my thesis plan, with a nod to all great tv storylines that came before me)

A triumphant launch of The Wandering Jew: a travelling exhibition showcasing the legend’s evolution over time. Watch this space! #InterFaithWeek Funded by Jewish Historical Society of England and German History Society, supported by @parkesinstitute.bsky.social & @charlieknight.bsky.social

THE WANDERING JEW: a travelling exhibition launch reception, 13th November 6–7pm, Southampton book here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-wander... @parkesinstitute.bsky.social @unisouthampton.bsky.social