ASLS is based in the University of Glasgow and promotes the
study, teaching and writing of Scotland's literatures and
languages, past and present.
We publish scholarly journals and literary criticism; new
editions of classic works of Scottish literature; companions and
study guides; and - with the support of Creative Scotland - New
Writing Scotland, an annual anthology of the best new short fiction
and poetry in Scotland today, in English, Gaelic and Scots. We also
publish the free ezine The Bottle
Imp.
Each year, ASLS holds annual conferences on Scottish writers in
such diverse locations as Glasgow, Kirkwall, Edinburgh and Skye. We
also hold annual conferences on Scottish literature and languages
in the classroom. These schools conferences are suitable for CPD
(Continuous Professional Development), and attract teachers from
across Scotland.
Along with other Scottish literary organisations, and with the
support of the Scottish Government, ASLS campaigns for a greater
appreciation, at home and abroad, of Scotland's literary
culture.
Established: 1970
Publications (yearly average): 8
Types of books published: Classic works of
Scottish literature which merit a fresh presentation to a modern
audience; anthologies of new Scottish writing in English, Gaelic
and Scots; collections of essays and monographs on the literature
and languages of Scotland; comprehensive study guides to Scottish
writers. ASLS membership is open to all. In 2020, a subscription of
£60.00 (individuals) or £90.00 (corporate) buys: one Annual Volume;
the latest edition of New Writing Scotland; Scottish Literary
Review (2 issues); Scottish Language (1 issue). Special packages
for schools and students are also available.
Submission details: Submissions are
invited to New Writing Scotland. Please see the ASLS website for
detailed submission instructions.
CONTACTS
People: Duncan Jones (Director)
Address: Dept of Scottish Literature,
University of Glasgow, 7 University Gardens, Glasgow G12 8QH
Tel/Fax: 0141 330 5309
Email: office@asls.org.uk
Website: www.asls.org.uk
and www.thebottleimp.org.uk
Facebook: www.facebook.com/groups/scotlit/
Twitter: @scotlit
Distributor: BookSource, 50 Cambuslang Road,
Cambuslang, Glasgow G32 8NB; Tel: 0845 370 0067; Fax: 0845 370
0068
ASLS FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY IN 2020
The Association for Scottish Literary Studies - ASLS - reached
its fiftieth year in 2020 and we had been planning to celebrate the
event. Sadly we were not able to - but we did hold a (virtual)
celebratory conference on Saturday 5 September 2021, where we
looked back at how far we have come, took stock of where we are
now, and looked forward to future opportunities and challenges.
Professor Rory Watson gave us an overview of the Association's
history; Dr Maureen Farrell and Professor Kirsteen McCue looked at
our role in education, in schools and universities; Professors
Michelle Macleod and Robert McColl Millar surveyed our work in
Gaelic and Scots; Marion Sinclair, Chief Executive of Publishing
Scotland, summarised the huge changes in publishing and the book
trade over the past fifty years; and the poet and novelist James
Robertson gave us a writer's perspective of ASLS's work and the
state of Scottish literature in general.
ASLS's publishing programme began in 1971, with our first Annual
Volume - an edition of James Hogg's The Three Perils of
Man, edited by Douglas Gifford. We've maintained the Annual
Volume series ever since, with only occasional slippage (the
fiftieth volume, Dràma na Gàidhlig: Ceud Bliadhna Air an
Àrd-Ùrlar / A Century of Gaelic Drama, edited by Michelle
Macleod, was published earlier this year), and it makes an
impressive collection, covering fiction and non-fiction, poetry and
drama, from the medieval to the modern, written in English, Gaelic,
Latin, and Scots.
The publication portfolio was expanded to include scholarly
journals, supporting a growing international interest in the study
of Scotland's unique and multilingual literary culture. In 1983,
with support from the Scottish Arts Council (now Creative
Scotland), ASLS brought out New Writing Scotland, edited by James
Aitchison and Alexander Scott - a collection of new poetry and
short fiction. 1984 saw the appearance of New Writing Scotland
2, and another series was born. Over the years New Writing
Scotland has helped to introduce readers to a startling number
of major Scottish talents (space does not permit a listing here,
but - to drop just a couple of names - that second volume saw the
first publication in book form of both Ian Rankin and Ali Smith;
oh, and Iain Banks was in number one). The series is still
supported by Creative Scotland, and continues to this day:
submissions are currently being received for what will be our
fortieth edition, due out in summer 2022.
Another ASLS series that began in the 1980s was our Scotnotes study guides. Our Education
Committee, made up in large part of teachers of English, knew from
direct experience that there was a dearth of material to support
pupils and teachers who wanted to study works by Scottish writers.
The first Scotnote, on Lewis Grassic Gibbon's Sunset
Song, appeared in 1986. In August this year we published the
forty-second Scotnote, on Rona Munro's play Bold
Girls. Each volume is edited by, and often written by, people
with direct classroom experience, and the texts covered run the
gamut from the fifteenth century Makars to contemporary works. In
many respects, Scotnotes are our most influential
publications, giving help and reassurance for more than thirty
years to wavering pupils - and teachers! - who want to study
Scotland's literature.
The work of the Association continues. Our Schools Conferences
offer CPD to teachers in drama, language, and literature; our
Annual Conferences develop links with writers and academics around
the world. Our free ezine, The Bottle
Imp, publishes articles and book reviews, and for fifteen
years we ran an annual exhibition at the MLA Convention, the
largest academic literary and linguistic conference in the USA,
promoting Scottish literature - ancient and modern, classic and
contemporary - as a subject area worthy of study, with its own
cultures, traditions, and interconnections. It's been a long road,
and sometimes it's been hard going - but at every step we've had
the support of readers, writers, teachers, academics; freelancers,
printers, distributors, booksellers; publishers, organisations,
festivals, and funders. Thank you to you all; quite literally, we
could not do it - we would not be here - without you. Here's health
to all. Here's to the next fifty - and counting.
Retrieving and Renewing
Edwin Morgan
a poem for ASLS
Forget your literature? - forget your soul.
If you want to see your country hale and whole
Turn back the pages of fourteen hundred years.
Surely not? Oh yes, did you expect woad and spears?
In Altus Prosator the bristly blustery land
Bursts in buzz and fouth within a grand
Music of metrical thought. Breathes there the man
With soul so dead-? Probably! But a scan
Would show his fault was ignorance:
Don't follow him. Cosmic circumstance
Hides in nearest, most ordinary things.
Find Scotland - find inalienable springs.