Conference: Norse in the North
- Date: Friday 15 May 2026, 09:00 – 17:00
- Location: Hybrid
- Type: Conferences
- Cost: Free. Registration required.
Norse in the North is pleased to host its next conference at the University of Leeds, on the theme of 'Mind and Body'.
The theme of ‘Mind and Body’ resonates with recent publications in Old Norse scholarship, such as Saga Emotions, ed. Gareth Lloyd Evans, Brynja Þorgeirsdóttir and Carolyne Larrington (Manchester University Press, 2025) and The Norse Sorceress: Mind and Materiality in the Viking World, ed. by Leszek Gardeła, Sophie Bønding and Peter Pentz (Oxbow Books, 2023), considering how the mental and physical is understood and represented in the Old Norse world. This conference aims to tackle questions of how the mind and body are represented and understood in Old Norse-Icelandic language and literature, Icelandic and Scandinavian history and culture, and more.
Programme
09:00-09:15 Arrival
09:15-09:30 Opening Remarks
09:30-11:00 Session 1: Othered Bodies and Body Modification
Jennifer Bailey (Macquarie University): ‘Ok allir hata Þik: The Othering of Kæi in the Norse Arthurian Court’
Rannvá Næs Hoydal (Háskóli Íslands): ‘Monstrous multitudes: Giant bodies as individuals and as nature in Þrymskviða’
Natalia Radziwillowicz (University of Nottingham): ‘“Viking” Tattoos – Body modification as taboo or talisman?’
Chair: Dan Coultas (University of Leeds)
11:00-11:15 Tea and coffee break
11:15-12:35 Session 2: Gendered Mentalities and Emotions
Juliette Friedlander (University of the Highlands and Islands): ‘Hervor/Hervarðr: Gender, Language, and Christianisation in Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks’
Ed McCarthy (University College London): ‘Letter writing in Old Norse sagas: writing female emotion and voice’
Amanda L Dick (University of Nottingham): ‘Cold Counsels: The Male Inciter’
Chair: Natalie Hopwood (University of Leeds)
12:45-13:30 Lunch
13:30-15:00 Session 3: Thought, Memory and Neurodivergence
Jessie Summerhayes (University of York) ‘Ravens in the Mind: Avian Thought Elements in Old Norse Poetry’
Dan Coultas (University of Leeds) ‘Farmaguð, Glapsviðr, Báleygr: Óðinn and Moral Injury in Old Norse Literature’
Suchismita Ghoshal (Indira Gandhi National Open University) ‘Scars That Speak Loudly: Gendered Trauma, Neurodivergent Bodies and Embodied Memory in Egils Saga and Grettis Saga’
Chair: Sif Brookes (University of Leeds)
15:00-15:15 Tea and coffee break
15:15-16:45 Keynote Address
Dr Rebecca Merkelbach (University of Tübingen): ‘The Inner Lives of Trolls: Interiority, Trauma, and the Paranormal in the Sagas’
Chair: Chris Latham
16:45-17:00 Closing Remarks
How to attend
This conference will take place in room G.36 of the Baines Wing on the University of Leeds campus.
The conference is fully hybrid, so if you plan to attend online please note this in your registation.
Acknowledgements
This conference has been made possible by the support of the Scottish Society for Northern Studies, the AHC Faculty Interdisciplinary Research Support Fund, and the Institute for Medieval Studies Endowment Fund.
This conference has been organised by Sif Brookes, Daniel Coultas, Natalie Hopwood, and Chris Latham.