Congratulations to Dr Francesco Manzini, Junior Research Fellow at Oriel College, who has won the 'Forum for Modern Languages Studies Essay Prize for 2012'.

The 2012 Forum Prize competition was on the subject of Literature and Hunger and Francesco Manzini wrote the winning essay: 'Nutrition, Hunger and Fasting: Spiritual and Material Naturalism in Zola and Huysmans'.

http://www.oxfordjournals.org/our_journals/formod/forum_prize.html

Professor Richard Cooper carries the torch

Professor Cooper, Chair of the Faculty from 1 October 2012, carries the Olympic Torch in Oxford on 9 July 2012.

Professor Helen Watanabe-O'Kelly elected a Fellow of the British Academy

Professor Helen Watanabe-O'Kelly is Chair of the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages and a fellow of Exeter College, specialising in German literature and culture in the period 1450-1750. She has worked extensively on the culture of the European courts, on writing by women and on the representation of women in German literature from 1500 to the present.

Sir Adam Roberts, President of the Academy said: “The new Fellows, who come from 23 institutions across the UK, have outstanding expertise across the board – from social policy and government, to sign language and music. Our Fellows play a vital role in sustaining the Academy’s activities - from identifying excellence to be supported by research awards, to contributing to policy reports and speaking at the Academy’s public events. Their presence in the Academy will help it to sustain its support for research across the humanities and social sciences, and to inspire public interest in these disciplines.”

Registration is now open for the Sir Robert Taylor Society's annual conference which provides a unique forum for interaction between Oxford's Medieval and Modern Languages Faculty and teachers of MFL in secondary schools and colleges. This year's conference will take place at St Hilda's College.

The latest annual data from the University has shown once again the benefits of a Modern Languages degree in boosting graduate prospects. The Faculty's graduating students of summer 2010 have a higher percentage in employment or further study than the University average (93% > 87%), and an even smaller figure in unemployment. National data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency indicate, furthermore, that Modern Languages graduates have one of the highest rates of employment across all subject areas, exceeded only by medical disciplines and law.

For further information about career prospects for Modern Linguists, see: http://www.languageswork.org.uk

The University has its own Careers Service for guiding and supporting students in their future planning:
http://www.careers.ox.ac.uk

A new bursary has been established to provide financial assistance for undergraduates to attend a course in a South Slavonic language in the relevant country before taking it as a final-year option. The bursary is in memory of Anne Pennington who made invaluable contributions to Russian and Slavonic Studies at Oxford. More information about the bursary can be found here:

http://www.mod-langs.ox.ac.uk/pennington

The Oxford German Network launched its website on 26 September 2012, European Day of Languages.

http://www.oxford-german-network.ox.ac.uk

The network is an initiative of the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages at the University of Oxford, with the support of the Founding Partners Jesus College, Oxford, Magdalen College School, Oxford, and BMW Group Plant Oxford. It is designed to encourage and promote the study and enjoyment of German-language culture in the Oxford area and beyond, and will work closely with schools of all types as well as university departments, organisations and companies at a local and national level.

Alongside the website, the network's core activities will include facilitating workshops and events for learners of German and running a national competition: the Oxford German Olympiad.

Professor Patrick McGuinness has the won the 2012 Writers Guild Award for Best Fiction for his book The Last Hundred Days.

Miss Amy Cowan (Hertford College) has won the 2012 R.H. Gapper Undergraduate Essay Prize for her essay on the topic: 'A la recherche du temps perdu has been described as an epistemological quest. Explain and exemplify what this might mean.' The essay was judged outstanding by both the initial readers in the first round, and by the second round panel of judges.

The prize is awarded by the Society for French Studies for an essay in English or French, of between 2,000 and 5,000 words, on any subject within the scope of French studies. The award is for outstanding academic merit at undergraduate level, and the judges are a subcommittee of the Trustees of the Society for French Studies.

Miss Jessica Benhamou (St Hugh's College), must also be congratulated as being among the shortlist of six considered in the second round.

The Modern Language Association of America has awarded its twentieth annual Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize for Comparative Literary Studies to Frédérique Aït-Touati, of the University of Oxford, Saint John’s College, for her book Fictions of the Cosmos: Science and Literature in the Seventeenth Century, published by the University of Chicago Press. The prize is awarded annually for an outstanding scholarly work that is written by a member of the association and that involves at least two literatures.

More information can be found here.

Dr Thibaut Maus de Rolley, a British Academy Post-Doctoral Fellow, has just been awarded a ‘Prix solennel de la Chancellerie des Universités de Paris’ for his doctoral thesis, a book version of which is forthcoming from Droz in 2011 under the title Élévations: l'écriture du voyage aérien à la Renaissance.

The editors of Oxford German Studies are pleased to announce that digitisation of the entire run of OGS is now complete.

Please note, the following information outlines an internal pre-application selection process. It is not authorisation to make an application to the Leverhulme Trust through this Institution.

Professor Tom Earle has been elected a corresponding fellow of the Academia das Ciências de Lisboa - Classe de Letras. More information about the Academia can be found at:

http://www.acad-ciencias.pt/

The Faculty is sad to announce the death of Margaret Malpas in a nursing home on Sunday 23 January. Margaret had been associated with the Sub-Faculty of French for a great many years and was most recently a Lecturer at Hertford College, and taught at Keble, Pembroke, St. Edmund Hall & Trinity Colleges, amongst others. Margaret’s contribution to the teaching of language and linguistics has been extensive and many of her former students will remember her with affection. Condolences are extended to Margaret’s family; information about funeral arrangements will be circulated in due course.

Tom Earle (Professor of Portuguese in the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages) has obtained several paperback copies of his book Black Africans in Renaissance Europe (Ed T. F. Earle, University of Oxford and K. J. P. Lowe, Queen Mary, University of London) which he would like to donate to University Libraries in Africa. The aim is to distribute these books by means of personal contacts rather than by risking them to the vagaries of the postal system. If any colleagues have links with, or are planning trips to, any African countries over the next few months, please contact Professor Earle (Thomas.earle@mod-langs.ox.ac.uk) to obtain a copy of the book to take with you. Copies have already been distributed to the University of Ghana in Accra, and to Chancellor College in Zomba, Malawi.

Further details of the book can be found on:

http://www.cambridge.org/gb/knowledge/isbn/item5735921/?site_locale=en_GB

The Faculty regrets to announce the death on 22 February 2011 of Dr Gilbert McKay, a retired member of the German Sub-Faculty, and emeritus fellow of St Peter's.

More information regarding arrangements will follow. Our condolences go to his family, friends, and former colleagues.

The 2011 Sylvia Naish Lecture will be held on Thursday, 24 March 2011 and will be given by Alexandra Lloyd (Wadham College, Oxford) on 'Zeitzeugen' and 'Sachzeugen': the Physical Legacy of Third Reich Childhood.

The Sylvia Naish Lectures were launched in memory of Sylvia Naish, an accomplished linguist, translator, Friend of Germanic Studies and benefactor of the former Institute of Germanic Studies.

Each year, research students registered for higher degrees in the field of Germanic studies at Universities in the United Kingdom are invited to submit proposals for the next lecture. The event forms part of the Institute’s programme of activities, open to the public. The theme of the lecture should be related to the student’s topic of research. Modest travel and/or accommodation expenses as appropriate will be covered by the Sylvia Naish Bequest. The lecture is published in abridged form in the next issue of the Newsletter, annual magazine of the Friends of Germanic Studies.

More information can be found at:

The Sub-Faculty of Italian is pleased to announce the Giacomo da Lentini Prize for the best translation of an Italian sonnet into English

Poster (doc)

Each candidate is allowed TWO entries, which can be selected from ANY period of Italian literature. Entries should be sent, in hard copy, to Dr. E. Tandello at Christ Church - please NO electronic entries, unless you happen to be a third-year student currently abroad.

For any information about the prize, and conditions of entry, please contact Ela Tandello at Christ Church.

The Faculty regrets to announce the death of Paul Foote on 1 March 2011 in the John Radcliffe Hospital. Mr Foote was University Lecturer in Russian from 1954 until his retirement in 1993, and Fellow and Praelector in Russian at Queen's from 1964 until his retirement (and latterly an Emeritus Fellow).

More information regarding arrangements will follow. Our condolences go to his family, friends, and former colleagues.

A memorial service for Gudrun Loftus, Senior Language Instructor in German, will take place in St John's Chapel on Friday 6 May 2011, 11am, followed by a reception in the Garden Quad Reception Room, St John's College.

All friends, colleagues, and students past and present are welcome to attend (there is no need to RSVP).