English and Linguistics, University of Otago

09/10/2026

Spending Labour Day weekend in Central Otago? Please join us at MindJam 2026, a series of free talks with Otago academics which will be held at Lakes District Museum in Arrowtown, with sessions on 23, 24 and 25 October! Click on the link in the comments section for more information.

08/10/2026

"English translations of ancient texts need to be approached with caution, as hand weaver Dr Pamela Treanor, a recent PhD graduate of the University of Otago – Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka, found with Homer’s textile passages."

It was fantastic seeing Pamela Treanor featured in the 4 October Sunday Star-Times Brainwaves pages. The article is behind a paywall, but if you subscribe, follow the link below!

https://www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/361089239/brainwaves-homers-weavers-lost-translation

08/10/2026

It’s Showcase time! Please join us at 5.30pm on Wednesday 21 October at the Athenaeum Library for a taste of the exceptional work produced this year by our 2026 Master of Creative Writing students. See the poster for further details.

05/10/2026

Please join us at 4pm on Wednesday 28 October, when Prof. Rachel Nordlinger (University of Melbourne) will present the 2026 Margaret Dalziel Lecture, "Australia’s Indigenous languages and what they can teach us.” The lecture takes place in the College of Education Auditorium.

Australia’s Indigenous languages offer remarkable insights into how people perceive, categorise and communicate about the world. In this lecture, Rachel Nordlinger explores their distinctive grammatical structures, the knowledge and worldviews they encode, and what they reveal about how language is learned and processed. She shows why these languages matter not only to the communities who speak and treasure them, but to anyone interested in what it means to be human.

Rachel Nordlinger directs the Research Unit for Indigenous Language at the University of Melbourne. She has undertaken extensive fieldwork with the Bilinarra, Wambaya, Gudanji, Murrinhpatha and Marri Ngarr communities and works alongside Indigenous communities across Australia to support the preservation of their linguistic and cultural heritage.

We hope to see you on 28 October.

04/10/2026

The Otago English and Linguistics community mourns the passing of our friend and colleague Majella Cullinane. Born in Limerick, Ireland, Majella moved to Aotearoa New Zealand in 2008 and settled in Ōtepoti Dunedin in 2014, when she took up the Robert Burns Fellowship.

In the years that followed, she published poems, essays, short stories, and a novel, The Life of De’Ath, which was long listed for the 2019 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. In 2020, she completed a PhD at Otago, the first creative writing PhD in the University’s history. Her most recent volume, the short story collection Islands Ever After, appeared earlier this year. She lectured and tutored in various papers at Otago, gave readings and workshops across the motu, and was a highly valued mentor to and member of the Dunedin literary community.

We send our heartfelt wishes to Majella's whānau and friends.

A celebration of Majella's life will be held in Hope and Sons Chapel, 523 Andersons Bay Road, at 10am on Wednesday 7 October. Please follow the link below for further information.

On September 29, 2026, peacefully at the Otago Community Hospice; aged 50 years.  Much loved partner of 27 years of Andrew Court, loved Mum of Robbie, loved sister and sister-in-law of Marie and Paddy, loved daughter-in-law of Robin and Sandra, sister-in-law of Chris, and Ricky, and a friend to man...

02/10/2026

Professor David Ciccoricco's 2026 class of ENGL470: Storyworlds and Cognition enacting some distributed cognition for Team Pac-Man during their annual field trip to Tūhura Otago Museum.

30/09/2026

The 2026 Otago English and Linguistics Seminar concludes Wednesday with an online presentation from Associate Professor Paul Tankard entitled "Not Only Biography: Boswell as the Critic, Bibliographer, and Editor of Johnson." See below for a description of the presentation. As Dr Tankard is overseas, the seminar meets online only on Wednesday 7 October at 5pm via Zoom. Please contact [email protected] for the Zoom link. All are welcome!

29/09/2026

Applications are open for our Performing Arts Fund. This supports Otago students, staff and other members of our University community to bring creative projects to life. Guidelines and application forms are here: www.otago.ac.nz/humanities/about/performing-arts-fund

24/09/2026

The University of Otago – Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka will host a full contingent of Arts Fellows in 2027!
The Frances Hodgkins Fellow is Simon Kaan
The Caroline Plummer Fellowship in Community Dance goes to Tess Hazelhurst
The Robert Burns Fellow is Emma Hislop
The Mozart Fellow is Glen Downie
The University of Otago College of Education Children’s Writer in Residence will also resume its vital role in supporting children’s literature in 2027, in partnership with Robert Lord Writers Cottage Trust, after receiving Creative New Zealand funding.

We look forward to welcoming Emma Hislop to English and Linguistics as the 2027 Robert Burns Fellow!

The University of Otago – Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka will host a full contingent of Arts Fellows in 2027.