Last Tuesday we enjoyed an unforgettable Joanot Martorell Lecture 2025! ✨
The event was a great success: fantastic attendance, rich discussion, and a truly outstanding lecture by Professor Jacqueline Hurtley (University of Barcelona), who—as always—was superb. 👏📚

Under the title “Translation or transcreation? English-language authors, Catalan translators and publishers, 1920–1938”, we explored how the works of George Eliot, Joseph Conrad, and Virginia Woolf were translated—and often reimagined—into Catalan during a vibrant cultural moment, thanks to authors such as Josep Carner, C.A. Jordana, and Josep M. Millàs-Raurell. 🌍💬

A huge thank you to everyone who joined us and contributed to such an engaging evening—and special thanks to the Instituto Cervantes London for their collaboration in making this event possible. 🙌✨

#JoanotMartorellLecture #QueenMaryUniversity #InstitutoCervantesLondon #CatalanStudies #Translation #Literature #GeorgeEliot #JosephConrad #VirginiaWoolf

The Joanot Martorell Lecture 2025:

“Translation or transcreation? English-language authors, Catalan translators and publishers, 1920–1938”

Professor Jacqueline Hurtley (University of Barcelona)

Save the date! 🗓️

18 November, 6.30 pm

ArtsOne 1.36, Queen Mary University of London

Join us for the 2025 Joanot Martorell Lecture, presented in collaboration with the Instituto Cervantes London. 🎓✨

Discover how the fiction of George Eliot, Joseph Conrad, and Virginia Woolf was translated — and reimagined — into Catalan by writers such as Josep Carner, C.A. Jordana, and Josep M. Millàs-Raurell, during a dynamic cultural period in Catalonia. 📚🇬🇧➡️🇨🇦

🎟️ Free admission, but booking is required via Eventbrite:

Followed by a reception.

👉 eventbrite.co.uk/e/joanot-martorell-annual-conference-2025-tickets-1542218058729

Don’t miss this evening of literature, translation, and cultural discovery! 🌍💬
#JoanotMartorellConference #QueenMaryUniversity #InstitutoCervantesLondon #CatalanStudies #Translation #Literature #GeorgeEliot #JosephConrad #VirginiaWoolf

What an inspiring evening last Wednesday! 🌟
The Queen Mary Catalan Annual Lecture with Joan Fontcuberta was a true success — a full house, great participation, and fascinating reflections on the evolution of photography from alchemy and light to algorithms and data. 📸✨
A delightful evening filled with culture, ideas, and thought-provoking discussions. Thank you to everyone who joined us for this enriching experience! 💬🤍

JoanFontcuberta #QueenMaryCatalanLecture #Photography #ArtAndTechnology #Culture #Inspiration

Photography: from Alchemy to Algorithms

Joan Fontcuberta

29 October 2025 ·6.15 pm

Free admission

To be followed by a drinks reception

Room 1.28, Arts One Building, 

Queen Mary University of London 

We are delighted to present the Queen Mary Annual Catalan Lecture 2025, featuring the internationally renowned Joan Fontcuberta, who will explore the evolution of photography from its origins to the digital age.

Joan Fontcuberta’s work has been exhibited in Belgium, the United States, Germany, Japan, Italy, Spain, Canada, and France. He is an exceptional conceptual artist and photographer who continually challenges the boundaries between documentation and invention. Some of you may have seen his astounding exhibition Stranger than Fiction at the Science Museum in London some years ago.

Joan has given us a glimpse of what his subject will be at Queen Mary:

“Photography began in the mystery of alchemy and has now culminated in another kind of magic: that of algorithms. At first, photography was made with light and chemistry; today it is made with computation and data. When the camera and the eye are replaced at the heart of visual culture by neural networks and Artificial Intelligence, it becomes necessary to reconsider the role of images which, until now, have helped to shape our sensibility.

Through a series of personal artistic projects, Joan Fontcuberta will illustrate this transition: from an alchemical photography to an algorithmic one, from a literary language to a mathematical one—in short, from metaphor to statistics.”

Open to all, but places are limited.

Please register via Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/photography-from-alchemy-to-algorithms-the-qmul-annual-catalan-lecture-tickets-1796311890219?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=ebdsshcopyurl

We wish a fond farewell to Cristòfol Tripiana after his three years of loyal service to the Centre for Catalan Studies and Catalan teaching at Queen Mary. So many colleagues signed his good-bye card!

Good luck, Cristòfol, for the future! You will be missed. 

The #39JIPC, International Conference for Catalan Teachers (Jornades Internacionals per a Professorat de Català) organised by the Institut Ramon Llull took place last week in Castelló de la Plana.

Continue reading “The CCS at the 39th International Conference for Catalan Teachers” →

This past April, we celebrated Sant Jordi in Camden for the third year in a row, in what has become a much-anticipated tradition organised by the Delegation of the Government of Catalonia to the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Continue reading “Celebrating Sant Jordi and Looking Ahead: Catalan Courses and Events This Autumn” →

Last week, Catalan writer Núria Cadenes presented her latest book, En carn i ossos, at the Centre for Catalan Studies at Queen Mary University of London. The event, held in Catalan, was organised in collaboration with ValenciansUK and CatalansUK.

Continue reading “‘En carn i ossos’ by Núria Cadenes launched at QMUL” →

Yesterday, Mansur Boase (Queens’ College, Cambridge) delivered a seminar entitled “The Early Story of Fra Anselm Turmeda: A 14th century Franciscan from Mallorca who converted to Islam and wrote in three languages” at Queen Mary University of London.

Continue reading “Mansur Boase gives seminar on Anselm Turmeda at QMUL” →

Last month, the Valencian podcast Beatles Nàked Pòdcast (El Nàked) recorded a live episode at Queen Mary University of London, in an event organised in collaboration with ValenciansUK.

Continue reading “‘El Nàked’ records a podcast episode at QMUL” →