CISS Pamphlets series
Celtic Peoples | Tangata Kereti is a series of concise and vital interventions in the field of Irish and Scottish Studies, broadly conceived.
In each pamphlet, an eminent writer or thinker will explore an aspect of Irish and/or Scottish history or culture, sometimes with an eye to ramifications in Aotearoa New Zealand.
The pamphlets are published in limited editions by the Dalriada Press at Ōtepoti Dunedin. There will be ten pamphlets in the series.
We are delighted to inaugurate the series with Professor Val McDermid's authoritative essay on the genesis and development of Scottish crime fiction.
Please use the form to order copies.
Order form (PDF)
Celtic Peoples | Tangata Kereti series
- Val McDermid, 'I Now Describe My Country As If To Strangers'.
- Fiona Kidman, 'More Pennies from Heaven'.
Podcasts
History worth repeating
Historian Professor Barbara Brookes joins Professor Sonja Tiernan, Eamon Cleary Chair of Irish Studies and co-director of the Centre for Irish and Scottish Studies, to canvass wide aspects of the past – from individual stories to national histories, from political events to emotional tides. Listen to history worth repeating.
The 'History worth repeating' podcast
Speaking volumes
Bringing you the stories behind the best new books – presented by Liam McIlvanney, Stuart Professor of Scottish Studies and co-director of the Centre for Irish and Scottish Studies.
The 'Speaking volumes' podcast
Radio plays
Dracula: A Radio Play
The script has been adapted by Emer Lyons from the 1927 revision by John L. Balderston of Dracula: A Vampire Play in Three Parts. The original script was written by Hamilton Deane in 1924 and was the first authorised adaptation of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula.
OAR breakfast show interview – 29 October 2021
Reading Room
The CISS Reading Room is the repository for the Scottish and Irish holdings of the National Library of New Zealand – the NLNZ having divested itself of its non-New Zealand material in 2020. It also contains important Scottish and Irish books gifted by the Dunedin Burns Club, as well as donations from the libraries of Professor Dame Linda Holloway and Professor Ian Jamieson, among others, and houses the largest collection of Scottish and Irish books in Aotearoa New Zealand.
The collection includes fiction, poetry, philosophy, travel writing and literary criticism, as well as works of cultural, historical and political analysis. Among the taonga of the Reading Room are a first edition of Muriel Spark’s The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961), an extensive collection of Scots language and Irish language dictionaries, and journals like The Dublin Review and Studies in Scottish Literature.
For ease of access the collection has been professionally shelved by CISS PhD student Sara Brown and her husband Rhys Thorn of Otago University Library. The Reading Room also contains the trophy cabinet and honour board of the Caledonian Society of Otago along with a number of Irish and Scottish artworks.
Researchers interested in viewing the Reading Room collection, please contact,
Professor Liam McIlvanney – for the Scottish holdings
Email liam.mcilvanney@otago.ac.nz
Professor Maebh Long – for the Irish holdings
Email maebh.long@otago.ac.nz
Centre for Irish and Scottish Studies reading room.