Scott Lyall
Scott Lyall

Dr Scott Lyall

Associate Professor

 0131 455 6126

  S.Lyall@napier.ac.uk

  

Biography

Scott Lyall is Associate Professor of Modern and Scottish Literature. After completing his PhD at the University of St Andrews, he was postdoctoral researcher in the Centre for Irish–Scottish Studies at Trinity College Dublin. He joined the English group at Edinburgh Napier University in 2009. He is currently the university’s representative on the executive committee of the Scottish Graduate School for Arts & Humanities, as well as vice-convenor of the academic committee of Edinburgh Napier’s Doctoral College and convenor of the Doctoral College examination board.

Dr Lyall is a literary and cultural historian whose main research areas are modernism and literary revivals. Much of his work concerns the interwar renaissance in Scottish literature, on which he has published extensively and been interviewed on TV and radio. He is the author of Hugh MacDiarmid's Poetry and Politics of Place, and editor of The Edinburgh Companion to Hugh MacDiarmid, The International Companion to Lewis Grassic Gibbon, and Community in Modern Scottish Literature. A co-edited volume, The Scottish Literary and Cultural Revival, 1880s–1950s, is forthcoming from Edinburgh University Press. Co-editor of Scottish Literary Review, Dr Lyall serves on the publications committee of the Association for Scottish Literature and on the executive committee of the International Association for the Study of Scottish Literatures.

Dr Lyall has supervised several PhD projects and welcomes applications and enquiries from prospective research students, especially in his primary areas of research expertise: modern Scottish literature, small-nation modernism, and movements of cultural revival.

School

Research Groups

Themes

Research Areas

News

Events

Esteem

Advisory panels and expert committees or witness

  • Review panel: Member of Edinburgh Napier University REF UoA-27 moderation panel.
  • Academic Pathway Adviser (Research Pathway), Edinburgh Napier University.
  • Funding panel: Invited member of the Publishing Scotland Translation Fund panel.
  • Graduate knowledge exchange hub member: Nominated for Scottish Graduate School of Arts and Humanities Discipline+ Catalyst Membership.
  • Council member: Association for Scottish Literature, 2014−present.
  • Board member: Publication Board, Association for Scottish Literature, 2013−present.
  • Review panel: Nominated Chair of the Ross Roy Medal panel, Universities Committee for Scottish Literature, to decide the best PhD in Scottish Literature.
  • Committee member: Nominated Secretary, Universities Committee for Scottish Literature.

 

Conference Organising Activity

  • Chair and Organiser: 'The Revival and the National Movement', Seminar 5 of The Scottish Revival Network, Online Event, 19 January 2023.
  • Chair: Panel 2, ‘Concepts and Peripheries’. 'MacDiarmid at 100': A special event of The Scottish Revival Network, 31 August 2022.
  • Chair and Organiser: SGSAH Literature Catalyst Workshop: 'Beyond the Academy: Creating Impact in Literary Studies', Online Event, 25 April 2022.
  • Organiser and Speaker: Postgraduate Research Student Seminar: How to Apply for Funding, Edinburgh Napier University, Online, 2 November 2022.
  • Chair and Co-Organiser: Postgraduate Research Student Seminar: Data Collection, Edinburgh Napier University, Online, 6 April 2022.
  • Organiser: 'Global Scottish Revival', Seminar 4 of The Scottish Revival Network, Online Event, 28 November 2022.
  • Organiser: 'The Scottish Revival and the Canon', Seminar 3 of The Scottish Revival Network, Online Event, 31 March 2022.
  • Chief Organiser: 'MacDiarmid at 100': A special event of The Scottish Revival Network, 31 August 2022.
  • Chair and Organiser: Postgraduate Research Student Seminar: How to Write Abstracts and Apply for Conferences, Edinburgh Napier University, Online, 16 March 2022.
  • Chair and Organiser: Postgraduate Research Student Seminar: Research in Lockdown, Edinburgh Napier University, Online, 31 March 2021.
  • Chair: Postgraduate Research Student Seminar: Research Methods, Edinburgh Napier University, Online, 1 December 2021.
  • Chair and Organiser: Postgraduate Research Student Seminar: Ethics, Edinburgh Napier University, Online, 13 October 2021.
  • Chair and Organiser: Postgraduate Research Student Seminar: Communities of Practice, Edinburgh Napier University, Online, 10 February 2021.
  • Organiser: 'From Revival to Renaissance', Seminar 2 of The Scottish Revival Network, Online Event, 5 November 2021.
  • Chair and Organiser: 'What is Revival?', Seminar 1 of The Scottish Revival Network, Online Event, 10 August 2021.
  • Chair and Organiser: Postgraduate Research Student Seminar: Transitioning into Academia, Maintaining Research, Edinburgh Napier University, Online, 21 October 2020.
  • Chair and Organiser: Postgraduate Research Student Seminar: Social Media Profiles and Self-promotion, Edinburgh Napier University, Online, 12 November 2020.
  • Chair and Organiser: Postgraduate Research Student Seminar: Research Impact and Community Engagement, Edinburgh Napier University, Merchiston Campus, 5 February 2020.
  • Chair and Organiser: Postgraduate Research Student Seminar: Beyond the PhD, Edinburgh Napier University, Merchiston Campus, 27 February 2019.
  • Conference Panel Chair: ‘Anti-moderns and Marginal Moderns’. Troublesome Modernisms, British Association for Modernist Studies International Conference, King’s College London, 20−22 June 2019.
  • Lecture Chair: Lecture by Dr Arin Keeble to the Centre for Literature and Writing (CLAW), Edinburgh Napier University, Merchiston Campus, 6 March 2018.
  • Chair and Organiser: Postgraduate Research Student Seminar: Utilising the Digital Humanities in your Research, Edinburgh Napier University, Merchiston Campus, 7 March 2018.
  • Conference Co-Organiser: 'We Moderns': Current Work in Modernist Studies, The Scottish Network of Modernist Studies Symposium, Edinburgh Napier University, 10 March 2018.
  • Conference Panel Chair: Edwin and Willa Muir: Revaluations, ‘We Moderns’: Current Work in Modernist Studies, The Scottish Network of Modernist Studies Symposium, Edinburgh Napier University, 10 March 2018.
  • Chair and Organiser: Postgraduate Research Student Seminar: Teaching and Feedback, Edinburgh Napier University, Merchiston Campus, 24 October 2018.
  • Co-organiser: 10 years of English at Edinburgh Napier, Merchiston Campus, the Glassroom, 6 October 2017.
  • Chair and Organiser: Postgraduate Research Student Seminar: Interdisciplinarity, Edinburgh Napier University, Merchiston Campus, 8 November 2017.
  • Conference Organiser: SACI Research Student Conference, Edinburgh Napier University, May 2017.
  • Chair and Organiser: Postgraduate Research Student Seminar: Online Identity and Social Media, Edinburgh Napier University, Merchiston Campus, 1 February 2017.
  • Conference Chair: Chair for the Day Conference and Evening Cultural Events: Neil M. Gunn: Spirituality and Community in his Life and Work, Edinburgh International Centre for Spirituality and Peace, Augustine United Church, Edinburgh, 15 October 2016.
  • Chair and Organiser: Postgraduate Research Student Seminar: How to Get Published, Edinburgh Napier University, Merchiston Campus, 18 November 2016.
  • Conference Panel Chair: The Poets’ Panel: Poets, Nation and Narration, Edinburgh International Centre for Spirituality and Peace, Augustine United Church, Edinburgh, 26 November 2016.
  • Conference Panel Convenor and Chair: Hugh MacDiarmid Panel, World Congress of Scottish Literatures, University of Glasgow, 2−5 July 2014.
  • Conference co-organiser: The International Tagore Conference, Edinburgh Napier University, 4−6 May 2012.
  • Seminar-series Organiser: Edinburgh Napier University Centre for Literature and Writing Research seminars: 'Community in Scottish Literature'. A year-long exploration of the theme of community in Scottish literature with talks by several invited prestigious external speakers.

 

Editorial Activity

  • Journal Editor (Special Issue): Studies in Scottish Literature, 49.1: Hugh MacDiarmid at 100: Essays on the anniversary of his first publication
  • Journal Co-Editor: Scottish Literary Review.
  • Book Editor: Community in Modern Scottish Literature (Leiden | Boston: Brill, 2016), 304pp.
  • Book Editor: The International Companion to Lewis Grassic Gibbon (Glasgow: ASLS, Scottish Literature International, 2015), 176pp.
  • Editorial Advisor: Marie Hedon's The Space of Fiction: Voices from Scotland in a Post-Devolution Age (Glasgow: ASLS, 2015).
  • Editorial Advisor: Iain Macwhirter's Disunited Kingdom: How Westminster Won a Referendum But Lost Scotland (Glasgow: Cargo, 2014).
  • Journal Reviews Editor: Scottish Literary Review.
  • Book Co-Editor: The Edinburgh Companion to Hugh MacDiarmid (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2011), 196pp.

 

External Examining/Validations

  • External Examiner: Undergraduate MA (Hons) Scottish Literature Programme, University of Glasgow, 2022−.
  • External Examiner: Undergraduate BA (Hons) English Programme, University of Strathclyde, 2017−2021.

 

Fellowships and Awards

  • Fellow: of the Higher Education Academy (date awarded: 23 November 2010).
  • Honorary Research Fellow: Department of Scottish Literature, University of Glasgow.

 

Grant Reviewer

  • Grant reviewer: The Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland, Vacation Scholarship applications.
  • Grant reviewer: The Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland, Research Incentive Grant application.

 

Invited Speaker

  • Roundtable Speaker: The History of the Saltire Society. The Saltire Society, Fountain Close, High Street, Edinburgh, 28 March 2025.
  • Invited Speaker: 'A "vigilance society for Scottish culture": The Saltire Society and the Scottish Literary Renaissance', The Saltire Society, Edinburgh, 28 March 2025.
  • Roundtable Speaker: 'Funding Research in Scottish Literature', SGSAH training event (Literature Catalyst), University of Stirling, 2 May 2025.
  • Invited Extension Lecture: 'Scottish Modernism as Renaissance'. Department of English, Sukanta Mahavidyalaya, Dhupguri, Jalpaiguri University of North Bengal, Online Event, 27 January 2022.
  • Seminar speaker: 'Critical Revival: How Critics have read Revival and Renaissance'. 'The Scottish Revival and the Canon', Seminar 3 of The Scottish Revival Network, Online Event, 31 March 2022.
  • Conference talk: 'Nan Shepherd, Scotland and the Nature of Rural Modernism'. The 3rd World Congress of Scottish Literatures, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic, 23 June 2022.
  • Invited seminar speaker: 'Sacred Violence: W. B. Yeats, Patrick Pearse, and the Revival of Ireland', School of Humanities seminar series, University of Strathclyde, 28 September 2022.
  • Conference talk: '"And so with the moderns": Radical Futures, Classical Pasts in the work of J. Leslie Mitchell/Lewis Grassic Gibbon'. A Proletarian Classics?, University of St Andrews, Online Event, 23−24 October 2021.
  • Seminar speaker: Unforgettable, Unforgotten? Continuing the Recovery of Scottish Women Writers, c. 1880−1940, University of Edinburgh, Online Event, 29 June 2021.
  • Seminar speaker: Invited to speak on the RSE-funded project, The Scottish Revival Network. The Future of Scottish Cosmopolitanism at the Fin de Siècle, University of Glasgow, Online Event, 29 March 2021.
  • Seminar speaker: Invited to speak on the RSE-funded project, The Scottish Revival Network. University of Glasgow, Online Event, 27 October 2021.
  • Conference talk: 'Nan Shepherd, or the Troublesome Nature of Scottish Modernism’. Troublesome Modernisms, British Association for Modernist Studies International Conference, King’s College London, 20−22 June 2019.
  • Conference talk: 'Nan Shepherd, Scotland and the Nature of Rural Modernism'. Modernist Legacies and Futures, Modernist Studies Ireland, NUI Galway, 17−18 May.
  • Plenary speaker: ‘Edwin Muir and the Question of Modernism'. ‘We Moderns’: Current Work in Modernist Studies, The Scottish Network of Modernist Studies Symposium, Edinburgh Napier University, Merchiston, 10 March 2018.
  • Seminar speaker: ‘“It’s a far cry to the golden age”: Spiritual Revival in Sunset Song and Highland River’. Scottish Literature and World War I Symposium, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, 16 March 2018.
  • Conference talk: ‘“Seeking God by strange ways”: Symbolism and the Irish Revival’. European Revivals, Conference V – Cultural Mythologies Around 1900, Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh, 1−2 December 2017.
  • Invited presenter: of the Ross Roy Medal for the best PhD in Scottish Literature for 2016 at the Saltire Literary Awards, Edinburgh, 24 November 2016.
  • Inaugural address: Day Conference: Poets, Nation and Narration, Edinburgh International Centre for Spirituality and Peace, Augustine United Church, Edinburgh, 26 November 2016.
  • Seminar speaker: on W. B. Yeats, Fernando Pessoa and Hugh MacDiarmid. University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, 4 March 2016.
  • Seminar speaker: Postgraduate Research Student Seminar: Scholarly Book Reviews, Edinburgh Napier University, Merchiston, 29 February 2016.
  • Conference talk: ‘“Fiery Speech”: Vision and Violence in the Poetry of W. B. Yeats and Patrick Pearse’. 13th ESSE Conference, NUI Galway, Ireland, 22−26 August 2016.
  • Keynote speaker: ‘Hugh MacDiarmid and Prejudice: Scotland, Creativity, and the Independence Debate’. Disrespected Neigho(u)rs: Cultural Stereotypes in Literature and Film, University of Jena, Germany, 21−23 April 2016.
  • Conference talk: on Lewis Grassic Gibbon's Sunset Song. Association for Scottish Literature Schools’ Conference, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, 30 October 2015.
  • Invited speaker: 'The Catfish in the Aquarium: Hugh MacDiarmid's Poetry and Politics'. Open History Society, Edinburgh, 27 November 2015.
  • Invited lecturer: on James Kelman and Liz Lochhead. University of Edinburgh International Summer School, Edinburgh, 30 July 2014.
  • Conference talk: 'Scottish Literature and New Cosmopolitanism'. Scottish Literature as World Literature, World Congress of Scottish Literatures, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, 2−5 July 2014.
  • Conference talk: 'Translating Modernism: The Scottish Renaissance Movement and German-language Modernism'. World-literatures, Discrepant Transnationalisms, University of Stuttgart, Germany, December 2013.
  • Conference talk: ‘Hugh MacDiarmid and the Limits of Community’. Community and its Limits, University of Greenwich, London, 15 July 2013.
  • Conference talk: 'Scottish Studies, Democracy and the New Cosmopolitans'. 11th ESSE Conference, Istanbul, Turkey, 4−8 September 2012.
  • Invited speaker: on Hugh MacDiarmid. The 2012 Andrew Tannahill Debate, Aye Write! Festival, Mitchell Library, Glasgow, 9 March 2012.
  • Conference talk: ‘Representations of Community in Twentieth Century Scottish Literature'. Association for Scottish Literary Studies Conference: The roots and the fruits of contemporary Scotland: literature and society, Universite Jean Monnet Saint-Etienne, France, 13−15 October 2011.
  • Seminar speaker: ‘Modernist Cosmopolitanation: Lewis Grassic Gibbon and James Joyce’. Scottish Network of Modernist Studies, Scottish Modernisms: Relationships and Reconfigurations Symposium, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, 8 October 2011.
  • Conference talk: ‘Modernist Cosmopolitanation: Lewis Grassic Gibbon and James Joyce’. Association for Scottish Literary Studies Conference: Scottish and International Modernism, University of Stirling, Stirling, 6–7 June 2009.

 

Media Activity

  • Newspaper article: interviewed for and quoted in: 'Church that inspired famous Scots novel to be sold off by cash-strapped Kirk', Mail on Sunday, 18 May 2025.
  • Newspaper article: interviewed for and quoted in: 'Was Sunset Song, Scotland’s best-loved novel, plagiarised from younger writer?', The Times, 15 May 2024.
  • Radio feature: discussing the poet Hugh MacDiarmid on the anniversary of his birth, interviewed by Stig Abell, Times Radio, 11 August 2020.
  • Newspaper article: interviewed for and quoted in: 'Hugh MacDiarmid: The Poet who Divided Opinion', The Scotsman, 16 June 2017.
  • TV appearance: Andrew Marr's Great Scots, episode 3: Hugh MacDiarmid, BBC TV, first broadcast 30 August 2014.
  • Radio feature: 'The Panoramic Pen’, discussing writers of Montrose, BBC Radio Scotland, 28 December 2004.
  • Newspaper article: interviewed for and quoted in: 'Proof of poet's date with Destiny revealed', The Scotsman, 16 February 2008.

 

Membership of Professional Body

  • Member: International Association for the Study of Scottish Literatures.
  • Member: Universities Committee for Scottish Literature.
  • Member: Scottish Network of Modernist Studies.
  • Member: Association for Scottish Literature.

 

Public/Community Engagement

  • Speaker: 'Scottish Scene and the "Condition of Scotland" question', paper delivered at ‘For I Will Give You The Morning Star’: A Celebration of the Life and Work of Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Scottish Storytelling Centre, Edinburgh, 7 February 2025.
  • Chair and Co-Organiser: 'Patrick Geddes and Revival': A Public Event organised by The Scottish Revival Network in association with The Patrick Geddes Centre, Online Event, 8 June 2022.
  • Chair and Organiser: Celebrating the Life and Work of Nan Shepherd, National Library of Scotland, 11 February 2020.

 

Research Degree External Examining

  • External Examiner: MSc by Research, University of Edinburgh, Bethany Davison, 'Re-Imagined Feminine Archetypes in the Novels of Nan Shepherd', September 2022.
  • External Examiner: MPhil, University of Glasgow, Fiona E. Paterson, '"The Gael Will Come Again": Reconstruction of a Gaelic World in the Work of Neil M. Gunn and Hugh MacDiarmid', October 2019.
  • External Examiner: PhD, University of Edinburgh, James Benstead, 'A Study of Hugh MacDiarmid's In Memoriam James Joyce', date examined: 27 September 2019.
  • External Examiner: MLitt, University of Aberdeen, Graham Stephen, '"A torch cannot be handed on that has not been lit": a study of the formative influence of Aberdeen University on Nan Shepherd's life and writing', date examined: 16 November 2018.
  • External Examiner: PhD, University of Glasgow, Richard McCaffrey, ‘Poets as Legislators: Self, Nation and Possibility in World War Two Scottish Poetry’, date examined: 19 February 2015.

 

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Date


96 results

'A "vigilance society for Scottish culture": The Saltire Society and the Scottish Literary Renaissance'.

Presentation / Conference Contribution
Lyall, S. (2025, March)
'A "vigilance society for Scottish culture": The Saltire Society and the Scottish Literary Renaissance'. Presented at The History of the Saltire Society, The Saltire Society, Edinburgh, UK

Scottish Scene and the ‘Condition of Scotland’ Question

Presentation / Conference Contribution
Lyall, S. (2025, February)
Scottish Scene and the ‘Condition of Scotland’ Question. Presented at 'For I Will Give You The Morning Star': A Celebration of the Life and Work of Lewis Grassic Gibbon, The Scottish Storytelling Centre, Edinburgh

“The matter of Scotland”: Gray and MacDiarmid

Book Chapter
Lyall, S. “The matter of Scotland”: Gray and MacDiarmid. In The Edinburgh Companion to Alasdair Gray. Edinburgh University Press

)
Lyall, S. “The matter of Scotland”: Gray and MacDiarmid. In The Edinburgh Companion to Alasdair Gray. Edinburgh University Press
This chapter charts the influence on Alasdair Gray’s work of the poet and propogandist for Scottish Renaissance Hugh MacDiarmid’s writings and cultural politics. It analyses t...

Studies in Scottish Literature - Special Issue: Hugh MacDiarmid at 100: Essays on the anniversary of his first publication

Other
(2024)
Studies in Scottish Literature - Special Issue: Hugh MacDiarmid at 100: Essays on the anniversary of his first publication. [Web and Print]
Special Issue editor

To ‘Irradiate the Common’: Nan Shepherd and the Scottish Literary Renaissance

Book Chapter
Lyall, S. To ‘Irradiate the Common’: Nan Shepherd and the Scottish Literary Renaissance. In Nan Shepherd: New Critical Essays. Edinburgh University Press

)
Lyall, S. To ‘Irradiate the Common’: Nan Shepherd and the Scottish Literary Renaissance. In Nan Shepherd: New Critical Essays. Edinburgh University Press
The Scottish Literary Renaissance is one of the main contexts for understanding Nan Shepherd’s work. As her correspondence shows, Shepherd was friends with many of the renaiss...

Occult Revival: Lewis Spence’s Weird Renaissance

Presentation / Conference Contribution
Lyall, S. (2024, July)
Occult Revival: Lewis Spence’s Weird Renaissance. Paper presented at The World Congress of Scottish Literatures, University of Nottingham, England
This paper suggest that Lewis Spence’s work – or some of it: specifically, some of his poetry in Scots – evokes the sense of 'The Weird' as defined by Mark Fisher; that is, as...

The Health of the Nation: Critical Pathologies of the Long Scottish Revival

Book Chapter
Lyall, S. The Health of the Nation: Critical Pathologies of the Long Scottish Revival. In The Scottish Literary and Cultural Revival, 1880s–1950s. Edinburgh University Press

)
Lyall, S. The Health of the Nation: Critical Pathologies of the Long Scottish Revival. In The Scottish Literary and Cultural Revival, 1880s–1950s. Edinburgh University Press
This chapter examines the way critics of Scottish literary culture have tended historically to read revival as a sign of the cultural health or ill-health of the nation, conse...

Encyclopaedia entry: J. B. Salmond

Book Chapter
Lyall, S. (in press)
Encyclopaedia entry: J. B. Salmond. In Wiley Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Scottish Literature. Wiley

Encyclopaedia entry: Christine Orr

Book Chapter
Lyall, S. (in press)
Encyclopaedia entry: Christine Orr. In Wiley Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Scottish Literature. Wiley

Encyclopaedia entry: William Soutar

Book Chapter
Lyall, S. (in press)
Encyclopaedia entry: William Soutar. In Wiley Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Scottish Literature. Wiley

Pre-Napier Funded Projects

  • Postdoctoral Research Fellowship: Irish Higher Education Authority-funded postdoctoral research fellowship in English in the Centre for Irish-Scottish Studies, 23,000 Euros, Trinity College Dublin, Oct.2004−Oct. 2005.
  • Research Grant: The Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland, fully-funded PhD award, £30,000, University of St Andrews, Oct. 2000−Sept. 2003.

Current Post Grad projects

Previous Post Grad projects