Travel Writers Online

Northern Lights by Drago Jančar set in Maribor, Slovenia My edition is an English translation from the series, Writings from an Unbound Europe, published by Northwestern University Press. I began reading the novel last night and started to keep this journaling as the questions and dialogue unfolded. [Sunday 25 January 2026]. I formed these two initial questions: Which is the railway station that is in the opening pages of Drago Jančar’s novel, Northern Lights , please? And which street is Alexander Street, where Erdman first walks in 1938? Does it have a new name now? My Facebook contact, Gorazd, who had first recommended Jančar’s Maribor novel came back with details almost immediately @Gorazd: ‘This is the main railway station, which is still located in the same place as it was in those days (during World War II it was completely destroyed by Allied bombing). Alexandrov Street is now called Partizanska Street and runs from the main railway station toward the city center.’ This...

Roman Exeter Writing Project: Exploring RAMM and Wall - Thursday 22 January 2026  Seal Boxes Two pyriform (pear-shaped) seal boxes from 200 to 300 CE found in Exeter. The lids of these boxes protected the impression of a writer’s seal. String bound the wooden frame of the writing tablet and the string passed through holes in the base of the seal box. If anyone tried to open the tablet to read or to change the message, then the seal would break. Romain Coins found in Exeter Two Roman nummi coins from Exeter. The one numbered 161 is from the time of Magnus Maximus dated 387-388. The one numbered 162 is from the time of Theodosian 388-392. At this time, as the Roman Empire was nearing is end, incoming coin supply to Dumnonia and Exeter had stopped. A nummus had a high copper content. End of Empire In 383, Magnus Maximus was made emperor of Britannia, and of Gaul in 384. In 387 Magnus Maximus marched from his capital Trier, calling on the Roman soldiers still garrisoned in Bri...

  Lynda Chouiten (2024) Les blattes orgueilleuses . Casbah-Éditions: Algiers.                 Since leaving my lecturing post to take up writing full-time on Tuesday 11th January 2022, the way I approach novels has become very different. I notice structure. André Gide's short novel, Paludes , was the first in which I noticed that the author had structured the novel into sections, first around the names of his characters, for example, Hubert, Angèle, and then as if keeping a diary or journal using the days of the week. But he starts his first scene on Tuesday. This missed Monday was the catalyst for my commissioned meta-fiction from the Millbay writer's residency. Lynda Chouiten, in her Les blattes orgueilleuses , uses structure, too, to build a huge matrix on which her story unfolds. She divides the novel into two major parts, first to present the profiles of her characters and then a second part to...

  REX ERASMUS+ Conference 2026 REX Conference 2026: Rethinking Student Mobility in Higher Education The REX project warmly invites researchers, educators, practitioners, and policymakers to submit abstracts for the  REX Conference 2026 , which will take place on  20 May 2026  at the  University of Maribor, Slovenia . The conference focuses on innovative approaches to  encouraging and motivating student mobility in higher education through Virtual Reality (VR)  and other immersive digital technologies. Keynote Speaker:  Dr. Charles Mansfield About the Conference: How can Virtual Reality and immersive technologies inspire students to participate in international study exchanges and mobility programmes?  The REX Conference 2026 explores the role of VR in enhancing student engagement, reducing barriers to mobility, and rethinking internationalisation in higher education. Topics of Interest We welcome abstracts related to (but not limited to) the ...

Exeter Word Hoard Launch 1am 1.1.26  On 1 st January 2026 a new place-making research project is launched, this time in Exeter. The project is called,  Exeter Word Hoard . We plan to continue using the method of Dialogue Journaling (*please see references below) to uncover specific places documented in the personal papers available in Exeter University Library’s Special Collections, through work with the Torquay and RAMM museums and through citizen-science. The ongoing work is communicated using dialogue journaling via this established magazine blog, Travel Writers Online (ISSN 2753-7803). We have a WhatsApp Community group; this is a citizen science method that was pioneered for a place-writing research project in the port of Ouistreham in France; this is fully documented in the Routledge book by  Chowdhury, Mansfield, & Potočnik Topler, 2026 (full reference below).  WELL Templates You can find the templates for the WELL documents online here on the public...