Islands and Islandness: a Poetry Workshop with Charlotte Eichler

On Thursday 20th February Charlotte Eichler, the Ragna’s Islands poet in residence, will be running an online poetry workshop with an ‘islands’ theme! The workshop is aimed at beginners and experienced writers alike, as well as the merely curious. It will be a friendly and relaxed session with plenty of writing time and the chance …

Who is Ragna, What is She?

Readers of this blog might be wondering why our project is named after Ragna, a slightly obscure woman, and what her islands were. In fact, while the female characters of the Saga of the Earls of Orkney play a much more low-key role than the many warlike, poetical, ambiguous, saintly or evil male characters, the …

Weelie’s Taing… a weelie interesting place-name…

Weelie’s Taing is a tidal feature found at the top of North Wick on the east side of Papay, south of Hundland. Thought by some to be a natural feature, or possibly a fish trap, it has what might be a sheep refuge on the south-eastern end. The inclusion of the apostrophe in this Ordnance …

Ragna’s Islands: A New Saga

  Ragna’s Islands is the latest in a series of AHRC-funded projects initiated by The Centre for the Study of the Viking Age exploring the Viking Age history and Norse culture of different parts of Britain and Ireland. In 2013-14, Languages, Myths and Finds sent teams of academics and students to Cleveland, Dublin, the Hebrides, the Isle of …