Dr Paul Malgrati, BA, MPhil, PhD
Lecturer of Northern Studies
Institute for Northern Studies
UHI Perth
Crieff Road
Perth
Scotland
PH1 2NX
Biography
Dr Paul Malgrati is a scholar and poet from France, specialist of modern Scottish literature. Before joining INS in 2023, Paul completed his PhD at the University of St Andrews as well as a two-year post-doctoral contract at the University of Glasgow. Paul’s award-winning research led to the publication of his first monograph, Robert Burns and Scottish Cultural Politics. The Bard of Contention. 1914-2014 (EUP, 2023), which explores Burns’s legacy in Scottish national culture, from Victorian unionism to contemporary nationalism.
Between 2018 and 2023, Paul has also completed three research projects: ‘Joe Corrie (1894-1968): Miner, Playwright, Activist’ (St Andrews, PI, 2018-19); ‘The Burns Supper in History and Today’ (Glasgow, RA, 2020-22) and ‘The Bibliography of Scottish Literature in Translation: Creating Digital Futures & Networks’ (Glasgow. RA, 2021-23).
Since joining INS, Paul has been working on the completion of three additional volumes: a collection of articles on France and Scotland in Literature: Auld and New Alliances, co-edited with Donna Heddle (Brill, 2026); a scholarly edition of Alan’s Sharp’s A Green Tree in Gedde, in tandem with Colin McIlroy (ASLS, 2026); and a scholarly monograph, Speculative Scotland: A New Theory of National Literature, currently in development.
Since 2025, Paul is also Reviews Editor of the Burns Chronicle.
Alongside scholarship, Paul is also known as a poet and translator. In 2020, his poetic work was shortlisted for the Edwin Morgan Poetry Prize, which led to the publication Poèmes Écossais (Blue Diode Press, 2022): the first collection of poetry in the Scots language by a non-native anglophone. Such Franco-Scottish interests were also developed in Paul’s French translation of Robert Crawford’s Curriculum Violette, published in bilingual edition by Molecular Press in 2021. That same year, Paul also joined the team of Revue Écossaise, the first printed, Francophone magazine about Scotland (which has since developed into a podcast).
Professional Memberships
- Executive Committee Member of the International Association for the Study of Scottish Literature (2023-present).
- Member of British Association for Romantic Studies (2021-present).
- Member of Société des Anglicistes de l'Enseignement Supérieur (SAES) (2019-present).
- Member of French Society for Scottish Studies (Sfeec) (2018-present)
Research Interests
Paul is a specialist of modern and contemporary Scottish literature (1700-present) with broader interests in the politics of literature, literary theory, literature, national identity and memory, the international reception of Scottish culture, and literary translations. More specifically, Paul’s past and present works have covered topics including: Robert Burns, Scottish (post-) modernism, Scottish constitutional and labour politics, Franco-Scottish literature, the Scots language, metaphysics and literary theory.
Paul welcomes any opportunities for potential collaboration or supervision in the same areas.
Academic Responsibilities
Academic Responsibilities
MLitt Modules
- Writers and Place
- Tour of the Highlands
Undergraduate Modules
- What is Culture?
- Languages on the Edge
- Scotland in Film
- Highland Journeys
Supervision
- Theresa Jane Bury (MRes), ‘Decent Women’ - Helen MacInnes’s War Novels and the Transition in Attitudes Towards Women and War (co-supervised with Dr Kyle Smith).
Publications
Publications
Monograph
- Malgrati, P. (2023), Robert Burns and Scottish Cultural Politics. The Bard of Contention. 1914-2014, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. 278 pages.
Edited Volumes
- Malgrati, P., Heddle, D. (eds) (forthcoming, 2026), France and Scotland in Literature. Auld and New Alliances. Leyden: Brill.
- Sharp A. (forthcoming, 2026), A Green Tree in Gedde, ed. by Paul Malgrati and Colin McIlroy, Glasgow: ASLS. First published in 1965.
Peer-reviewed articles and books chapters
In Press
- Malgrati P. (2026), ‘The Intellectual Origins of Gregory Smith’s ‘Caledonian Antisyzygy’, in Scott Lyall, Michael Shaw (eds), The Scottish Revival (1880-1950), Edinburgh: EUP.
- Malgrati P. (2026), ‘Caledonian Antisyzygy: Escaping MacDiarmid’s Paradox’, in Camille Manfredi, et al. (ed), Hugh MacDiarmid: Visions and Revisions, Leiden: Brill.
- Malgrati P. (2026), ‘Diaspora’, ‘Empire’, ‘Class’, in Gerard Carruthers (ed.), The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Scottish Literature, Oxford: Wiley Blackwell
- Carruthers G., Malgrati P. (2025), ‘The Literary Antecedents of “To a Haggis”’, International Review of Scottish Literature, 50.2.
Published
- Malgrati P. (2023), ‘Scottish Literature and Diaspora’ in Gerard Carruthers, Moira Hansen (eds.), A Companion to Scottish Literature, Oxford: Blackwell’s.
- Malgrati P., (2023), ‘Denis Saurat’s ‘The Scottish Renaissance Group’ / ‘Le Groupe De “La Renaissance Écossaise”’: An English Translation’, Studies in Scottish Literature, 49/1, 186–196.
- Malgrati, P. (2022) ‘Impossible Heroes: Trades Unionists, Communists and Miners in Joe Corrie’s Black Earth’, Twentieth-Century Communism, 22, 12 pages.
- Malgrati, P. (2021) ‘Guest Editorial’ and ‘Geography and Typology of Contemporary Burns Suppers’, Burns Chronicle, 130/1, pp.v-ix; pp.127-148.
- Malgrati, P. (2020), ‘Joe Corrie’s In Time o’ Strife, the General Strike of 1926, and the Impasse of Insurgent Masculinity’, Studies in Scottish Literature, 46/1, pp.46-57.
- Malgrati, P. (2019), 'MacDiarmid's Burns: The Political Context. 1917-1928', Scottish Literary Review, 11/1, Spring 2019, pp.47-66.
- Malgrati, P. (2018), ‘Red City, Brown City, City of Men: Radical Activism) and Man-up Politics in Interwar Saint-Denis’, Histoire@Politique, 35. [In French].
Other Publications
- Malgrati, P. (forthcoming, 2025), ‘Contre l’ordre du monde : pour une diplomatie de l’infini’, Le Grand Continent.
- Malgrati, P. (2023), ‘Antisyzygy: An Escape Route’, The Bottle Imp. 7 pages [online].
- Malgrati, P. (2019), ‘Towards a post-colonial alliance? Some perspectives on Franco-Scots poetry translation’, The Bottle Imp. 8 pages.
Book reviews
- Malgrati P. (2025), 'On “Esther” by David Kinloch’, Glasgow Review of Books, 26 June 2025.
- Malgrati, P. (2023), ‘Steve Newman, David McGuinness (eds.), The Edinburgh Edition of the Collected Works of Allan Ramsay. Volume I: The Gentle Shepherd.’ Burns Chronicle, 132/1.
- Malgrati, P. (2021), ‘Scott Hames, The Literary Politics of Scottish Devolution. Voice, Class, Nation’, Études écossaises, 21.
Digital Humanities Publications
- Malgrati P., ‘Blog of the Bibliography of Scottish Literature in Translation’, University of Glasgow (2021)
- Malgrati, P., Aitken, B., ‘Interactive Map of Burns Suppers’, University of Glasgow (2020)
- Malgrati, P. (ed.), ‘Joe Corrie Website’, University of St Andrews (2019).
Selected Creative Works
Book
- Malgrati, P. (2022), Poèmes Ecossais, Edinburgh: Blue Diode Press.
Poetry and Non-Fiction
- Malgrati, P. (2025), ‘The Ghaists’, in Rhona Brown, Amy Wilcockson (eds), O’er A’ My Labours Sey Your Skills. Poetic Responses to Robert Fergusson. Edinburgh: Taproot Press.
- Malgrati, P. (2025), ‘Two Scots Translations from Jules Mousseron’, Northwords Now, 46.
- Malgrati, P. (2023) ‘Malgrati’ in Samina Chaudhry, Marcas Mac an Tuairneir, Rebecca Sharp (ed.) How Do We Talk About Knives, Cupar: Matecznik Press.
- Malgrati, P. (2021) ‘Sainte’; ‘Upon Visiting Richard Cameron’s Cairn’, The Scores, 10.
- Malgrati, P. (2021), ‘Orcadia’s Continent’, in Jim Macintosh & Paul Philippou (eds.), Beyond the Swelkie. A Collection of Poems & Writings to Mark the Centenary of George Mackay Brown, Perth: Tippermuir Books.
- Crawford, Robert (2021), Curriculum Violette, French trans.
- Paul Malgrati, Geneva: Molecular Press. Malgrati, P. (2020), ‘Forêt de Fontainebleau’; ‘Eden-upon-Tay’, in Edwin Morgan Poetry Award Pamphlet, Edinburgh.
- Malgrati, P. (2020), ‘Afore a Nicht Oot’, Gutter, 19. Selected by the Scottish Poetry Library.
- Paul Malgrati (2016), "Notre jeunesse : de la gachette au coeur" in Tzvetan Todorov, Giorgio Agamben, Edgar Morin (et.al.), Résister à la terreur, Paris: Aube, pp.126-130.
Selected Talks & Conferences
Selected Talks & Conferences
- April 2025, ‘The Caledonian Antisyzygy Origins, Legacy and Solution of a Paradox’, UHI Institute for Northern Studies.
- February 2025, ‘The Bard of Contention: Robert Burns and Scottish Cultural Politics’, JGU Scotland’s Hub.
- January 2025, ‘Three Poets Between Languages: an Encounter in English, French and Scots’, Edinburgh French Institute.
- July 2023, ‘Scottish Literature since Indyref’, Panel Discussant, International Congress of the International Association for the Study of Scottish Literature, University of Nottingham.
- January 2023, ‘Robert Burns and the Scottish Renaissance Movement’, Scottish Revival Network.
- January 2022, ‘The Arts of the Burns Supper’, Virtual reality events, University of Glasgow, Online.
- October 2021, ‘The Political Uses of Robert Burns during the 2014 Indyref Campaign’, Annual Congress of Société Française d’Etudes Ecossaises.
- April 2021, ‘Robert Burns in the Modern World’, Lecture Series of Saint Andrews Society of San Francisco.
- October 2019, ‘Robert Burns and the Scottish Left’, Modern British History seminar, University of Oxford.
Selected Media Appearances
Radio
- BBC Radio 4, ‘Loose Ends Special Burns Supper with Clive Anderson’, 30 January 2025
- BBC Radio 4, ‘Beyond Burns’, 7 January 2025.
- BBC Radio 4, ‘The Afternoon Show’, 14 July 2022.
Press
- Neil Mackay, ‘Who Really “Owns” Scotland’s Poet’, Herald, 26 January 2025.
- Petra Johanna Poncarova, ‘The Benefits of Being French for Learning Scots: Paul Malgrati on Poetry, Translation, and Research’, Glasgow Review of Books, 23 January 2025.
- Neil Young, ‘“A flatterer, a eulogiser and scatological heckler of the high and mighty” – Robert Burns and Scottish Cultural Politics: The Bard of Contention (1914-2014) by Paul Malgrati’, Glasgow Review of Books, 8 July 2023.
- Michael Alexander, ‘From Fast Eddie to Siege of Dundee: St Andrews graduate’s poetry book is first in Scots by a Frenchman’ The Courier, 30 July 2022.
- David Leask, ‘Meet the French scholar writing poetry in Scots’, Herald, 10 July 2022.
- Alison Campsie, ‘The laddie from France and his love verse for Scots’, 10 July 2022.