About

Since the publication of Why Scottish Literature Matters (2005), one of my best received publications, I have focused my research almost exclusively on Scottish literature, and in particular on the history of Scotland’s involvement with British imperialism, expressions of Scottish literary and cultural nationalism, the theoretical intersections between Scottish and Postcolonial studies, the Scottish Literary Renaissance/Modernism, and modern and contemporary Scottish fiction. I have published and lectured widely in all these fields. 

Among my pioneering contributions is Caribbean-Scottish Relations (2007), a co-authored study of cultural/literary representations of and silences around the colonial relations between the two regions. Other publications include: Within and Without Empire: Scotland Across the (Post)colonial Borderline (co-ed. 2013), The International Companion to Scottish Poetry (ed. 2015), Empires and Revolutions: Cunninghame Graham and His Contemporaries (co-ed. 2017).

My work has obtained wide recognition outside Italy. I am Honorary Patron of the International Anthony Burgess Association. I was invited to hold the second Scottish Literature International Lecture at the Scottish Parliament (in association with ASLS) in 2013. In 2020 I was elected Convener of the International Association for the Study of Scottish Literatures (IASSL). In 2021 I was elected member of the Executive Committee of the LLC Scottish forum of MLA (Modern Language Association) and awarded the title of Honorary Fellow of the Association for Scottish Literary Studies.