On Saturday 23 April, Viking scholars and other interested parties (myself among them!) will be gathering at the University of Nottingham for the twelfth annual Midlands Viking Symposium: a day of talks on all aspects of the Viking Age, given by experts in their field.

Booklets from the Languages, Myths and Finds conference – another Viking-themed University of Nottingham event – which took place in 2014.

Like the London Anglo-Saxon Symposium, which I blogged about earlier this year, MVS is all about bringing some of the latest historical research to a wider audience.

This year’s theme is Interpreting the Viking Age, and there are set to be talks on subjects including: the famous Oseberg ship; Norse place-names in Britain and abroad; and how British history from the Viking Age was recorded and remembered in the Icelandic sagas. There will also be a resident craftsman, Adam Parsons – archaeologist and living history enthusiast – talking about replica Viking artefacts, and how the originals would have been used.

The programme runs from 10am to 5pm and includes lunch and refreshments, and at only £30 is terrific value. This year will be the third year I’ve attended MVS – having previously been to the 2013 and 2014 events. Each time I’ve come away armed with new knowledge and new ways of thinking about the period (not to mention reams of notes, too!), much of which has found its way in one form or another into my new novel.

For more information about MVS 2016, including the provisional programme, or to register for the Symposium, visit the event page on the University of Nottingham website.

Cnut (1016-35) and his sons Harold Harefoot (1035-40) and Harthancut (1040-2), depicted in a genealogical roll from the late 13th century (Royal 14 B V Membrane 4).

MVS won’t be my only trip to Nottingham this year, either. I’m pleased to say that I’ve been invited by Dr Christina Lee (@NorseLass) to speak at a conference in late June and early July on The Viking World: Diversity and Change, as part of a round table discussion on academic research and historical fiction, which I’m looking forward to enormously. More news on that soon!