Thrilled to be a judge for the Costa Book Awards. I’m judging the Biography Prize — the most wonderfully life-affirming way to weather the storms of 2020. 

Thrilled to be a judge for the Costa Book Awards. I’m judging the Biography Prize — the most wonderfully life-affirming way to weather the storms of 2020. 

BBC Countryfile Magazine Awards 2020

Returning to judge the BBC Countryfile Magazine Awards 2020. A great year for Northumberland, with the 400m-long lady of Northumberlandia winning Landmark of the Year, Alnwick’s Poison Garden winning Garden of the Year, and Northumberland National Park winning National Park of the Year.

Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough explores some of the truths behind the Vikings’ lurid reputation, and shows the evidence to be found in the rare documents on display in the British Library.

“Never before has such a terror appeared in Britain as we have suffered from a pagan race, nor was it thought that such an inroad from the sea could be made,” wrote the Anglo-Saxon scholar Alcuin, in response to the first major Viking raid on Lindisfarne. From these notorious early attacks at the end of the 8th century to all-out war in the time of Alfred; from the extortion of ‘Danegeld’ in the reign of Æthelstan to two decades of rule under Cnut, the Scandinavian impact on Anglo-Saxon culture and politics was enormous. In a wide-ranging overview, Eleanor Barraclough explores some of the truths behind the Vikings’ lurid reputation, and shows the evidence to be found in the rare documents on display in the British Library.

Edinburgh International Book Festival 2019

Travelling into the heart of European history, from Old Norse sagas to Homeric epics, with Nicholas Jubber (author of Epic Continent) and Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough (author of Beyond the Northlands).

York Literature Festival 2019

Vikings with Dr Eleanor Barraclough

From raiders and traders to settlers to rulers, the Norse played a unique role in the history of the medieval world, travelling from North America to Russia, the Arctic to the Middle East. Using York as a starting point, Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough explores the Viking Age in England and further afield. Featuring a poet with a terminal case of writer’s block, seriously good hair, and a huge fossilised poo.

BBC Countryfile Magazine Awards 2019

Judge for the BBC Countryfile Magazine Awards 2019. A complete pleasure from start to finish, and delighted to see my favourite, the Gertrude Jekyll Garden on Lindisfarne, chosen as Garden Of The Year.

British Library

Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms Exhibition

From Raiders to Rulers: The Vikings in Anglo-Saxon England

In a wide-ranging overview, Eleanor Barraclough explores some of the truths behind the Vikings’ lurid reputation, and the evidence to be found in the rare documents on display in the British Library exhibition. She is joined by Richard Dance, who brings the language of the time to life.

Ashmolean Museum

Festival of Archaeology 2018

Raiders, Residents, Rulers: The Viking Age in Anglo-Saxon England

Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough explores the history of the Norse in Anglo-Saxon England, introducing us to a host of colourful characters including invaders, explorers, poets, warriors, traders and more.

Ways with Words: Festival of Words and Ideas

Dartington Hall

Ice and Fire

Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough has explored the Old Norse world on horseback and travelled with a caribou hunter in Greenland, hunted runes in Sweden, and retraced the footsteps of Nordic pilgrims in Rome. She illuminates the saga accounts and traces the extraordinary influence of the Vikings from Byzantium to America.

Minvera Public Lectures

University of Bath

Beyond the Northlands

A trip through the dramatic landscapes that inspired the Old Norse sagas.

Ultima Thule: Faclan Literary Festival 2017

Isle of Lewis

Tìrean Deighe is Teine: Lands of Ice and Fire

Lands of Ice and Fire juxtaposes ancient and modern myth and reality. Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough follows the Vikings on a journey Beyond the North Lands while with Winter is Coming, Carolyne Larrington looks at how the medieval world has informed and nourished HBO’s Game of Thrones

Durham Book Festival 2017

Beyond the Northlands

In Beyond the Northlands, Eleanor Barraclough takes her own trip through the dramatic landscapes that inspired these sagas – enabling us to understand the Norsemen like never before.

Wigtown Book Festival 2017

Galloway Hoard

Discussion about the recently discovered Galloway Hoard.

Ashmolean Lunchtime Events

Beyond the Northlands: On Vikings, Sagas, and Far-Travellers

Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough set out to explore the Norse sagas and the far-northern world that produced them by travelling thousands of miles in the footsteps of the Vikings. She uses her experiences and the weird and wonderful artefacts she discovered to illuminate the medieval Nordic world and their rich storytelling culture.

Edinburgh International Book Festival 2017

Saga Travels

The Vikings voyaged to all corners of the medieval world and beyond – from the Arctic Circle to Constantinople, North America to Kievan Rus – and wrote up their, somewhat embellished, journeys in their sagas. Durham medievalist Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough follows in their wake in Beyond the Northlands, casting off fantasy and tying down historical fact.

Hay 2017: 30 at 30

In 2017 I was chosen as one of Hay’s ‘30 at 30’. For the festival’s 30th anniversary they selected ‘30 young novelists, scientists, philosophers, performers and activists who are astonishing and inspiring to join us here at Hay. These writers and thinkers will help imagine and shape the world in the next 30 years.’

Festival of Archaeology 2017

Ancient Technology Centre, Dorset

Vikings and Anglo-Saxons Weekend

A celebration of Vikings and Anglo-Saxon as part of the Festival of British Technology, with a talk in the fabulous reconstructed Iron Age roundhouse.

Oxford Literary Festival 2017

Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough talks to Joanne Harris

Expert in medieval literature Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough explores the world of the Norse sagas with the acclaimed novelist Joanne Harris, whose many works include fantasies based on Norse myth.

Words on the Water: Keswick Literary Festival 2017

Ice and Fire

Exploring the Old Norse world through the sagas.

Cambridge History Festival 2017

Beyond the Northlands

A talk in Heffers Bookshop exploring the world of the Vikings through archaeological finds, runestones, medieval world maps, encyclopedic manuscripts and texts from as far away as Byzantium and Baghdad.

Wigtown 2016: Magnus Magnusson Lecture

Wigtown Literary Festival 2016

Iceland: The Storytelling Island

I was delighted to deliver this year’s Magnus Magnusson Lecture, on Iceland’s rich storytelling culture going back to the first settlers.

BBC Free Thinking Festival 2013

Sage, Gateshead

Bloodaxe, Boneless and Hairy-Breeches: What Did The Vikings Ever Do For Us?

An exploration of the power battles between Vikings and Anglo-Saxons, leading ultimately to the famous battles of 1066.

BBC/AHRC New Generation Thinkers

In 2013 I was chosen as one of ten New Generation Thinkers in a scheme run by BBC Radio 3 and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). The competition aims to find academic broadcasters of the future: ‘the brightest minds who have the potential to turn ground-breaking ideas into fascinating radio programmes.’