I'm an academic and teacher who has studied and worked in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Switzerland, England & France. I've always loved European languages and became interested in runic inscriptions while studying Scandinavian languages. My Ph.D. (completed at the University of Uppsala in Sweden) was subsequently published and awarded a literary prize; a further book on runic amulets was completed with my colleague Bernard Mees (see books & publications). My academic specialisation is runic literacy as evidenced in texts which range from the enigmatic early inscriptions through the highly ritualised memorial formulations typical of the Viking period to the joyfully obscene and everyday messages of the later Middle Ages. I have lectured in Swedish, Old Norse, runology, language history, sociolinguistics, translation studies, intercultural communication, youth and popular culture, diversity studies, and research writing at Linnaeus University in southern Sweden, The University of Melbourne, and Deakin University. I am also interested in Germanic language history, Icelandic saga literature and pagan and Christian syncretism in Scandinavian texts and iconography. I work as a translator and editor for Swedish and Norwegian journals, as a casual academic in Education and as a tutor of Swedish. Please contact me for private lessons (online or in person), scheduled classes, or translation projects.
