Annual Rokeby Lecture 2026

The 2026 Rokeby Lecture will be the third and final lecture in the series on the 300th anniversary of the publication of Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift.

The lecture ‘Travels with Gulliver’ will be given by Aileen Douglas, Professor of Eighteenth-Century Studies at Trinity College Dublin, on Thursday 26 November 2026 at 7.30pm in Armagh Robinson Library.

Admission is free but advance booking is essential, via e-mail admin@armaghrobinsonlibrary.co.uk or telephone 028 37523142 to book your place.

Supported by Queen’s University Belfast.

Speaking about Gulliver’s Travels, Aileen said,

A sensation on its publication in 1726, Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World or Gulliver’s Travels as it soon came to be known is the most famous work of fiction ever written in Ireland. This lecture explores some of the ways in which readers have engaged with Swift’s imaginary ‘remote lands’. It also offers a glimpse of how Swift’s masterpiece has travelled through countless versions, through illustration and retelling, especially as a work for children.

Gulliver’s Travels is a classic of world literature. A fascinating aspect of its history is how, over three hundred years, readers have encountered different versions of Gulliver as Swift’s text has been illustrated and re-told.”

Professor Douglas’ publications include Work in Hand: Script, Print, and Writing 1690-1840 (Oxford University Press, 2017), and a co-edition of Oliver Goldsmith’s The Vicar of Wakefield (Cambridge University Press, 2024). She has published extensively on eighteenth-century Irish writing, including the works of Jonathan Swift, and is a co-curator of the ‘Gulliver at 300’ exhibition currently running in the Long Room of Trinity College Library.

Since 2014, the Rokeby Lecture has been the first event to start Armagh’s Georgian Festival. Rokeby in the north of England was the family home of Archbishop Richard Robinson, the Library’s founder. His affection for the name led to his being created Baron Rokeby of Armagh in the Irish Peerage in 1777. References to the name of Rokeby are still to be found in Armagh, for example, Rokeby Green next to the Mall, and in the Royal School Armagh, one of the school houses is called Rokeby after Archbishop Robinson.

Keeper of Armagh Robinson Library, the Very Revd Shane Forster, said,

As we mark the tercentenary of the publication of Gulliver’s Travels we are very grateful to all those who have partnered with us in our celebrations. In particular, we would wish to acknowledge the support provided by Queen’s University Belfast’s Centre for Eighteenth-Century Studiesfor the lecture series and Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council for the Rokeby Lecture. We are delighted that Professor Aileen Douglas will join us for this year’s Rokeby Lecture, and as our celebratory journey comes to an end, Professor Douglas will unpack for the audience more about the lands Lemuel Gulliver visited in his travels. We send our best wishes to Emeritus Professor Brean Hammond who is unable to join us and we are grateful to Professor Douglas for stepping into the breach.