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Leiden University Libraries (UBL) is an internationally recognised research library with world-class collections and advanced services for education and research. The UBL provides these scholarly information services as a trusted partner in knowledge for researchers, teachers and students. We create trusted, sustainable and innovative services in collaboration with other leading parties both in th

e Netherlands and abroad. We are recognised worldwide for our special collections, which have an important social and cultural function alongside their role in education and research.

27/08/2026

"Ask a monastery custodian if a manuscript is made of horse skin, and they may say no. But what if its size and the literature suggest it must be? In that case biocodicology can provide answers."

Shimels Ayele Yalew, a PhD student at ARCHES (University of Antwerp) and lecturer at Bahir Dar University, studies Ethiopic manuscripts in our Special Collections as a Brill Fellow. He studies their material, techniques of preparation, and how they deteriorate or survive in different environments.

“Bahir Dar University sits along Ethiopia’s historic route, near numerous island monasteries and inland churches holding rare manuscripts,” Yalew explains. “Many of these libraries remain quite inaccessible due to lack of infrastructure and awareness. Religious leaders are protective of their heritage and take care of it in their own way."

The project goes far beyond personal research. After completing his PhD, Yalew plans to return to Bahir Dar to launch a heritage conservation master’s program and run short-term training sessions.

“We want to build local knowledge and capacity to conserve manuscripts and other objects, like old vestments, crosses, coins, and architecture. I cooperate with groups like the Ethiopian Art Conservation Program to make this happen.”

"I study the manuscripts here in Leiden because you need an understanding of their construction to be able conserve them. Especially the diversity of the collection is impressive, in genre and material composition. So far, materials and conservation study of Ethiopic manuscripts has been limited, but that's what I hope to change: to integrate modern and traditional conservation methods and enhance knowledge with local communities. Hopefully, my students will be able to solve the many remaining mysteries around dating or material properties, like this tradition of using horse parchment".

“This 19th century Anaphora of Mary was bound with a 20th-century Litany. And look at the colourful miniatures in this other one! For this painting of Gebre Menfesqidus on the final page, they may have erased text, but it could also be ink transferred from a lost page. I'm still figuring that out.”

Learn more about our fellowship programmes:
https://www.library.universiteitleiden.nl/special-collections/fellowships

21/08/2026

Molukse Literatuur - Sylvia Pessireron in De Postkoloniale Podcast
Luister nu: ➡️ https://edu.nl/3ajtc

In de jaren vijftig kwamen zo’n 3500 Molukse militairen met hun gezinnen tegen hun zin - op dienstbevel - naar Nederland. Ze hoopten zo snel mogelijk te kunnen terugkeren naar hun geboorteland. Maar dat gebeurde niet.

Over de geschiedenis van de Molukkers in Nederland wordt de laatste jaren steeds meer geschreven. Er is ook een Moluks-Nederlandse literatuur ontstaan. Rick Honings en Coen van 't Veer gaan in De Postkoloniale Podcast in gesprek met Sylvia Pessireron over de geschiedenis van Molukkers in Nederland en hun goeiende literaire nalatenschap.

20/08/2026

Did you know Dutch people were the first to bring a camera to Japan? This little photo album inspired Herman Moeshart to start a research project in the 1980s, unearthing the introduction of photography in Japan.

𝗟𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗗𝗲𝗷𝗶𝗺𝗮 - 𝗦𝘆𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘂𝗺, 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗟𝗮𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗵 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗘𝘅𝗵𝗶𝗯𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴
Thursday, 24 September | 11:00 - 15:30 & 16:00 - 18:00
University Library & Japan Museum SieboldHuis
Registration: ➡️ https://edu.nl/qr4dy

His work was continued and expanded over the years by a variety of researchers in Japan, the Netherlands and elsewhere. The Symposium 'Light over Dejima' will give curators and specialists from Leiden University Libraries, the University of Tokyo, and various museums the stage to discuss the history of early Japanese photography using examples from their respective collections.

The symposium will be followed by the launch of the book 'Light over Dejima' and the festive opening of an exhibition in Japan Museum SieboldHuis of the same name.

18/08/2026

Both Yosano Akiko’s oeuvre and life story are extraordinary: she ran away from home to marry for love and had eleven children, her debut collection of poetry shook the nation, and her critical essays were published in major magazines—all at a time when being a professional writer was still considered the prerogative of men.

𝗦𝘆𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘂𝗺 𝗬𝗼𝘀𝗮𝗻𝗼 𝗔𝗸𝗶𝗸𝗼: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗛𝗶𝗱𝗱𝗲𝗻 𝗟𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗮 𝗝𝗮𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝗪𝗼𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗪𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗿
Wednesday 16 September | 14:00 - 17:00
Kartini Auditorium, University Library
Registration: ➡️ https://edu.nl/dhy3v

Although Yosano Akiko died more than eighty years ago, the story of her life is being retold even today. What is it about her life and work that continues to appeal to our imagination?

This symposium will give insight into Akiko’s life as a professional woman writer and the different ways in which her story has come down to us, specifically by looking at what her oeuvre does not—or cannot—tell us explicitly.

Ivo Smits will shed light on Akiko’s poetry, Daphne van der Molen will go into Akiko’s social commentaries and Jean Gordon Kocienda will discuss her recent work 'Girl in a Box', a novelization of Akiko’s life. The afternoon will end with roundtable discussion of Akiko’s life and legacy moderated by Beste Sevindik.

13/08/2026

As former Hortulana, Carla Teune spent 20 years caring for all the plants in the Hortus. Her work with Japanese flora eventually led her to fall in love with Japanese poetry, too.

Today, this ancient poem by Sugawara no Michizane 菅原道真 (845-903), remembering "his spring" (春) greets visitors to Carla's beloved Hortus botanicus.

Translation by Ivo Smits.
Learn about Ivo's translation on his blog:
➡️ https://penseelvanwind.nl/pruimenmeester

06/08/2026

"My grandmother introduced me to her 'crocodile twin' when I was a child by taking me to the river next to her house to throw eggs as offerings. She regarded not only the crocodile as 'sacred,' but also the river, the crocodile's habitat. That was my first introduction to multispecies relationships, especially human-crocodile, in my own community in Indonesia."

Andi Alfian (Syracuse University) is studying a wide variety of documents from our Special Collections on a Lingling Wiyadharma Fellowship, learning as much as possible about the historic roles of the crocodile in indigenous culture and religious practice in his native Sulawesi. With what goal? Charting the encounters and conflicts between these indigenous religions and world religions and (post)colonial governments over the past two centuries.

A recent survey in Indonesia found about 170 indigenous religions being practiced across the islands. "Interestingly, these indigenous traditions are mostly maintained by people who actually have one of the six state-recognized religions inscribed in their passports or ID cards (Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Confucianism)," says Andi. “Despite the Indonesian state recognizing local religions (Kepercayaan) as a separate category in 2017, people generally accuse one another of being 'heretics' and 'backward' if they're practitioners of these indigenous beliefs rather than followers of Islam, Christianity, or other world religions."

"In this context, I'm using the crocodile, one of the sacred animals in many local religions and communities in Indonesia, as a proxy to study the historical exclusion of these local religions from the 19th to the 20th century. For example, Dutch missionary Kruyt wrote about 'the crocodile in the life of the Poso people' in the early 20th century. Other documents I’ve studied in Leiden concern colonial government policies around crocodile hunting projects, which were done mostly for profit (crocodile skins), but also had a side effect of stereotyping people's relationships with sacred crocodiles and relegating indigenous religious traditions."

Are you also interested in studying the Leiden Special Collections in residence? Apply for a fellowship in your field: ➡️ edu.nl/8vvqq

30/07/2026

"This is one of the first Japanese poems that truly fascinated me when I had just started studying Japanese in Leiden. It belongs to the tradition of the jisei no ku (辞世の句): poems written in the face of death as a farewell to earthly existence. The imagery used by Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537–1598) (dew and dream) is centuries old and even at the time, highly cliché."

"Hideyoshi rose from very humble origins to become the man who managed to unite Japan after a long period of civil war. Naniwa is an old name for Osaka; the city he made the center of his power. I find it striking that he ultimately summarized his exceptional life and everything he had built there in such familiar images of transience: his world of power, too, turned out to be merely a dream within a dream."

Sam Kuivenhoven is a PhD candidate at the University of Amsterdam and a Fellow at the Scaliger Institute of the UBL.
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Discover our Japan Collections! Until December, we will organise lectures, symposia, poetry readings and other activities around our famous Japan collections. Register now to receive email invitations: ➡️ https://edu.nl/9t7yy

24/07/2026

Around the world in 18 books! 🌏✨

Are you planning to be an armchair traveller this summer? Don't worry, we've got you covered!

1. 𝑀𝑎𝑐𝑢𝑛𝑎𝑖́𝑚𝑎, Mário de Andrade, 1928

2. 𝑆𝑒𝑎 𝑀𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠, Chloe Aridjis, 2019

3. 𝑆𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑡 𝑈𝑛𝑑𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠, Yanick Lahens, 2018

4. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑝ℎ𝑒𝑡𝑠, Robert Jones Jr., 2021

5. 𝐷𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑑 𝑀𝑜𝑔𝑜, 𝐺𝑜𝑑ℎ𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟, Suyi Davies Okungbowa, 2019

6. 𝐵𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐶ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑡, Lindani Mbunyuza-Memani, 2025

7. 𝑅𝑖𝑎𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑙, Priya Hein, 2023

8. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑌𝑎𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑏𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝐵𝑢𝑖𝑙𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔, Alaa Al Aswany, 2002

9. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑆ℎ𝑎𝑑𝑜𝑤 𝐿𝑎𝑛𝑑, Elizabeth Kostova, 2017

10. 𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐴𝑚 𝐼, 𝑎 𝐷𝑒𝑒𝑟?, Polly Barton, 2026

11. 𝑀𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑦 𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑠 𝑜𝑛 𝑆𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑑𝑎𝑦, Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, 1965

12. 𝑀𝑜𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝐽𝑒𝑛𝑖𝑛, Susan Abulhawa, 2006

13. 𝐹𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑘𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑖𝑛 𝑖𝑛 𝐵𝑎𝑔ℎ𝑑𝑎𝑑, Ahmed Saadawi, 2013

14. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑅𝑜𝑜𝑓 𝐵𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑎𝑡ℎ 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝐹𝑒𝑒𝑡, Geetanjali Shree, 2001

15. 𝐼 𝐷𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑃𝑎𝑟𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝐵𝑒𝑖𝑗𝑖𝑛𝑔, Hu Anyan, 2023

16. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐷𝑒𝑣𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑆𝑢𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑋, Keigo Higashino, 2005

17. 𝑀𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑀𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐵𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝑅𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝐶𝑎𝑡, Veeraporn Nitiprapha, 2015

18. 𝑃𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑡ℎ𝑦, Alexis Wright, 2023

Discover every single one of these books and countless more in our catalogue! 🔗 Link in bio

16/07/2026

"Nakahara Chūya (1907-1937) is een van Japans eerste modernistische dichters, misschien wel de eerste echte. Rimbaud en Dada lijken misschien niet direct voor de hand de liggende bedgenoten, maar voor Nakahara waren beide belangrijke inspiratiebronnen."

"Zijn gedicht ‘vroege lentewind’ (sōshun no kaze), met een vleugje Rimbaud, publiceerde hij in 1935 en nam hij op zijn postume bundel 'Liederen van voorbije dagen' (Arishi hi no uta, 1938). Het is een fijn, wat ongrijpbaar en tegelijkertijd strak georganiseerd gedicht, bijeengehouden door de raadselachtige zin ‘vandaag heel de dag weer gouden wind’ (kyō hitohi mata kin no kaze), vol belofte van een seizoen vol creatieve mogelijkheden."
____________
Ivo Smits is hoogleraar Letteren en culturen van Japan aan de Universiteit Leiden en is naast kenner ook groot liefhebber van Japanse poëzie. Hij post wekelijks vertalingen van Japanse poëzie op zijn blog: ➡️ penseelvanwind.nl

08/07/2026

“I always explain that I am not studying the ‘real’ Batavia but rather its conception in printed images. I look at ‘a’ Batavia, a visual iteration of the city mediated through Dutch early modern editorial practices.”

Emma Gagnon is studying 17th-century prints and texts in our Special Collections on a De Gruyter Brill Fellowship. She wants to figure out how printed images of Batavia (present-day Jakarta, Indonesia) contributed to an understanding of the city as a Dutch capital in a pivotal era in global history.

In the Dutch Republic, the last decades of the seventeenth century saw unprecedented opportunities to view the world in newly published illustrated geographic and travel accounts. While these were typically characterized by the exoticization of foreign places, “images of Batavia seem to belong to a previously undescribed middle ground,” between over-emphasized exoticism and the domestication of the cityscape.

“The VOC had long kept Batavia out of the public eye, to protect strategic information from competing powers like the British and Portuguese. Images of the city’s fortification and bird's-eye views began to trickle into the Dutch Republic’s print sphere in the 1620-40s. The last decades of the seventeenth century saw a shift in the city’s representation. The Dutch viewer finally got to see its landmarks like the state house, the reformed church, and its tree-lined canals.”

Learn more about our Brill Fellowship and other fellowships:
➡️ https://www.library.universiteitleiden.nl/special-collections/fellowships

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Witte Singel 27 And Other Locations
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2311BG

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https://www.library.universiteitleiden.nl/about-us/contact/ask-a-librarian

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