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Literatures without Borders.

A Historical-Comparative Study of Premodern Literary Transnationalism

Literatures without Borders is an international scientific research network bringing together 16 research units from across the world for the historical-comparative study of transnationalism in the Arabic, Greek-Byzantine, Hebrew-Yiddish-Ladino and Latin literary traditions. The network is funded by the Research Foundation–Flanders (FWO) for the duration of five years (2021-2026).

The Universe. Liber floridus of Lambert of Saint-Omer, 1121, fols. 94v. Ghent, Universiteitsbibliotheek. Source: Universiteitsbibliotheek UGent.

Research Partners

  • Arabic Language Networks, Durham, UK
  • Centre for Literary and Intermedial Crossings–CLIC, Brussels
  • Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies, Kent
  • Centre for Medieval Literature–CML, York & Odense
  • Department of Hebrew and Jewish Studies, Amsterdam
  • East-Asian and Arabic Studies, Leuven
  • Greek and Cultural Studies, Leuven
  • Institute of Jewish Studies, Antwerp
  • Islamolatina, Barcelona
  • Jewish Studies in Antiquity and the Middle Ages, Jerusalem
  • Lectio, Leuven
  • Ludwig Boltzmann Institut für Neulateinische Studien, Innsbruck
  • Mamluk History and Culture, Ghent
  • RELICS, Gent
  • Retracing Connections: Byzantine Storyworlds, Uppsala
  • Translatin, Amsterdam
Meet the partners

News & Events

Call for Papers: Psalms and Paraphrases

Psalms, their translations and poetical rewritings are the focus of the SRN Literature without Borders’ next conference on 12-13 May 2026 in Leuven. The deadline for the CfP is 15 January 2026.

Medieval Texts and their Social Contexts: Performance, Performativity, Agents and Genres

Conference Date: 13–14 November 2025Location: Sint-Baafshuis – Room 1.07. Biezekapelstraat 2, Ghent, Belgium.Opposite the ibis hotel, next to the cathedral. Bikes via Kapittelstraat entrance.Registration via: https://event.ugent.be/registration/medievalperformance TopicPerformance and performativity have proved to be highly productive concepts for understanding the social worlds of medieval texts in diverse literary, linguistic and historical contexts. Through associable notions of orality, aurality, gesture,…

Literatures without Borders

Pre-modern literary transnationalism from a historical-comparative perspective The international Scientific Research Group (SRN) ‘Literatures without Borders’, funded by the Research-foundation Flanders (FWO) organizes a conference on premodern transnational literatures in the Palace of the Academies in Brussels on 19 and 20 June 2025. The conference aims to investigate how transnational/cosmopolitan literatures function, and if a…

Waterways and Literary Channels of the Pre-Modern World

This workshop explores the various appearances and meanings of water in pre-modern literary cultures. What role did the geography of waterways play in the transregional movement of authors, texts, styles, and poetics? What commonalities and differences can we identify across pre-modern literary canons, including those in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, and other vernaculars? How does…

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Generously funded by the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO)