Isn't the digital age a wonderful thing? Here I sit in the University of Tartu's main building, in the ISBL exhibit hall - see the picture of our small but perfectly formed book exhibit.
Tartu is a lovely place - a beautiful, sleepy, town - with weather that is usually very similar to that of the UK. It is currently experiencing a heatwave of monumental proportions and there is no air-conditioning. Whilst, dear blog reader, you probably don't care that this meant that I didn't sleep a wink last night, I care and need to grumble about it publicly.
Lack of air-con aside, the place is overflowing with free wifi - which is most welcome. Some coffee cups have just arrived too, which bodes well.
It is already proving to be an informative conference. Last night's opening session focused on two Estonian scholars, one of whom is not very well known outside Estonia. His name is/was Uku Masing. I had never heard of him, but the paper - given by a member of the Tartu faculty, sketched out the details of a remarkable, and multi-talented man, and made me want to learn more about him, and to read his work. I think it's all in Estonian and German, alas.
Lots of T&T Clark authors are here, including James Crossley, whose Guide for the Perplexed (endorsed nicely by Amy-Jill Levine, no less) on the New Testament and Jewish Law has just come out. Athalya Brenner, whose Feminist Companion to the Bible Series (both first and second) we have just re-issued is also here. Our LHBOTS series editors Andrew Mein and Claudia Camp are also here. In fact, the centre of Tartu is so compact that one only has to step a few paces to bump into a T&T Clark author, which is excellent.
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