Dr Letizia Leonardi

Biography

I was awarded my PhD in Translation Studies by the University of Aberdeen in June 2024. My PhD thesis was selected as one of the three winners of the prestigious "Premio Leopardi", awarded by the Centro Nazionale di Studi Leopardiani for doctoral research focused on the major 19th-century Italian poet Giacomo Leopardi. It investigated Leopardi's poetry through the lens of translation and its reception among contemporary anglophone speakers. In July 2024, I received an Honorary Appointment as Honorary Research Assistant in the School of Language, Literature, Music and Visual Culture. I am currently a Teaching Assistant in the French Department and in the Translation & Interpreting Department. I also teach French evening classes at the Language Centre. I was competitively awarded a MHRA (Modern Humanities Research Association) Scholarship for the publication of my first monograph, which arises out of my PhD thesis. 

External Memberships

Member of Feminist Translation Network: Network Members - Feminist Translation Network

Prizes and Awards

Prizes

-Premio internazionale Giacomo Leopardi per tesi di dottorato [International prize Giacomo Leopardi for PhD theses] (29 June 2025 - 16th edition). 

Funding and grants

-MHRA (Modern Humanities Research Association) Scholarship - September 2025-September 2026. The Scholarship will enable me to work on the publication of my first monograph, which arises out of my PhD thesis. 

-EST (European Society for Translation Studies) Conference and Training Grant. The grant will enable me to present a paper at the Fifth International Conference on Translation and Interpreting Cognition (ICTIC 5) in June 2025. 

 Honours

-Honorary Research Assistant, University of Aberdeen, 2024-2027. 

Research Overview

Publications

Chapters in edited volumes

• “Leopardi’s poetry in English and French translation: a cross-linguistic perspective”. In Giacomo Leopardi: Reading, Reception and Legacy in Europe, edited by Hamilton, P. and Marchionni, F., Legenda, 2026 (accepted). 
• “Poetic Machine Translation: an Oxymoron? The case of Giacomo Leopardi into English”. Traducción y sostenibilidad cultural II: retos y nuevos escenarios. Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca (2025).
• “Implementing Higher Education Training for Intercultural Mediators in Schools”. In Teaching Interpreting and Live subtitling: Contexts, Modes and Technologies, edited by Eugeni, C., Ward, M. and Callum, W., Routledge, (2024).

Journal articles

• "Traduzioni scozzesi di Leopardi", RISL (Rivista Internazionale Studi Leopardiani) (Class A), co-authored with Derrick McClure (accepted).
• "Translating satirical poetry: Leopardi’s Palinodia in English", mediAzioni 46: A157-A175, https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.1974-4382/20564 (2025).
• “Literature in and through translation: literary translation as a pedagogical resource”. International Journal of Linguistics, Literature and Translation, Vol. 7, No. 3 (2024).
• “Overcoming Linguistic Inequities: Strengths and Limitations of Translation during the Pandemic”. International Journal of Translation and Interpreting Studies, Vol. 2, No. 2 (2022).
• “The importance of accurate medical translation in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic”. Granite Journal (the University of Aberdeen Postgraduate Interdisciplinary Journal), Vol. 7, No. 1 (2022).

Book reviews

• “Cantos by Giacomo Leopardi, translated by Aaron Jacob Spatz, Charles & Wonder, 2022, 538 pp., €24,78 (paperback), ISBN 978-1-937620-19-6”. Italian Studies, Volume 79, Issue 4, 1–3 (2024).

Other

• "Leopardi's voice through translation" (PhD thesis abstract). New Voices in Translation Studies (2025).

Conference papers

• "Leopardi in Scotland: poetry translation as the affirmation of national identity", World Poetry Today, Translation and Reception, University of Tartu (October 2025). 
• "From book to screen: humour and taboo language in Bridget Jones’s Baby", Trextuality 2: Material Turns in Translation – Intermediality and Circulation, University of Galway, Ireland (September 2025)
• “Readers’ reception of translated poetry: an empirical investigation”. The 11th EST Congress: The Changing Faces of Translation and Interpreting Studies, University of Leeds (June 2025).
• "Subjectivity in readerly interpretation of poetic translation: an evidence-based study". Fifth International Conference on Transaltion, Interpreting and Cognition, University of Adger (June 2025). 
• "Science communication on YouTube: an error analysis of French<>English automatic subtitles". VIII International Congress on Science and Translation: interdisciplinary bridges and dissemination of scientific knowledgeUniversity of Córdoba / University of Innsbruck (March 2025).
• “The Cantico del Gallo Silvestre in English Translation”. Leopardi in the UK. University of Oxford (17th June 2024).
• “Digital Poetry Translation Collections: Leopardi’s Canti as a case study”. PETRA-E Network Conference. Confluences: Literary Translation in the Digital Era. Online (30th-31st May 2024).
• “Poetic Machine Translation: an Oxymoron? The case of Giacomo Leopardi into English”. Paper presented at the panel “Literary Translation”, 2nd International Conference on Translation and Cultural Sustainability, Challenges and New Avenues. Universidad de Salamanca, Spain (17th-18th- 19th April 2024).
• “Literature in and through translation: literary translation as a pedagogical resource”. Paper presented at the panel: “Rethinking Translation Curricula”, APTIS 2023, 5th Annual Conference of the Association of Programmes in Translation and Interpreting: The teaching and learning that matter today. Queen’s University Belfast (2nd -3rd November 2023).
• “Leopardi through translation”. Paper presented at the symposium Leopardi in the UK. University of Oxford (26th May 2023).
• “Problems in Poetry Translation: infinite ways of translating Leopardi’s The Infinite into English”. Paper presented at the PGR Annual Conference. University of Aberdeen (2nd December 2022).
• “The importance of implementing training opportunities at higher education level for linguistic and intercultural mediators in schools”. Paper presented at the panel “Interpreting practice”, APTIS 2022 4th Annual Conference of the Association of Programmes in Translation and Interpreting: Translation and Interpreting Pedagogy in a post-pandemic world. New opportunities and challenges. University of Leeds (18th -19th November 2022).
• “Overcoming Linguistic Inequities: translation as a form of connectedness during the pandemic”. Paper presented at the 2022 Annual PG Conference in Comparative Literature and Translation Studies. University of Glasgow (6th May 2022).

Research papers presented at seminar series

• "Death in Giacomo Leopardi and William Drummond". British Comparative Literature Association Seminar Series: Emerging Voices in Comparative Literature (20th February 2025)
• “Poetry translation: the possibility of the impossible”. Paper presented during one of the Centre for Translation and Interpreting Studies’ Research Seminar Series. University of Aberdeen (30th March 2022).

Invited talks

• "Translations of Giacomo Leopardi's Canti across the centuries" (Aberdeen Italian Circle, forthcoming February 2026). 
• "Panel Discussion on Literary Translation", Centre for Multilingual Research, University of Aberdeen (12th March 2025). 

Current Research

I am currently work on the conversion of my PhD thesis into my first published monograph. The project is being funded by the Modern Humanities Research Association Scholarship. 

Knowledge Exchange

In September 2022, I participated in the competition “HERStory Makers”, part of EXPLORATHON 2022 (European Researcher's Night Scotland) producing a short video about my research https://figshare.com/articles/media/HERStory_Makers_2022_Letizia_Leonardi/24422131?file=42870283

Teaching Responsibilities

I am delivering and coordinating the following courses in the MSc in Translation Studies:

-Key Concepts and Methods in Translation Studies (LN5009, on-campus)

-Key Concepts and Methods in Translation Studies (LN5049, online)

I teach French language classes in the following course:

-Introductory French Language for Medical Students (ME33IF)

-Beginners French Language 1 (FR1028)

-Qualified French Language 1 (FR1029)

-Advanced French Language 1 (FR2002)

-Qualified French Language 2 (FR1529)

-Beginners French Language 2 (FR1528)

-Advanced Introductory French Language 1/Advanced Introductory French Language 2 with Translation (FR2002/FR2012)

-Advanced Introductory French Language 2/Advanced Introductory French Language 2 with Translation

(FR2502/FR2512)

-Juniors Honours French Language and Non-Honours Level 3 French Language 2 (FR3089/FR3091)

-Non-Honours Level 3 French Language 1 (FR3090)

-Senior Honours French Language (FR4089)

Non-course Teaching Responsibilities

-I teach French evening classes at the Language Centre.

-Seminar on Poetry Translation (Course on Literary Translation, MSc Translation Studies, March 2024).

-Seminar on Poetry Translation (Course on Literary Translation, MSc Translation Studies, March 2023).