I am available as a guest speaker for a wide range of events, from library talks and book group discussions to conferences, classrooms and podcasts. I work with a variety of themes, including history, understanding and writing literature, and team building, always tailoring each session to the interests, experience level and size of the group.
As a historian and literary scholar, I bring depth and accuracy to my talks while keeping them accessible, engaging and conversational.
Talks can be delivered in English or German and are designed to be inclusive and flexible. If you are a library organiser, educator, book group, podcast host or organisation interested in a customised session, please get in touch to discuss formats, availability and rates.
If you are interested in working with me, please get in touch to discuss topics and availability.
Public Speaking Engagements and Conferences (Selected)
2026 Nov (upcoming) | Book talk for The Saltire Society with Gillebrìde MacMillan, Inverness
2026 Sep | Talk for Gaelic Society of Victoria, Australia (Zoom): ‘From Scotland to Australia: Outlander and Gaelic in Australia’
2026 Sep | Panel discussion | Bannockburn House: ‘Tales of Tartan’
2026 Sep | Podcast appearance | The Outlandish Podcast (listen here)
2026 Jul | Talk at Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival | Beauly: ‘Scotland: The Real Star of Outlander’
2026 Jun | Guest lecture for Texas State University as part of their summer programme at Queen Margaret University | Edinburgh: ‘Place, Power, and Personal Voice: Storytelling Through Media in Outlander’
2026 Jun | Talk for Outlander Day at the Highland Folk Museum | Newtonmore: ‘Outlander: The Portal into the Past’
2026 May | Talk for Wake County Public Libraries (Zoom): ‘History, Outlander and the Power of Storytelling’
2026 Apr | Podcast and YouTube appearance | History Hit’s After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds and the Paranormal: ‘The Real History Behind Outlander’ (listen/watch here)
2026 Mar | Guest lecture for University of the Highlands and Islands: ‘Public and/or Popular History’
2026 Feb | Historical Fictions Research Network Conference | Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany: ‘Feeling History: Affective Encounters with Eighteenth-century Transatlantic Slavery and Coloniality in Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander Novels’
2026 Jan | Podcast appearance | Stories of Change and Creativity with Dr Judy Oskam: ‘Outlander as Public History: Dr. Alex Dold on Making History and Reading Accessible’ (listen here)
2025 May | ‘Re-Reading’: Research Centre for Comparative Literature and Translation 2025 Postgraduate Conference | University of Glasgow: ‘Intertwining Chronologies and Narrative Foreshadowing in Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander Novels’
2024 Oct | Presentation for Friends of Highgate Library | London: ‘Intertextuality or How All Stories are Linked’
2024 July | History Lab+ Conference | University of Hull: ‘Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander Novels: Representing Scotland’s Involvement in Eighteenth-Century Transatlantic Slave Trade’
2024 May | ‘What is Scotland? Reinventions and Connections’: Centre for Scottish and Celtic Studies PGR Conference | University of Glasgow: ‘Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander Novels: Representing Scottish Reading History’
2023 July | Outlander Conference | University of Glasgow: ‘Translating Outlander: Titles and Covers in the German Edition’ (paper) and ‘“A Love Letter to Scotland”: Heritage through the Lens of Outlander’ (roundtable discussion)
2021 July | ‘Conflict, Rebellion and Popular Protest’: Centre for Scottish and Celtic Studies PGR Conference | University of Glasgow: ‘Outlander’s Jamie Fraser: Rebel or Hero?’
Reviews
“How do you introduce the academic concept of ‘intertextuality’ to the varied audience at an FOHL [Friends of Highgate Library] event? This was the challenge Alex Dold had set herself last Thursday evening, when she showed us what the concept means using the popular historical novels of Diana Gabaldon, Outlander. She first paid due tribute to the theoretical heavies associated with the term – Kristeva, who coined it, and de Saussure and Bakhtin’s theories of language – and swiftly moved on to explain that intertextuality exists in all fiction be it literary or popular: it is about the encounter between characters or the story in one text and cited characters or stories in other texts – Gabaldon’s volumes, Shakespeare’s plays, a 17th century French fairy tale, or the real French Revolution, creating a ‘mosaic of quotations’. Masterfully in charge of her material, Alex succeeded in showing that intertextuality is accessible to us all and can increase the pleasure and depth of reading, and a kind of complicity with authors”
Michele Cohen, Emeritus Professor at Richmond International University (October 2024)
Alex was so knowledgable! Made me want to visit [Scotland] even more! Loved learning how the history and the storylines [of Outlander] crossed and separated.
Leslie, Target USA (September 2022)
Alex did a wonderful job! Charming, knowledgable and genuinely engaging.
Ken (October 2021)
Alexandra is a wonderful storyteller who is a true Outlander scholar. […] Her wonderful use of different medias such as the use of videos and archival finds transports any voyager from the comfort of their own home to the quaint streets of Inverness.
Sara (August 2021)
