The Literary Institute’s Summer School Provided Early-Career Researchers with New Perspectives on the Study of Early Modern Print Culture

From 30 June to 3 July 2026, the Young Researchers and Innovators Summer School „Print Culture and Translation in Central Europe (1500–1700): Methods, Challenges, and Approaches“, held at the Estonian Academy of Sciences Under and Tuglas Literary Institute, brought together 13 early-career researchers and 10 established scholars from nine European countries.

The summer school was organized within the framework of the COST Action CA23137, „Print Culture and Public Spheres in Central Europe, 1500–1800“ (PCPSce). Coordinated by the University of Innsbruck and the University of Bonn, this international network investigates the interactions between early modern print culture and the emergence of the democratic public sphere in Central Europe during the period 2024–2028, using the region’s non-national historical past as a point of departure. The COST Action was inspired by the profound transformation of the media landscape over the past decade, which has fundamentally reshaped the relationship between public discourse and political power. This process—through which virtual audiences have increasingly come to be regarded as full participants in the public sphere—has its roots in the early modern period. Understanding contemporary changes in the public sphere therefore requires examining it from a historical perspective, including the impact of the early modern media revolution.

The theme of the summer school was closely aligned with the research priorities of Working Group 5, „Texts and Ideas“, within the COST Action. The group’s research focuses on the emergence and disappearance of genres, the production and dissemination of knowledge, the role of printed books in school and university settings, and translation in early modern print culture. Particular attention is also given to transitional and hybrid phenomena, including the relationship between manuscript and print circulation, literacy in learned and vernacular languages, private and institutional libraries, and comparisons across cultures and religious traditions. The summer school provided a fertile environment for dialogue between material narratives, intellectual discourses, and the opportunities offered by contemporary digital humanities.

The programme in Tallinn featured six training sessions led by senior scholars, twelve presentations by early-career researchers, and visits to the Tallinn City Archives, the Museum of Forbidden Books, and St Nicholas’ Church (Niguliste Museum). The instructors were László Kontler (Central European University, Vienna), Veronika Čapská and Anastasia Tenchurina (Charles University, Prague), Marta Vaculinová (Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague), Peeter Tinits (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig), and Annemieke Romein (University of Twente, the Netherlands).

More information and the programme are available here.