The Elphinstone Institute (University of Aberdeen), in conjunction with the Millennium Institutes Centre for Nordic Studies (University of the Highlands and Islands) and Shetland Museum and Archive is holding an international conference in Lerwick, Shetland. It is entitled Taking Shetland out of the Box: island Cultures and Shetland Identity. The conference will look with particular interest at the various ways in which Shetland has been a meeting ground for different cultures, and the ways in which those cultures shaped the native identity, including language. Anyone who would like to submit a paper should send an abstract (no more than 300 words) with a little about their background (not more than 100 words) to the Elphinstone Institute by 1 September 2008 at shetlandconference@abdn.ac.uk