By Professor Nicholas Postgate, Trinity College, Cambridge On the evening of 26 November the Trust hosted an unusual event, to celebrate the 100th birthday of James V. Kinnier Wilson, a frequent attendee at the Friday Lectures. At Exeter College Oxford, after wartime service on the North-West frontier and in Burma, James studied Akkadian and Hebrew at the feet of Oliver Gurney and Godfrey Driver, with an M Litt in 1950, and his path then took him via Durham, Chicago and Toronto to the Akkadian teaching post at Cambridge in 1955. …

By Nicholas Sims-Williams, Chair of the Trust The AIIT is sad to announce the death of our distinguished Honorary Fellow Professor Minoru Hara (原 實) on 1st November 2021 at the age of 91. A specialist in Sanskrit and Buddhist studies, he took his PhD at Harvard and later taught at Tokyo University, becoming Professor of Sanskrit in 1975. Amongst many honours, he was an elected member of the Japanese and Swedish Academies, as well as being honoured by the Government of India with the award of the Padma Bhushan. …

We are delighted to announce a limited reopening of our library in accordance with Public Health England advice. To make things as safe as possible for readers and staff, a number of measures will be put in place, including social distancing. In the first instance, we will only be open to researchers who need to access specific collection items. Use of our reading rooms will be restricted to readers who have pre-booked material and an appointment time. We regret that it is not possible at this stage to reserve general …