2024 marks the bicentennial of Lord Byron’s death in Messolonghi, where he had travelled to advance the cause of Greek independence. His passing ended the meteoric, scandalous career of a man whose life, thought, and work continue to influence art and culture to the present day – a poet perhaps best known by the epithet that Percy Shelley gave him: “the Pilgrim of Eternity.”

Two hundred years after Byron’s death, the International Association of Byron Societies, representing over a dozen nations, will assemble in Greece to honour Byron, discuss his work, assess its place within the Romantic movement, and explore his afterlife and lasting impact on global culture.