What have Frankenstein's monster and mid Wales in common?

Academics from all over the world have travelled to Aberystwyth to take part in a conference about Celts that runs until Saturday.

Based on the theme crossing boundaries, more than 200 papers will be put forward at the town's university.

Topics being discussed include why the English don't speak Welsh, bodily matters in early Irish literature and a comparison of Australia's Welsh and Cornish.

The connections of Frankenstein author Mary Shelley and Harriet Beecher Stowe, writer of Uncle Tom's Cabin, with Ceredigion will be revealed by Wyn James.

I have been astounded by the huge interest in all things Celtic, especially as so much of this interest has come from outside what we traditionally consider to be the Celtic countries. Organiser Dana Edwards

His paper - Uncle Tom and Frankenstein in the land of Dewi and Helen - shows that the two famous authors' family roots lie in the Llangeitho area of the county.

The links between the mythologies of Japan and Wales will be revealed by Setsuko Nakano

Drinking habits

His work describes the parallels between Peredur, the hero of one of the branches of The Mabinogion with Kintaro, a hero of Japanese mythology.

Andrzej Skrzypiec has made a culinary survey of the eating an drinking habits of Celts, Slavs and Europeans in his talk on traditional food and cookery as exponents of common heritage in Wales and Poland.

Hildergard Tristram will discuss why the British population of four million people may have switched from varieties of late British tongues to the Anglo-Saxon dialects, which had only 250,000 speakers.

The 12th International Congress of Celtic Studies which runs until Saturday is the largest of its kind.

Celtic and non-Celtic countries are all represented

Academics from 22 countries - including some from non-Celtic countries such as Russia, Poland, Israel and Finland - will present papers.

Organiser Dana Edwards said: "I have been astounded by the huge interest in all things Celtic, especially as so much of this interest has come from outside what we traditionally consider to be the Celtic countries.

"It is also very pleasing that it is not just academics who are coming to the congress but also very many interested lay people.