Showing posts with label literature. Show all posts
Showing posts with label literature. Show all posts
Friday, 22 June 2012
Africa Writes
Africa Writes: The Royal African Society’s inaugural Literature and Book festival
Saturday 30 June & Sunday 1 July 2012, 12-8PM
Brunei Gallery Building (SOAS) & Torrington Square
The RAS is pleased to present Africa Writes - a festival celebrating contemporary African literature and writers, scheduled to take place on Saturday 30th June and Sunday 1st July 2012.
Africa Writes aims to enhance coverage and discussion about African literature and writers in London - and the UK, by extension. Every year Africa Writes will showcase established and emerging literary talent from Africa and the Diaspora during a weekend-long series of events, including: a major lecture with a high profile African literary figure; book launches, readings, workshops, panel discussions, talks and other activities; a 2-day international book fair showcasing publishers of African literature; and a 2-day pan-African food market featuring dishes from around the continent.
SATURDAY, 30th June 2012
Welcome and Introduction by Richard Dowden (Director, RAS)
12:00-12:15 / Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre (BGLT)
Opening session: New writing for a ‘new Africa’?
12:15-13:00 / BGLT
Deputy Editor of Granta, Ellah Allfrey, leads Ghanaian author Kojo Laing in conversation, discussing new writing in Africa and setting the scene for the festival.
Book launch: How Shall We Kill the Bishop? by Lily Mabura
13:00-13:30 / Brunei Suite (BS)
Book launch with author Lily Mabura. Chair: Fiammetta Rocco (Literary Editor, The Economist).
Book launch: Sterile Sky by E. E. Sule
14:00-14:30 / BS
Book launch with author EE Sule. Chair: Dr Mpalive Msiska (Reader in English & Humanities, Birkbeck College).
Event: The 2012 Caine Prize authors meet their readers
15:00-16:30 / BGLT
Meet the 2012 Caine Prize Shortlisted writers - Rotimi Babatunde, Billy Kahora, Stanley Kenani, Melissa Tandiwe Myambo, and Constance Myburgh. Event in collaboration with the Black Reading Group and the London Afro-Caribbean Book Club. *Attendance by RSVP only: tricia@paulwombell.demon.co.uk
Book launch: Crossbones by Nuruddin Farah
17:00-17:45 / BS
Book launch with author Nuruddin Farah. Chair: Richard Dowden (Director, RAS)
Africa Writes 2012 Lecture by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
18:00-19:30 / BGLT
Marking the 50th anniversary of the African Writers Series, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie will reflect on 50 years of African literature since the series was first established in 1962. Followed by a reception.
*Attendance by RSVP only: http://africawrites2012.eventbrite.co.uk/
SUNDAY, 1st July 2012
Workshop: Story Time
12:00-13:00 / BS
Interactive story-telling for children.
Book launch: Labyrinths by Christopher Okigbo
12:00-12:30 / BGLT
Book launch led by Christopher Okigbo’s daughter, Obiageli Okigbo (Founder, the Christopher Okigbo Foundation).
Panel discussion: Publishing contemporary African Literature - challenges & opportunities
13:00-14:00 / BGLT
With Margaret Busby (writer, editor, critic, consultant and broadcaster), Becky Nana Ayebia Clarke MBE (Founder, Ayebia Clarke Publishing Ltd), and James Currey (Founder, James Currey - an imprint of Boydell & Brewer). Chair: Wangui Wa Goro (translator, editor and writer).
Panel discussion: Writing Away from Home
14:30-15:30 / BGLT
Authors Ellen Banda-Aaku, Noo Saro-Wiwa, Goretti Kyomuhendo and Aminatta Forna (TBC) discuss the implications, challenges, and opportunities of living in the Diaspora and writing about ‘Home’. Chair: Hannah Pool.
Book launch: And Crocodiles Are Hungry At Night by Jack Mapanje
16:00-16:30 / BGLT
Book launch with author Jack Mapanje. Chair: Becky Nana Ayebia Clarke MBE (Founder, Ayebia Clarke Publishing Ltd).
Closing event: Word from Africa – part of Poetry Parnassus
18:00-22:00 / Clore Ballroom, Southbank Centre
Word from Africa 2012 celebrates the exciting culmination of the Poetry Parnassus and Africa Writes festivals. It's a rich jollof of poetry, storytelling and song, sauteed with performance and music! Headlined by the Official poet at London Olympics 2012 and Associate Artist at the Southbank Centre, Lemn Sissay, the event will feature a selection of The Poetry Parnussus African poets, rappers and wordsmiths, including: Modeste Hugues (Madagascar), Oxmo Puccion (Mali), Ketty Nivyabandi Bikura (Birundi) Shailja Patel (Kenya), T.J. Dema (Botswana), Paul Dakeyo (Cameroon), Bewketu Seyoum (Ethiopia), Abdulahi Botaan Hassan 'Kurweyne' (Somalia), Mariama Khan (Gambia) and Togara Muzanenhamo (Zimbabwe).
For more information please visit the Royal African Society website
Tuesday, 6 March 2012
Full-time, three year PhD studentship available from 1 October 2012: Caribbean Writers
One full-time, three year PhD studentship available from 1 October 2012 based at The Open University and the British Library
The Faculty of Arts of The Open University has a long history of innovative engagement with museums, libraries and galleries. As a result of an exciting new partnership between the British Library and The Open University seeking to consider the theme of The Arts and their Audiences¹, we are able to offer an AHRC studentship for doctoral work in English Language and Literature. While proposals will be accepted for any project seeking to utilise the British Library¹s collections to illuminate the relationship between literature and its reception/audience, we would be particularly interested in receiving applications for work drawing on the important, recently acquired archives of James Berry and Andrew Salkey. Both of these archives are rich in documentation illustrative of the impact of Caribbean writers on Britain. Proposals which seek to exploit the Library's collection of audio-recordings would also be welcome.
You will be supervised by a specialist team in the Department of English at The Open University headed by Professor Susheila Nasta and by curators in the Department of English and Drama at the British Library.
Further details of research in the Faculty of Arts at The Open University can be found at http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/research/index.shtml For details on how to apply, please see the further particulars at http://www3.open.ac.uk/employment
Applications are through the standard Open University research degree application form online at
http://www.open.ac.uk/research/research-degrees/index.php For advice on the applications procedure, contact Lyn Archer in the Research Degrees Team (l.archer@open.ac.uk; 01908 653806) or the Department of English: 01908 652092 (Bronwen Sharp at b.m.sharp@open.ac.uk).
Please note that this studentship is subject to the eligibility regulations for AHRC awards: http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/FundingOpportunities/Documents/GuidetoStudentFunding.pdf Closing date: 31 March 2012. Interviews will be held during the week commencing 23 April 2012. It is expected that the studentship will start in October 2012.
The Faculty of Arts of The Open University has a long history of innovative engagement with museums, libraries and galleries. As a result of an exciting new partnership between the British Library and The Open University seeking to consider the theme of The Arts and their Audiences¹, we are able to offer an AHRC studentship for doctoral work in English Language and Literature. While proposals will be accepted for any project seeking to utilise the British Library¹s collections to illuminate the relationship between literature and its reception/audience, we would be particularly interested in receiving applications for work drawing on the important, recently acquired archives of James Berry and Andrew Salkey. Both of these archives are rich in documentation illustrative of the impact of Caribbean writers on Britain. Proposals which seek to exploit the Library's collection of audio-recordings would also be welcome.
You will be supervised by a specialist team in the Department of English at The Open University headed by Professor Susheila Nasta and by curators in the Department of English and Drama at the British Library.
Further details of research in the Faculty of Arts at The Open University can be found at http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/research/index.shtml For details on how to apply, please see the further particulars at http://www3.open.ac.uk/employment
Applications are through the standard Open University research degree application form online at
http://www.open.ac.uk/research/research-degrees/index.php For advice on the applications procedure, contact Lyn Archer in the Research Degrees Team (l.archer@open.ac.uk; 01908 653806) or the Department of English: 01908 652092 (Bronwen Sharp at b.m.sharp@open.ac.uk).
Please note that this studentship is subject to the eligibility regulations for AHRC awards: http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/FundingOpportunities/Documents/GuidetoStudentFunding.pdf Closing date: 31 March 2012. Interviews will be held during the week commencing 23 April 2012. It is expected that the studentship will start in October 2012.
Friday, 13 January 2012
African Literary Awards Database
Highlighting today an interesting and useful resource produced by the Library at Indiana Univeristy, Bloomington, the African :Literary Awards Database.
Each year dozens of works written by African writers and works about Africa win prestigous international and national literary and scholarly prizes. The African Studies section of the Libray at Indiana University has produced a database, which is the first attempt to gather a comprehensive list of African literary awards and their laureates. It is constantly being expanded by the addition of recent prize-winners and historical literary awards. The initial focus is on Sub-Saharan Africa, but it is intended to eventually cover the entire continent.
This database provides information about awards in an easy-to-search format. You may search by an award, title, or author. Clicking a "search" button without entering information in a search box will return a full list. Complete bibliographical information for the original published edition of each work is only available through title searches.
Each year dozens of works written by African writers and works about Africa win prestigous international and national literary and scholarly prizes. The African Studies section of the Libray at Indiana University has produced a database, which is the first attempt to gather a comprehensive list of African literary awards and their laureates. It is constantly being expanded by the addition of recent prize-winners and historical literary awards. The initial focus is on Sub-Saharan Africa, but it is intended to eventually cover the entire continent.
This database provides information about awards in an easy-to-search format. You may search by an award, title, or author. Clicking a "search" button without entering information in a search box will return a full list. Complete bibliographical information for the original published edition of each work is only available through title searches.
Saturday, 19 November 2011
Narrating the Caribbean Nation: A Celebration of Literature and Orature
Narrating the Caribbean Nation: A Celebration of Literature and Orature
Convened by Peepal Tree Press at Leeds Metropolitan University
13th – 15th April 2012
Peepal Tree Press is pleased to announce that a two-day conference, Narrating the Caribbean Nation: A Celebration of Literature and Orature, will be held on 13-15th April 2012 at Leeds Metropolitan University, UK. The conference will celebrate the Silver Anniversary of Peepal Tree Press and highlight the contribution of its own authors and other Caribbean and Black British writers to contemporary world literature.
We are also delighted that Kwame Dawes has confirmed his participation as a keynote speaker. Widely recognised as one of the Caribbean’s leading writers, Kwame is also Chancellor’s Professor of English at the University of Nebraska, and Associate Poetry Editor at Peepal Tree Press.
The conference aims to bring together writers, academics, students, teachers and people with an interest in Caribbean literature to discuss the rich body of both Caribbean and Black British writing and to explore the relationship between the two. Our investigation into the ‘narration of nation’ centres around a definition of the Caribbean nation as one rooted in a rich, unique and plural community which transcends physical borders and extends across the Caribbean and the Caribbean Diaspora.
We will examine culture, politics, identities, childhood, performance and many other topics in the context of the Caribbean and its diasporas and discuss how the past 25 years of Caribbean writing connects to, and builds on, classic texts of Caribbean literature. Moreover, the conference will offer opportunities to hear the ideas of new and established writers and to watch them perform.
The conference will juxtapose academic papers with less formal presentations from activists and practitioners in the field in order to raise the profile of writers of Caribbean heritage. Over the course of the conference, Leeds-based Peepal Tree Press, which has been the home of the best in Caribbean, Black British and South Asian literature for 25 years, will showcase new and classic works in print and in performance by its authors from around the world.
Possible paper topics may include but are not limited to:
• Caribbean identities
• Diasporic Caribbean identities
• Resistance, politics, racism
• Publishing writing from the Caribbean and its diaspora
• Gender and sexuality
• Indo-Caribbean literature
• Classic Caribbean texts
• Discovering new Caribbean writers
• Oral narratives and storytelling
• Auto/biography, memoir, life writing
• Caribbean texts in translation
• Caribbean women writers
• Caribbean poetry
• Teaching Caribbean writing
• Caribbean short story
• Intersections between Caribbean literature, orature, and visual arts
• Writing for children
• Sport and pastimes in the Caribbean and its diaspora
Please send abstracts of 200 words and brief biodata (via Word attachment) to Claire Chambers, Emily Marshall, and Emma Smith on narratingnation@gmail.com with ‘Abstract’ in the subject line by 23 December 2011.
We also welcome poster presentations (for examples, see http://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/presentations_poster.html)
Further details about the conference are available on http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/event/2458986896
Or contact Kadija George: mailto:narratingnation@gmail.com
Selected papers will be published in a journal special issue and/or an edited collection.
Convened by Peepal Tree Press at Leeds Metropolitan University
13th – 15th April 2012
Peepal Tree Press is pleased to announce that a two-day conference, Narrating the Caribbean Nation: A Celebration of Literature and Orature, will be held on 13-15th April 2012 at Leeds Metropolitan University, UK. The conference will celebrate the Silver Anniversary of Peepal Tree Press and highlight the contribution of its own authors and other Caribbean and Black British writers to contemporary world literature.
We are also delighted that Kwame Dawes has confirmed his participation as a keynote speaker. Widely recognised as one of the Caribbean’s leading writers, Kwame is also Chancellor’s Professor of English at the University of Nebraska, and Associate Poetry Editor at Peepal Tree Press.
The conference aims to bring together writers, academics, students, teachers and people with an interest in Caribbean literature to discuss the rich body of both Caribbean and Black British writing and to explore the relationship between the two. Our investigation into the ‘narration of nation’ centres around a definition of the Caribbean nation as one rooted in a rich, unique and plural community which transcends physical borders and extends across the Caribbean and the Caribbean Diaspora.
We will examine culture, politics, identities, childhood, performance and many other topics in the context of the Caribbean and its diasporas and discuss how the past 25 years of Caribbean writing connects to, and builds on, classic texts of Caribbean literature. Moreover, the conference will offer opportunities to hear the ideas of new and established writers and to watch them perform.
The conference will juxtapose academic papers with less formal presentations from activists and practitioners in the field in order to raise the profile of writers of Caribbean heritage. Over the course of the conference, Leeds-based Peepal Tree Press, which has been the home of the best in Caribbean, Black British and South Asian literature for 25 years, will showcase new and classic works in print and in performance by its authors from around the world.
Possible paper topics may include but are not limited to:
• Caribbean identities
• Diasporic Caribbean identities
• Resistance, politics, racism
• Publishing writing from the Caribbean and its diaspora
• Gender and sexuality
• Indo-Caribbean literature
• Classic Caribbean texts
• Discovering new Caribbean writers
• Oral narratives and storytelling
• Auto/biography, memoir, life writing
• Caribbean texts in translation
• Caribbean women writers
• Caribbean poetry
• Teaching Caribbean writing
• Caribbean short story
• Intersections between Caribbean literature, orature, and visual arts
• Writing for children
• Sport and pastimes in the Caribbean and its diaspora
Please send abstracts of 200 words and brief biodata (via Word attachment) to Claire Chambers, Emily Marshall, and Emma Smith on narratingnation@gmail.com with ‘Abstract’ in the subject line by 23 December 2011.
We also welcome poster presentations (for examples, see http://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/presentations_poster.html)
Further details about the conference are available on http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/event/2458986896
Or contact Kadija George: mailto:narratingnation@gmail.com
Selected papers will be published in a journal special issue and/or an edited collection.
Monday, 25 July 2011
Shorelines and Shadows: Literary Representations of Queer and Postcolonial Mythical Beings
A one-day postgraduate conference hosted by the Joint Faculty of Arts, Humanities, and Social Science Research Theme, Minorities Identities: Rights and Representations (University of Reading, UK)
Saturday 26 November 2011
Shorelines and Shadows: Literary Representations of Queer and Postcolonial Mythical Beings
Given the increasing diversity of peoples within nations and the plurality of postmodern histories, this conference seeks to interrogate the issues at stake in defining gendered, national, and sexual identities suggested by mythological beings, such as vampires, werewolves, zombies, mermaids, spirits, jablesses, gods, and obscured historical figures. We suggest that the liminality and taxonomical uncertainties posed by such figures may help to mobilise suppressed historical narratives and undo the silences that surround minority subjectivities. This conference addresses the ways in which their psychological, social, political, cultural, and aesthetic functions have been re/interpreted and employed.
Keynote Speaker: Jamaican writer and academic Kei Miller
Topics may include (without being limited to):
Abstracts of no more than 250 words for papers of 20 minutes should be submitted to: Rebecca Ashworth and Lotti Mealing pocomyth@yahoo.co.uk
Please include a brief biog-sketch (not more than 50 words) including institutional affiliation and area of research.
Deadline for receipt of abstracts: Monday 15 August 2011
Successful contributors will be notified by 1 September 2011.
Conference fee: £30 (Postgraduate students: £20)
Saturday 26 November 2011
Shorelines and Shadows: Literary Representations of Queer and Postcolonial Mythical Beings
Given the increasing diversity of peoples within nations and the plurality of postmodern histories, this conference seeks to interrogate the issues at stake in defining gendered, national, and sexual identities suggested by mythological beings, such as vampires, werewolves, zombies, mermaids, spirits, jablesses, gods, and obscured historical figures. We suggest that the liminality and taxonomical uncertainties posed by such figures may help to mobilise suppressed historical narratives and undo the silences that surround minority subjectivities. This conference addresses the ways in which their psychological, social, political, cultural, and aesthetic functions have been re/interpreted and employed.
Keynote Speaker: Jamaican writer and academic Kei Miller
Topics may include (without being limited to):
- Listening to other/ed desires
- Representing collective trauma
- Transgressing and challenging borders and categorizations
- Contesting ‘received’ histories and epistemologies
- Personifying nature and natural disasters
- Utopian and dystopian imaginaries
- Colonial legacies, Neo-colonialism, and Cultural Imperialism
Abstracts of no more than 250 words for papers of 20 minutes should be submitted to: Rebecca Ashworth and Lotti Mealing pocomyth@yahoo.co.uk
Please include a brief biog-sketch (not more than 50 words) including institutional affiliation and area of research.
Deadline for receipt of abstracts: Monday 15 August 2011
Successful contributors will be notified by 1 September 2011.
Conference fee: £30 (Postgraduate students: £20)
Thursday, 7 July 2011
New Zealand Studies at Birkbeck - an introduction and upcoming events
New Zealand studies at Birkbeck has been established with the aim of raising the profile of New Zealand in the UK.
Professor Janet Wilson is exploring research collaborations between New Zealand and UK scholars with a focus on shared areas of interest. She currently aims to introduce New Zealand topics into some of the MA teaching provision at Birkbeck (e.g. postcolonial children’s literature, the knowledge society and the cultural economy; colonial and postcolonial studies). Further integration of New Zealand topics into the undergraduate curriculum may follow.
New Zealand studies at Birkbeck is associated with the New Zealand Studies Network (UK and Ireland). See http://nzstudies.wordpress.com/. The Network draws together professional people, scholars, students and the general public who are interested in, or experts on, aspects of New Zealand life. The Network organises meetings of general public interest which are addressed by an expert: their papers may be found on the website. It also presents film screenings, poetry readings, and musical events.
More specialised conferences, seminars and colloquia are intended to be held on the humanities, fine arts, sciences, social sciences, the law, architecture, business and management studies. It may also be expected that from time to time current events in the UK may call for comment from a New Zealand perspective.
■Friday 8th July. 6.00 pm -8.30 pm - New Zealand Studies launch
Professor Andrew Sharp will discuss the reasoning behind the expansion of Maori rights to property, political power, and group expression in the last thirty years. He will reflect on what this could teach the British and Irish about the potential of a way of thinking that originated with them.
■Saturday 9th July, 9am -1pm - Readings by New Zealand writers and poets
Fleur Adcock, Briar Wood, Robert Sullivan, Kirsty Gunn, Paula Morris, Mia Farland
Professor Janet Wilson is exploring research collaborations between New Zealand and UK scholars with a focus on shared areas of interest. She currently aims to introduce New Zealand topics into some of the MA teaching provision at Birkbeck (e.g. postcolonial children’s literature, the knowledge society and the cultural economy; colonial and postcolonial studies). Further integration of New Zealand topics into the undergraduate curriculum may follow.
New Zealand studies at Birkbeck is associated with the New Zealand Studies Network (UK and Ireland). See http://nzstudies.wordpress.com/. The Network draws together professional people, scholars, students and the general public who are interested in, or experts on, aspects of New Zealand life. The Network organises meetings of general public interest which are addressed by an expert: their papers may be found on the website. It also presents film screenings, poetry readings, and musical events.
More specialised conferences, seminars and colloquia are intended to be held on the humanities, fine arts, sciences, social sciences, the law, architecture, business and management studies. It may also be expected that from time to time current events in the UK may call for comment from a New Zealand perspective.
■Friday 8th July. 6.00 pm -8.30 pm - New Zealand Studies launch
Professor Andrew Sharp will discuss the reasoning behind the expansion of Maori rights to property, political power, and group expression in the last thirty years. He will reflect on what this could teach the British and Irish about the potential of a way of thinking that originated with them.
■Saturday 9th July, 9am -1pm - Readings by New Zealand writers and poets
Fleur Adcock, Briar Wood, Robert Sullivan, Kirsty Gunn, Paula Morris, Mia Farland
Saturday, 30 April 2011
Canadian studies study tours, internships, conferences and events
"Thinking Canada" - EU-Canada Study Tour and Internship Programme 2011
"Thinking Canada" is an initiative of the European Network for Canadian Studies - a four-week study tour to Canada for European students that will take place from 4 September to 2 October 2011, followed for selected participants by two-month internships. The tour to Canada commences with three days of briefings in Brussels on the EU and EU-Canada relations.The aim of the study tour is to offer its participants a unique in-depth experience of Canada through an intensive programme of visits to major private and public institutions, government bodies, think tanks and NGOs. At each place, the students will receive briefings and have the opportunity to exchange views with representatives of these bodies, many of them leading experts in their fields. The tour will begin in Brussels, and travel to Ottawa, Québec, Montréal, Toronto, Vancouver and Victoria.
This immersion in Canada will offer a unique opportunity for an academic experience in a non-academic setting. The tour is focused on a number of themes, in particular cultural diversity (including the English/French relationship, the First Nations and multiculturalism), political issues (federalism, regionalism, the role of government), the environment (including Arctic issues), urban issues and economic topics (business, finance, trade). EU-Canada relations will also be covered and provide a recurring backdrop to the discussions. Two European academic advisors will be accompanying the tour to serve as resource persons and provide feedback.
In addition to the tour, eight two-month internships will be offered to participants immediately following the end of the tour.
For further information on the tour, its programme, internships, cost and how to apply, see the tour's website.
Deadline for applications: Wednesday 18 May 2011
Where is Here Now? Canadian Literary Study in the 21st Century
The British Association for Canadian Studies Literature Group is pleased to announce that we will be hosting a symposium on 12th September 2011 at the Eccles Centre for American Studies at the British library. This one-day symposium will provide an opportunity for emerging and established scholars to situate developments and innovations in current Canadian literary studies in the UK and beyond.
We see this symposium as a chance to re-evaluate dominant modes of Canadian literary canon making and map out new ways of understanding Canadian literature's place and influence in and beyond Canada at the beginning of the new millennium. To this end, we invite papers aiming to look forward, focusing on emerging writers, as well as those offering fresh approaches to established writers and forgotten or marginalised writers who are due renewed critical attention. To help us with these productive re-evaluations we have invited two eminent, influential and innovative scholars and BACS members to give a joint plenary and lead the first discussion: Dr. Danielle Fuller (University of Birmingham) and Dr. Faye Hammill (Strathclyde University).
We suggest the following topics of interest, although contributors should not feel limited to these areas:
•Canada on the global stage
•Canada since 9/11
•Canadian literature and culture in the cyberage
•Canadian engagement with new literary genres
•Cosmopolitanism
•Re-assessing ideas of the postnational and/or transnational
•Multiculturalism and diversity
•Indigeneity and/or the absence of decolonization
•Canadian literary prize culture
•Rethinking the 'lit' in CanLit
•Changing materialities
•Interdisciplinary approaches to Canadian literature
•Comparative frameworks: postcolonial and/or hemispheric paradigms
•The institutional positioning of Canadian literature in the UK: Is it an 'Area Studies' subject? Should it be taught under World literatures or general contemporary literature?
We invite paper proposals for 5-10-minute position papers. All panellists will be required to submit a 2000 to 3000-word version of their paper, which will be posted for all delegates to read in advance on the BACS literature group webpage. Proposals of 300 words and brief biographical notes should be emailed to Catherine Bates, Fiona Tolan and Gillian Roberts.
CONFERENCE ON WAR OF 1812 - SENATE HOUSE, LONDON, 13-14 JULY 2012
A major conference marking the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812 is being arranged in London on Friday 13 and Saturday 14 July 2012. This will be the annual conference of the History and Politics Group of the British Association for Canadian Studies. Over 20 papers on the War of 1812 have already been received and one of the plenary speakers will be Professor Donald Hickey, who has written one of the main books on the subject. Further papers are invited, especially on the significance of the War of 1812 in Anglo-Canadian-American relations since then. If you are interested in attending or submitting a paper or would like more details about the conference please contact Tony McCulloch. Paper proposals (one or two paragraphs) plus a short bio should be submitted by 1 July 2011.
Canada's Special Relationships - SENATE HOUSE, LONDON, 15 JULY 2011
The 2011 Canadian Studies conference will be held on Friday 15 July and will be on the theme of "Canada's Special Relationships". If you would like to attend or submit a paper please contact Tony McCulloch. It is hoped that some funding for travel from Dundee and accommodation in London will be available for presenters and chairs.
It is intended that a selection of the papers will be published in a special issue of the International Journal. Possible topics include Canada's relationships - now or in the past - with Britain, the USA, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, NATO, the UN, the EU, the G8/G20, the Arctic, etc.***Extended Deadline: 5th May, 2011***
"Thinking Canada" is an initiative of the European Network for Canadian Studies - a four-week study tour to Canada for European students that will take place from 4 September to 2 October 2011, followed for selected participants by two-month internships. The tour to Canada commences with three days of briefings in Brussels on the EU and EU-Canada relations.The aim of the study tour is to offer its participants a unique in-depth experience of Canada through an intensive programme of visits to major private and public institutions, government bodies, think tanks and NGOs. At each place, the students will receive briefings and have the opportunity to exchange views with representatives of these bodies, many of them leading experts in their fields. The tour will begin in Brussels, and travel to Ottawa, Québec, Montréal, Toronto, Vancouver and Victoria.
This immersion in Canada will offer a unique opportunity for an academic experience in a non-academic setting. The tour is focused on a number of themes, in particular cultural diversity (including the English/French relationship, the First Nations and multiculturalism), political issues (federalism, regionalism, the role of government), the environment (including Arctic issues), urban issues and economic topics (business, finance, trade). EU-Canada relations will also be covered and provide a recurring backdrop to the discussions. Two European academic advisors will be accompanying the tour to serve as resource persons and provide feedback.
In addition to the tour, eight two-month internships will be offered to participants immediately following the end of the tour.
For further information on the tour, its programme, internships, cost and how to apply, see the tour's website.
Deadline for applications: Wednesday 18 May 2011
Where is Here Now? Canadian Literary Study in the 21st Century
The British Association for Canadian Studies Literature Group is pleased to announce that we will be hosting a symposium on 12th September 2011 at the Eccles Centre for American Studies at the British library. This one-day symposium will provide an opportunity for emerging and established scholars to situate developments and innovations in current Canadian literary studies in the UK and beyond.
We see this symposium as a chance to re-evaluate dominant modes of Canadian literary canon making and map out new ways of understanding Canadian literature's place and influence in and beyond Canada at the beginning of the new millennium. To this end, we invite papers aiming to look forward, focusing on emerging writers, as well as those offering fresh approaches to established writers and forgotten or marginalised writers who are due renewed critical attention. To help us with these productive re-evaluations we have invited two eminent, influential and innovative scholars and BACS members to give a joint plenary and lead the first discussion: Dr. Danielle Fuller (University of Birmingham) and Dr. Faye Hammill (Strathclyde University).
We suggest the following topics of interest, although contributors should not feel limited to these areas:
•Canada on the global stage
•Canada since 9/11
•Canadian literature and culture in the cyberage
•Canadian engagement with new literary genres
•Cosmopolitanism
•Re-assessing ideas of the postnational and/or transnational
•Multiculturalism and diversity
•Indigeneity and/or the absence of decolonization
•Canadian literary prize culture
•Rethinking the 'lit' in CanLit
•Changing materialities
•Interdisciplinary approaches to Canadian literature
•Comparative frameworks: postcolonial and/or hemispheric paradigms
•The institutional positioning of Canadian literature in the UK: Is it an 'Area Studies' subject? Should it be taught under World literatures or general contemporary literature?
We invite paper proposals for 5-10-minute position papers. All panellists will be required to submit a 2000 to 3000-word version of their paper, which will be posted for all delegates to read in advance on the BACS literature group webpage. Proposals of 300 words and brief biographical notes should be emailed to Catherine Bates, Fiona Tolan and Gillian Roberts.
CONFERENCE ON WAR OF 1812 - SENATE HOUSE, LONDON, 13-14 JULY 2012
A major conference marking the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812 is being arranged in London on Friday 13 and Saturday 14 July 2012. This will be the annual conference of the History and Politics Group of the British Association for Canadian Studies. Over 20 papers on the War of 1812 have already been received and one of the plenary speakers will be Professor Donald Hickey, who has written one of the main books on the subject. Further papers are invited, especially on the significance of the War of 1812 in Anglo-Canadian-American relations since then. If you are interested in attending or submitting a paper or would like more details about the conference please contact Tony McCulloch. Paper proposals (one or two paragraphs) plus a short bio should be submitted by 1 July 2011.
Canada's Special Relationships - SENATE HOUSE, LONDON, 15 JULY 2011
The 2011 Canadian Studies conference will be held on Friday 15 July and will be on the theme of "Canada's Special Relationships". If you would like to attend or submit a paper please contact Tony McCulloch. It is hoped that some funding for travel from Dundee and accommodation in London will be available for presenters and chairs.
It is intended that a selection of the papers will be published in a special issue of the International Journal. Possible topics include Canada's relationships - now or in the past - with Britain, the USA, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, NATO, the UN, the EU, the G8/G20, the Arctic, etc.***Extended Deadline: 5th May, 2011***
Tuesday, 1 February 2011
CFP: Beyond Calypso : New Perspectives on Samuel Selvon
Beyond Calypso : New Perspectives on Samuel Selvon
Warwick University Yesau Persad Centre for Caribbean Studies 2nd July 2011
Keynote speaker: Professor Kenneth Ramchand
(University of Trinidad and Tobago)
Samuel Selvon is one of the Caribbean's most widely-read, popular and influential novelists, one whose works have, as early as their first publication, been granted classic status. While the author's significance is undeniable, historically Selvon's oeuvre has been read primarily to seek its insight into the lived experience of the Windrush generation, or its replication of the tropes and techniques of calypso. Selvon's work, though, has much more to offer than this. While expressing a strong, Caribbean-centred cultural identity, his writing demonstrates a perceptiveness that extends beyond its immediate context.
Beyond Calypso will seek to explore the richness of Selvon's work. In advance of the sixtieth anniversary of Selvon's first novel, A Brighter Sun, this one-day event will draw together new perspectives on the author in order to celebrate his contribution to Caribbean, British and postcolonial literatures.
Selvon's legacy will also be celebrated through tributes and the presentation of restored sound archives from the collections of the Centre for Caribbean Studies.
250-words abstracts are invited for papers that apply new or little-used analytical frameworks to the writer and his work. Topics can include, but are not limited to:
− New approaches to Selvon through the optics of gender studies, ecocriticism, psychoanalysis, poststructuralism or others
− Creative works - including poetry, fiction and music - inspired by Samuel Selvon
− Readings of Selvon's less famous works, including his radio plays and short stories, and the novels An Island Is a World and I Hear Thunder
− Re-engagements with or re-negotiations of existing critical perspectives on Selvon's work
Please email all abstracts to Malachi McIntosh and Stephanie Decouvelaere at
m.mcintosh@warwick.ac.uk by Friday 1 April 2011
Stephanie Decouvelaere
Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3
Malachi McIntosh
Warwick University
Letizia Gramaglia
Warwick University
Warwick University Yesau Persad Centre for Caribbean Studies 2nd July 2011
Keynote speaker: Professor Kenneth Ramchand
(University of Trinidad and Tobago)
Samuel Selvon is one of the Caribbean's most widely-read, popular and influential novelists, one whose works have, as early as their first publication, been granted classic status. While the author's significance is undeniable, historically Selvon's oeuvre has been read primarily to seek its insight into the lived experience of the Windrush generation, or its replication of the tropes and techniques of calypso. Selvon's work, though, has much more to offer than this. While expressing a strong, Caribbean-centred cultural identity, his writing demonstrates a perceptiveness that extends beyond its immediate context.
Beyond Calypso will seek to explore the richness of Selvon's work. In advance of the sixtieth anniversary of Selvon's first novel, A Brighter Sun, this one-day event will draw together new perspectives on the author in order to celebrate his contribution to Caribbean, British and postcolonial literatures.
Selvon's legacy will also be celebrated through tributes and the presentation of restored sound archives from the collections of the Centre for Caribbean Studies.
250-words abstracts are invited for papers that apply new or little-used analytical frameworks to the writer and his work. Topics can include, but are not limited to:
− New approaches to Selvon through the optics of gender studies, ecocriticism, psychoanalysis, poststructuralism or others
− Creative works - including poetry, fiction and music - inspired by Samuel Selvon
− Readings of Selvon's less famous works, including his radio plays and short stories, and the novels An Island Is a World and I Hear Thunder
− Re-engagements with or re-negotiations of existing critical perspectives on Selvon's work
Please email all abstracts to Malachi McIntosh and Stephanie Decouvelaere at
m.mcintosh@warwick.ac.uk by Friday 1 April 2011
Stephanie Decouvelaere
Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3
Malachi McIntosh
Warwick University
Letizia Gramaglia
Warwick University
Tuesday, 29 June 2010
Australian and New Zealand Literature in the University of London Research Library Services
Australian and New Zealand Literature in the ULRLS
(notes for a presentation given at the 2010 ANZLAG workshop)
Introduction
The collections of Australian and New Zealand literature in Senate House Library(SHL) form part of the English Language & Literature Collection. The English collection at SHL is the central resource for English Studies in the University of London, supporting teaching and research at all levels. The collection covers the traditional English Literary canon from the earliest period to the present day. Particular strengths of the collection are old and middle English, Shakespeare and the Renaissance and the Victorian and Edwardian novel.
Scope of collections
The primary geographic focus of the English collection is literature written in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The literature of the United States and the Caribbean is covered by the US and Latin American area studies collections respectively. English-language writers of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Anglophone Africa and Anglophone South-East Asia are represented, although not comprehensively.
Australian and New Zealand literature is located within the English Collection within a classmark for ‘International literatures in English’ (YS), Australian – YSR, New Zealand - YSS.
Types of material held
The majority of the collection comprises primary works of literature and research monographs of literary criticism. The collecting policy for English literature is to purchase everything by the selected authors, although this has not always have been consistently maintained.
Examples of Australian authors held:
The Australian High Commission Library holds 20th C editions of some early 19th C works by Henry Savery, James Tucker and Charles Harpur.
19th C: Henry Kendall, Adam Lindsay Gordon, Marcus Clarke
19th-20th: Henry Lawson, A. B. Paterson
Early 20th: Henry Handel Richardson (real name Ethel Florence Lindesay Richardson), Miles Franklin (female), Vance and Nettie Palmer, John Shaw Neilson
Mid 20th C onwards: A. D. Hope, Shirley Hazzard, Judith Wright, Patrick White, Barbara Hanrahan, Elizabeth Jolly, Thomas Keneally, Les Murray, Helen Garner, David Malouf, Kate Grenville, Peter Carey.
Australian High Commission Library
The Australia House Library existed from 1918 to 1994 (when the collection was transferred (largely) to the University of London’s Senate House Library). It is particularly strong in coverage of post 1945 works of poetry and fiction and periodical runs, as the library underwent a period of reorganisation and growth, as prior to 1972 material was supplied by the National Library of Australia in Canberra – with some additional donations. The book collection is particularly strong in Australian fiction, poetry and literary criticism particularly from the 1950s and 1960s. The library then catered for Australians overseas and intending migrants and formed a strong general collection of Australiana. In 1972 responsibility for the library transferred to the Dept of Foreign Affairs – and the direct link with the NLA was severed. The library focused from then onwards on Dept of Foreign Affairs priorities and perspectives.
The Institute of Commonwealth Studies collection generally does not hold literature but includes a notable special collection of the works of Frank Clune – popular travel, adventure and history writer. The Commonwealth Studies library is however a useful source for understanding the social and historic conetxt of Australian (and New Zealand) writing.
New Zealand Literature
The New Zealand literature collection is smaller and is almost entirely 20th C:
Authors include Fleur Adcock, Barbara Anderson, James K Baxter, Charles Brasch, Allen Curnow, Walter D’Arcy Cresswell, Ruth Dallas, Dan Davin, Marilyn Duckworth, Janet Frame, Maurice Gee, Denis Glover, Robin Hyde, Frank Sargeson, Maurice Shadbolt, Kendrick Smithyman, C.K. Stead, Denys Trussell, and Noel Virtue. (Katherine Mansfield is also covered in the main English collection).
An evaluation of holdings of NZ authors against the bibliography chapter of The Oxford History of New Zealand Literature in English (1998) found that although rarely were holdings comprehensive for any author it was pleasing to see that (if one excluded writers of works for children and romantic novels) there was only an occasional author missing in the collections and a representative coverage of most. A recent donation from Professor John Pocock increased coverage for the 1950s to 1970s and included many small press works.
General
The collection also includes a number of general histories and histories of literary genres such as The Cambridge History of Australian Literature edited by Peter Pierce (Cambridge University Press, 2009) and The Oxford History of New Zealand Literature in English edited by Terry Sturm (Oxford University Press, 1998). There are a number of anthologies for both Australian and New Zealand literatures.
In order to aid research the library holds printed reference works, including bibliographies, these include specific titles such The Oxford Literary Guide to Australia edited by Peter Pierce (Oxford University Press, 1993) and The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature edited by Roger Robinson (Oxford University Press, 1998).
The print collections are complemented by electronic resources that cover literature more generally, including Australia & New Zealand, such as Literature Online (LION) and the MLA Bibliography.
The ULRLS also holds critical and reference material on postcolonial and comparative literature in general which will also be relevant. Examples include the Encyclopedia of post-colonial literatures in English edited by Eugene Benson and L.W. Conolly. (Routledge, 2005), Postcolonial literatures in English by Richard Lever et al (Prentice Hall, 1996).
Periodicals
ULRLS has a fairly comprehensive collection of scholarly periodicals covering English Language and literature and Literary Studies in general. Specific titles of relevance include Australian Literary Studies, Journal of Commonwealth Literature, Journal of New Zealand Literature (online only), Kunapipi, Meanjin Quarterly and Southerly.
In addition to these specific titles many of the English and Comparative Literature periodicals will include literature of New Zealand and Australia in their coverage eg Comparative Literature, Review of English Studies, Wasafiri.
(notes for a presentation given at the 2010 ANZLAG workshop)
Introduction
The collections of Australian and New Zealand literature in Senate House Library(SHL) form part of the English Language & Literature Collection. The English collection at SHL is the central resource for English Studies in the University of London, supporting teaching and research at all levels. The collection covers the traditional English Literary canon from the earliest period to the present day. Particular strengths of the collection are old and middle English, Shakespeare and the Renaissance and the Victorian and Edwardian novel.
Scope of collections
The primary geographic focus of the English collection is literature written in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The literature of the United States and the Caribbean is covered by the US and Latin American area studies collections respectively. English-language writers of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Anglophone Africa and Anglophone South-East Asia are represented, although not comprehensively.
Australian and New Zealand literature is located within the English Collection within a classmark for ‘International literatures in English’ (YS), Australian – YSR, New Zealand - YSS.
Types of material held
The majority of the collection comprises primary works of literature and research monographs of literary criticism. The collecting policy for English literature is to purchase everything by the selected authors, although this has not always have been consistently maintained.
Examples of Australian authors held:
The Australian High Commission Library holds 20th C editions of some early 19th C works by Henry Savery, James Tucker and Charles Harpur.
19th C: Henry Kendall, Adam Lindsay Gordon, Marcus Clarke
19th-20th: Henry Lawson, A. B. Paterson
Early 20th: Henry Handel Richardson (real name Ethel Florence Lindesay Richardson), Miles Franklin (female), Vance and Nettie Palmer, John Shaw Neilson
Mid 20th C onwards: A. D. Hope, Shirley Hazzard, Judith Wright, Patrick White, Barbara Hanrahan, Elizabeth Jolly, Thomas Keneally, Les Murray, Helen Garner, David Malouf, Kate Grenville, Peter Carey.
Australian High Commission Library
The Australia House Library existed from 1918 to 1994 (when the collection was transferred (largely) to the University of London’s Senate House Library). It is particularly strong in coverage of post 1945 works of poetry and fiction and periodical runs, as the library underwent a period of reorganisation and growth, as prior to 1972 material was supplied by the National Library of Australia in Canberra – with some additional donations. The book collection is particularly strong in Australian fiction, poetry and literary criticism particularly from the 1950s and 1960s. The library then catered for Australians overseas and intending migrants and formed a strong general collection of Australiana. In 1972 responsibility for the library transferred to the Dept of Foreign Affairs – and the direct link with the NLA was severed. The library focused from then onwards on Dept of Foreign Affairs priorities and perspectives.
The Institute of Commonwealth Studies collection generally does not hold literature but includes a notable special collection of the works of Frank Clune – popular travel, adventure and history writer. The Commonwealth Studies library is however a useful source for understanding the social and historic conetxt of Australian (and New Zealand) writing.
New Zealand Literature
The New Zealand literature collection is smaller and is almost entirely 20th C:
Authors include Fleur Adcock, Barbara Anderson, James K Baxter, Charles Brasch, Allen Curnow, Walter D’Arcy Cresswell, Ruth Dallas, Dan Davin, Marilyn Duckworth, Janet Frame, Maurice Gee, Denis Glover, Robin Hyde, Frank Sargeson, Maurice Shadbolt, Kendrick Smithyman, C.K. Stead, Denys Trussell, and Noel Virtue. (Katherine Mansfield is also covered in the main English collection).
An evaluation of holdings of NZ authors against the bibliography chapter of The Oxford History of New Zealand Literature in English (1998) found that although rarely were holdings comprehensive for any author it was pleasing to see that (if one excluded writers of works for children and romantic novels) there was only an occasional author missing in the collections and a representative coverage of most. A recent donation from Professor John Pocock increased coverage for the 1950s to 1970s and included many small press works.
General
The collection also includes a number of general histories and histories of literary genres such as The Cambridge History of Australian Literature edited by Peter Pierce (Cambridge University Press, 2009) and The Oxford History of New Zealand Literature in English edited by Terry Sturm (Oxford University Press, 1998). There are a number of anthologies for both Australian and New Zealand literatures.
In order to aid research the library holds printed reference works, including bibliographies, these include specific titles such The Oxford Literary Guide to Australia edited by Peter Pierce (Oxford University Press, 1993) and The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature edited by Roger Robinson (Oxford University Press, 1998).
The print collections are complemented by electronic resources that cover literature more generally, including Australia & New Zealand, such as Literature Online (LION) and the MLA Bibliography.
The ULRLS also holds critical and reference material on postcolonial and comparative literature in general which will also be relevant. Examples include the Encyclopedia of post-colonial literatures in English edited by Eugene Benson and L.W. Conolly. (Routledge, 2005), Postcolonial literatures in English by Richard Lever et al (Prentice Hall, 1996).
Periodicals
ULRLS has a fairly comprehensive collection of scholarly periodicals covering English Language and literature and Literary Studies in general. Specific titles of relevance include Australian Literary Studies, Journal of Commonwealth Literature, Journal of New Zealand Literature (online only), Kunapipi, Meanjin Quarterly and Southerly.
In addition to these specific titles many of the English and Comparative Literature periodicals will include literature of New Zealand and Australia in their coverage eg Comparative Literature, Review of English Studies, Wasafiri.
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