We are pleased to announce that registration is now open for the one-day
international conference at the University of Warwick Yesu Persaud Centre for
Caribbean Studies on 2nd July 2011
Beyond Calypso: New Perspectives on Sam Selvon
Keynote speakers:
Kenneth Ramchand (University of Trinidad and Tobago)
Alison Donnell (University of Reading)
Vahni Capildeo
Please visit the conference website for registration information and the
conference poster: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/ccs/events/selvon
Extended deadline for the call for papers: we still have spaces on two panels to
cover Selvon’s neglected texts and his legacy and influence in Caribbean and
black British writing. New deadline: 30th May 2011.
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 creolization in post-war Trinidad and 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 explore the full richness of Selvon's work and its echoes in
Caribbean writing. In advance of the sixtieth anniversary of Selvon's first
novel, A Brighter Sun, in 2012, this one-day event will draw together new
perspectives on the author in order to celebrate his contribution to Caribbean,
British and postcolonial literatures.
In addition to academic papers, Beyond Calypso will feature Selvon’s readings of
his own work, restored from the Centre for Caribbean Studies’s sound archives,
as well as readings from creative writers inspired by Selvon’s legacy.
250-words abstracts are still invited for papers on the following topics:
− 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
− Readings situating Selvon in his generation of writers or exploring his legacy
in contemporary writing
Please email all abstracts to Malachi McIntosh and Stephanie Decouvelaere at
[log in to unmask] Monday 30th May
Warwick University Yesu Persaud Centre for Caribbean Studies
Warwick University Humanities Research Centre
Institut d'Etudes Transtextuelles et Transculturelles, université Jean Moulin
Lyon 3
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