*With apologies for cross-posting*
Writing for Liberty
Centre for Transcultural Writing and Research
Lancaster University, 17-18 April 2015
Keynote speaker: Véronique Tadjo, University of the Witwatersrand
Call for Papers
Writing for Liberty is a two-day conference hosted by the Centre for Transcultural Writing and Research at Lancaster University to be held in April 2015. This conference builds specifically on
Writing for Liberty, a series of readings by established creative writers (Selma Dabbagh, Aminatta Forna, Gillian Slovo) held in 2013/14 which aimed to promote debate around fundamental
issues of human liberty through the agency of creative and critical writings. In the wider context of the Centre’s work, this conference also responds to recent projects in Europe, Africa and Kurdistan and the establishment of a new authorship hub, Authors
and the World, within the Centre.
www.transcultualwriting.com
We are now requesting academic papers and new creative writings for reading and performance. The Writing for Liberty Conference will focus on the relationship between forms of creative writing and questions of
personal, artistic, social, and political liberty. Contributions may refer to any period in history and to any social, political or cultural context, though our main emphasis will be on contemporary writing practice and critical/theoretical response.
Topics for proposals may include, but are not limited to:
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Writing and questions of textual authority
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Writing and political authority
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Writing and artistic/personal/political freedom
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Writing as resistance
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Writing as liberation
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Writing and censorship
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Writing and the nation state
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Writing beyond national contexts
The Centre for Transcultural Writing and Research
The Centre for Transcultural Writing and Research (CTWR) links writers, academics and Lancaster University’s postgraduate student community to extensive research activity in creative writing and its impact on
society. Our aim is to create a transnational and interdisciplinary environment. We are committed to promoting creative writing across cultures and to studying the work of writers from a wide range of social and cultural contexts. The Centre encompasses
research-as-practice, action-research projects, study of historical and contemporary creative practice, the innovative application of information technology through e-science and the interrelationship between writing and social change. We promote critical,
pedagogical and theoretical accounts of praxis with special emphasis on cultural exchange between practitioners and with social and political institutions.
Proposals
Please e mail your proposal to
[log in to unmask] by Friday 3 October 2014. Proposals should include a 200 word abstract (for academic papers) or summary (for creative contributions) and a 100 word bio. Panel proposals should include the panel title, abstracts or summaries
and bios for all presenters. Presenters will be invited to speak for 20 minutes.