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Call for Papers

Sixteenth International Conference on the Literature of Region and Nation.

Farewell rivers, farewell springs …… Loss and Exile in the Literature of Region and Nation

University of A Coruña, A Coruña, Galicia, Spain.

June 15 -18, 2016.

The Region, Nation, and Literature Association (RNLA)
The RNLA was founded in 1986. In August of that year the first of a series of biannual international conferences exploring all aspects of nation and region in literatures written in English was held in Aberdeen, Scotland. Since then, as the international network has grown, cities around the world have hosted the conferences: Nottingham, England (1988), Luxembourg (1990), Swansea, Wales (1992), Bratislava, Slovakia (1994), Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada (1996), Germersheim, Germany (1998), Östersund, Sweden (2000), Durban, South Africa (2002), Manchester, England (2004), Manhattan, Kansas, USA (2006), and Aberdeen, Scotland (2008). The 2010 and 2012 conferences were held at Shiga University of Medical Science, Japan, and Pécs University in Hungary, while the last edition returned to the USA and was held at Plymouth, Mass.
The central theme of the Sixteenth Conference in the series, taking a quotation from Galician poet Rosalia de Castro “Adios rios, adios fuentes …” will be Loss and Exile in the Literature of Region and Nation. Papers are invited which deal with the general themes of Loss (on personal, social, national and regional levels) and Exile (emigration, refugee status, the break-up of social structures and the way these issues are reflected in literary works.
The RNLA invites papers on many areas including but not limited to the following topics:

Death, loss and grief
Bidding farewell, saying goodbye
Political exiles and refugees.
Economic exiles.
The politics of loss
Saudade/morriña – homesickness and memories of a lost home.
Gender and loss
Religion and loss
Memory and loss
Post-colonial loss
In keeping with the inclusive spirit of the Association, papers on other themes related to the Literature of Region and Nation will also be considered. The Conference will also include a lively social programme including a visit to Santiago de Compostela.
A Conference Website will be created shortly.
Please send paper proposals and 250 -word abstract with short biographical details to the Conference Organizer, David Clark at [log in to unmask] by December 15th 2015.

Dr David M. Clark
Director
Departamento de Filoloxía Inglesa
Facultade de Filoloxía
Campus da Zapateira
Universidade da Coruña
15071
A Coruña