Wales and the World:
Re-Framing the Literature of Wales in an International Context
The Twenty-Eighth Annual Conference of the Association for Welsh Writing in English
Friday 1st April – Sunday 3rd April 2016
Gregynog Hall, Newtown
Call for Papers
Wales has a distinctive national culture. The 2011 Census, however, indicated that the Welsh, like other British nationals, were becoming more culturally diverse. This is not surprising: the effects of the World imposing itself on Wales – industrialisation in the nineteenth century, for example – are continuous and impact profoundly on its literature.
Simultaneously, the Welsh have reached outwards beyond the confines of their homeland: as explorers and travellers, in Africa and South America for instance. Wales, too, ‘sells’ itself through ‘exported’ literature and the arts: the Dylan Thomas centenary celebrations in 2015 provided a timely reminder of a national literature that is inter-national, not only within the U.K. but further afield in Europe and across the globe.
The conference invites contributions on any topic relating to the literature of Wales in an international context. Contributions are encouraged from across disciplines, historical periods, and methodological approaches.
Topics may include, but are not limited to, the following:
• Travel Writing/Literary Tourism
• Patagonia
• Selling Wales abroad
• ‘Four Nations’ comparative studies
• The connection between place and politics
• Myths and Legends
• The Welsh as colonisers or empire builders
• Post-Colonial Wales
• Migrancy
• Concepts of ‘Nation’ and ‘Native’
• Welsh writers who choose to set their texts outside of Wales
• Welsh writing in a European context
Abstracts of 300 words for twenty-minute papers (accompanied by a 250 word biographical note) should be submitted to awwe16@awwe.org by Friday 8 January 2016. Proposals for panels of three twenty-minute papers are also welcomed. Applicants will be informed by 31 January 2016.
Conference Organisers
Emma Schofield (Cardiff University) and Steve Hendon (Cardiff University)
Please click here to download a PDF copy of the CFP. For more information, please visit the conference website. To contact the conference organisers with any queries, please email awwe16@awwe.org
To keep up-to-date with all conference-related discussions, search for the conference hashtag #awwe16 on Twitter.
