Norwich Writers’ Centre, Dragon Hall, King Street, Norwich
2-3 March 2017 – free attendance (registration essential)
Keynote speakers
Ava Chalkiadaki Vice-Chair, Organisation of Culture, Sports and Youth, City of Athens; member of the Organising Committee, City of Athens World Book Capital 2018
Dave Ward Co-ordinator, The Windows Project, Liverpool – writing in the community since 1976
What is the relationship between literature and communities? This conference aims to take issue with a conception of literature as an individualistic arts practice (solo writer, solo reader), to offer a critical space for those projects and activities that have been engaging with literature, and to co-produce research questions which will inform further events and a planned edited book around the topic.
We wish to consider how literatures emerge from given communities and in turn contribute to their co-creation. Do differing contexts produce distinctive literatures? What is the role of the writer in these communities? Do roles alter at different scales, i.e. local/national/international? Is the act of creative writing itself of value to communities as well as the act of reading? How can the production of literature be thought a negotiation with community?
We take as our beginning the view that all individuals are inextricably interwoven into wider complex communities. How does writing from within and with alter the practice of the literary arts? Yet also is it really possible to even ‘write with’ a community and what shifts in thinking and doing are required to understand more clearly the activity of the writer in a community?
This event is funded by the Connected Communities programme, from the University of East Anglia. Although Connected Communities has engaged extensively with community arts practices arguably there has been less exploration of the literary arts in relation to communities.
Get involved
Papers, presentations, panels, readings, and other forms of communication of ideas are encouraged from all academic disciplines, interdisciplines and indisciplines, and from community writers and arts workers and their organisations. Places are limited, but attendance is free. Researchers, practitioners and community partners who have not previously been involved in the Connected Communities programme are also invited to contribute; we anticipate a small number of spaces here.
Subjects for the conference include but are not limited to:
- The (non)place of literature in Connected Communities
- Creative writing and / as community arts practice
- Spoken word and radio / media / online
- Literature festivals and community
- Creative writing courses and groups
- Reading groups
- Writing place / space / belonging
- Literature, community, and social justice
- Writing and exile/diaspora/transnational communities
- Digital narratives (storytelling, gaming, online collaborations like Storymash or Protagonize)
- Writers’ communities
- Small presses, publications, websites
- Regional literatures / literatures and devolution.
The conference seeks to share ideas and practices from researchers, creative writers and other community artists and workers. We also seek contributions from arts administrators, curators and producers, and funders interested in finding out more about state of the art practice and thinking in the field.
Deadline for contributions
Tuesday 17 January 2017. 200 words max. please about what you want to do. Also include names of presenters/partners (if more than one) as well as brief details about your Connected Communities project, where relevant.
Funding
The event is free. For Connected Communities participants, travel and accommodation (UK only) will be arranged and paid for. Some bursaries are available for contributing community partners, postgraduate students and Early Career Researchers.
Further information
Further information is available from Rachel Daniel, Connected Communities administrator, r.daniel@uea.ac.uk and from the programme website: http://connected-communities.org.
Conference committee
Eleanor Rees Creative Writing, Liverpool Hope University
George McKay AHRC Connected Communities Leadership Fellow, UEA
Ross Hair Lecturer in American Studies, UEA
Jonathan Morley Programme Director, Norwich Writers’ Centre
Simon Popple Senior Lecturer in Photography and Digital Culture, University of Leeds
Jos Smith Lecturer in Contemporary Literature, UEA
Rachel Daniel & Connected Communities administrators, UEA.
Jess Knights
