20th AAWP Conference, ‘Writing The Ghost Train’: Call For Papers

Abstracts are sought for the 20th annual AAWP Conference – Writing the Ghost Train: Rewriting, Remaking, Rediscovering. Swinburne University of Technology will host the conference from Sunday 29 November to Tuesday 1 December, 2015.

The focus of the conference will be the question of rewriting, interpreting and adapting texts.

Papers are invited in three streams: 1) a refereed scholarly stream; 2) a refereed creative stream; 3) a  general non-refereed stream for creative and scholarly texts. Presentations will be twenty minutes each, followed by a ten minutes discussion to allow for the exchange of ideas. Some presentations will be shorter, or longer, especially if they are part of an installation or interactive panel.

Papers and creative presentations are encouraged to explore, but are not limited to, the following four thematic streams, with variants of refereed and non-refereed academic papers and creative works, including installations and interactive panels.

  1. ‘Rewriting the historical event’ will address the issue of interpreting or re-interpreting the past through the filters of memory, ideology and ethics.
  2. ‘Recovering narratives, re-crafting texts’ will focus on reading drafts and archives against those rewritings that are corrective in nature and those that pay homage to the source, opening a space for modes of editing, teaching and publishing. This stream will also pay attention to the art of literary translation.
  3. ‘Rescripting the text, visual encounters in the text’ will bring together an original literary text with adaptations, transpositions or variations.
  4. ‘Refashioning the self’ will explore the effects of rewriting texts or remaking images in the experiences of the subject in the text as, for example, through the processes of self-editing, myth-making, and canon-formation.

In addition to this mix of standard academic, pedagogical and creative possibilities, there will be a series of panels and workshops. If you are interested in convening one of these events, or have other suggestions, you are most welcome to get in touch.

Conference information and updates

Conference registration opens 10 April 2015

Abstracts due 15 May 2015, and should be submitted to Dominique Hecq at dhecq@swin.edu.au

Full papers and creative compositions due by 30 July 2015

Final revised papers for inclusion in the refereed stream by 10 December 2015

For more information, see the Call for Papers.