BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 METHOD:PUBLISH PRODID:-//Telerik Inc.//Sitefinity CMS 13.2//EN BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:GMT Standard Time BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20231002T020000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYDAY=-1SU;BYHOUR=2;BYMINUTE=0;BYMONTH=10 TZNAME:GMT Standard Time TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20230301T010000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYDAY=-1SU;BYHOUR=1;BYMINUTE=0;BYMONTH=3 TZNAME:GMT Daylight Time TZOFFSETFROM:+0000 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT DESCRIPTION:Oxford\, 20-21 March 2020 | The Oxford Research Centre in the H umanities (TORCH)\, Radcliffe Humanities\, Woodstock Road\, Oxford\nWhen s he was awarded the 2018 PEN Pinter Prize\, the Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie made a forceful statement about the writer&rsquo\;s responsi bility to step outside the artistic medium and engage in political activis m: &ldquo\;Art can illuminate politics. Art can humanize politics. Art can shine the light towards truth. But sometimes that is not enough. Sometime s politics must be engaged with as politics&rdquo\; (qtd in The Guardian\, 9 October 2018). Writers and writers&rsquo\; organisations indeed have a long history of using their public standing and cultural capital to promot e causes that transcend the literary sphere\, from abolition and gender eq uality to free expression\, anti-war agitation\, and environmental issues. This two-day conference explores the intersections of authorship\, politi cs\, activism\, and literary celebrity across historical periods\, literat ures\, and media. It examines the forms and impact of authorial field migr ations between literature and politics and the ways in which they are situ ated within\, and shaped by\, structural frameworks that include academic institutions\, prize-giving bodies\, publishing industries\, and literary celebrity culture.\nAuthors have at all times been fiercely outspoken camp aigners for a wide range of socio-political causes. At the same time\, deb ates have long revolved around literature as a form of political intervent ion in its own right\, thus undermining the seemingly clear-cut distinctio n between politics and poetics. Refugee Tales\, an outreach project launch ed by the Gatwick Detainees Welfare Group\, is a case in point: while taki ng advantage of the reputational capital of high-profile literary authors such as Ali Smith\, Jackie Kay\, and Monica Ali in the attempt to communic ate migrant experience\, it demonstrates how acts of collaborative story-t elling themselves can be appropriated as powerful tools of political activ ism. This conference hopes to foster such debates and address a wide range of questions: What are the strategies employed by writers in the construc tion and performance of their public personae as political office-holders\ , activists\, and cultural critics? How do they negotiate the tension betw een ethics and aesthetics in their public interventions\, the potential co nflict between authorial and activist selves? How have writers&rsquo\; lit erary/political border-crossings been perceived by their audiences and to what extent have they affected their (posthumous) reputations? What are th e risks faced by the politically engaged and outspoken writer?\nInterrogat ing the ideological dimension of literary celebrity and highlighting the f ault-lines between public and private authorial selves\, &lsquo\;pure&rsqu o\; art\, political commitment\, and marketplace imperatives\, this confer ence joins current debates on authorship and literary value. It brings tog ether writers\, academics\, literary activists\, and industry stakeholders to explore the wider implications of authors&rsquo\; political responsibi lities and cultural authority in today&rsquo\;s heavily commodified litera ry marketplace and age of celebrity activism.\nTopics may include\, but ar e not limited to:\n\n Authors as political office-holders / activists / public intellectuals: forms\, manifestations\, agendas\, challenges of\, and responses to\, literary/political &lsquo\;double acts&rsquo\; across h istorical periods\, literatures\, and cultural contexts\n  \;\n Literary celebrity and identity politics: how are the intersections of lit erary celebrity and politics inflected by categories such as gender\, clas s\, and ethnicity? To what extent do they map onto different national and cultural spaces?\n  \;\n Writers&rsquo\; organisations\, cultura l institutions\, and their political agendas: how do writers&rsquo\; organ isations capitalise on the celebrity status of particular writers and what are the potential pitfalls of this practice? What is the relationship bet ween individual and collective agency?\n  \;\n The politics of m arket activism: what is the role of industry stakeholders (e.g. publishers \, agents\, translators\, literary festivals\, etc.) in enabling or inhibi ting authorial migrations between literature and politics?\n  \;\n Literary prizes and politics: literary prizes as cultural consecrating agencies\; literary award ceremonies as platforms for political interventi on\; (celebrity) prize judges as gatekeepers\; the impact of literary awar ds on the cultural capital of winning and shortlisted authors\n  \; \n Authors&rsquo\; political interventions and the media: the impact of transformations in media cultures\, industries\, and technologies (e.g. d igital media) on the articulation and dissemination of critical stances an d ideas within the public sphere\n  \;\n Literary celebrity\, po litics\, and life-writing: How is the interplay of literary celebrity and politics negotiated and articulated across different life-writing genres? In which ways does the genre (e.g. memoirs\, lectures\, interviews\, broad casts\, social media posts) shape these interrelations and the constructio n of authorial personae?\n  \;\n Authorship and political respon sibility: What is the author&rsquo\;s political responsibility and cultura l authority in today&rsquo\;s celebrity-driven media society? Is there a n eed for writers to step outside the literary medium? How do they reconcile their activities with a view of literature as political intervention in i ts own right?\n\n\nKeynote contributions:\n- Benjamin Zephaniah (performan ce poet\, activist\, Professor of Poetry and Creative Writing\, Brunel Uni versity London)\n- Antjie Krog (writer and scholar activist\, \;TORCH International Fellow)\n- PEN roundtable discussion with Jennifer Clement ( PEN International President)\, Carles Torner (PEN International Executive Director)\, Margie Orford (former South African PEN President)\, Rachel Po tter (University of East Anglia)\, Peter McDonald (University of Oxford)\n \nSelected contributions will be considered for inclusion in a peer-review ed collection or special journal issue.\nConference fee: £\;30 / &pou nd\;10 for undergraduate and graduate students\nThis conference is convene d by Dr. Sandra Mayer \;(University of Vienna / Oxford Centre for Life -Writing) and \;Dr. Ruth Scobie \;(English)\, and is hosted and su pported by The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities (TORCH) and the Au strian Science Fund (FWF) in collaboration with the Oxford Centre for Life -Writing (OCLW).\nImage: Hawthorne Literary Mural\, Portland\, Oregon\, by Jane Brewster\n\nPlease send your proposal (no more than 250 words) for 2 0-minute papers along with a short biographical note to \;sandra.mayer @univie.ac.at by 29 November 2019\; applicants will be notified by 20 Dece mber 2019. DTEND:20191129T235900Z DTSTAMP:20240329T132144Z DTSTART:20191129T210000Z LOCATION: SEQUENCE:0 SUMMARY:[Conference CFP] Art and Action: Literary Authorship\, Politics\, a nd Celebrity Culture UID:RFCALITEM638473153041036645 X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:
Oxford\, 20-21 March 2020 | The Oxf ord Research Centre in the Humanities (TORCH)\, Radcliffe Humanities\, Woo dstock Road\, Oxford
\nWhen she was awarded the 2018 PEN Pi nter Prize\, the Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie made a forceful statement about the writer&rsquo\;s responsibility to step outside the art istic medium and engage in political activism: &ldquo\;Art can illuminate politics. Art can humanize politics. Art can shine the light towards truth . But sometimes that is not enough. Sometimes politics must be engaged wit h as politics&rdquo\; (qtd in The Guardian\, 9 October 2018). Writers and writers&rsquo\; organisations indeed have a long history of using their pu blic standing and cultural capital to promote causes that transcend the li terary sphere\, from abolition and gender equality to free expression\, an ti-war agitation\, and environmental issues. This two-day conference explo res the intersections of authorship\, politics\, activism\, and literary c elebrity across historical periods\, literatures\, and media. It examines the forms and impact of authorial field migrations between literature and politics and the ways in which they are situated within\, and shaped by\, structural frameworks that include academic institutions\, prize-giving bo dies\, publishing industries\, and literary celebrity culture.
\nAut hors have at all times been fiercely outspoken campaigners for a wide rang e of socio-political causes. At the same time\, debates have long revolved around literature as a form of political intervention in its own right\, thus undermining the seemingly clear-cut distinction between politics and poetics. Refugee Tales\, an outreach project launched by the Gatwick Detai nees Welfare Group\, is a case in point: while taking advantage of the rep utational capital of high-profile literary authors such as Ali Smith\, Jac kie Kay\, and Monica Ali in the attempt to communicate migrant experience\ , it demonstrates how acts of collaborative story-telling themselves can b e appropriated as powerful tools of political activism. This conference ho pes to foster such debates and address a wide range of questions: What are the strategies employed by writers in the construction and performance of their public personae as political office-holders\, activists\, and cultu ral critics? How do they negotiate the tension between ethics and aestheti cs in their public interventions\, the potential conflict between authoria l and activist selves? How have writers&rsquo\; literary/political border- crossings been perceived by their audiences and to what extent have they a ffected their (posthumous) reputations? What are the risks faced by the po litically engaged and outspoken writer?
\nInterrogating the ideologi cal dimension of literary celebrity and highlighting the fault-lines betwe en public and private authorial selves\, &lsquo\;pure&rsquo\; art\, politi cal commitment\, and marketplace imperatives\, this conference joins curre nt debates on authorship and literary value. It brings together writers\, academics\, literary activists\, and industry stakeholders to explore the wider implications of authors&rsquo\; political responsibilities and cultu ral authority in today&rsquo\;s heavily commodified literary marketplace a nd age of celebrity activism.
\nTopics may include\, but are not lim ited to:
\nKe ynote contributions:
\n- Benjamin Zephaniah (performance poet\, acti vist\, Professor of Poetry and Creative Writing\, Brunel University London )
\n- Antjie Krog (writer and scholar activist\, \;TORCH International Fellow)
\n- PEN roundtable discussion with Jennifer Clement (PEN International President)\, Carles Torner (PEN I nternational Executive Director)\, Margie Orford (former South African PEN President)\, Rachel Potter (University of East Anglia)\, Peter McDonald ( University of Oxford)
\nSelected contributions will be consi dered for inclusion in a peer-reviewed collection or special journal issue .
\nConference fee: £\;30 / £\;10 for undergraduate and gr aduate students
\nThis conference is convened by Dr. Sandra Mayer \;(University of V ienna / Oxford Centre for Life-Writing) and \;Dr. Ruth Scobie \; (English)\, and is hosted and supported by The Oxford Research Centre in t he Humanities (TORCH) and the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) in collaboration with the Oxford Centre for Life-Writing (OCLW).
\nImage: H awthorne Literary Mural\, Portland\, Oregon\, by Jane Brewster
\n< hr />\nPlease send your proposal (no more than 250 words) for 2 0-minute papers along with a short biographical note to \;sandra.mayer@univie.ac.at a> by 29 November 2019\; applicants will be notified by 20 December 2019.< /strong>
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