Friday 9 September, 2022
Manchester Metropolitan University @ The International Anthony Burgess Foundation
Call for papers
Is place central to your work, your creativity, or your understanding?
This symposium, organised by WomenTalkPlace and supported by the Centre for Place Writing at Manchester Metropolitan University, will provide a platform for conversations between those who find inspiration from their environment, whether that be the countryside, the city, or the places in between. The relationship with place might inspire acts of creativity, philosophical debate, or be a guide for day-to-day living. Sometimes this might engender a feeling of connection, but also less comfortable and more problematic responses.
This forum will be inclusive, inviting contributions from all who engage creatively with the concept of place, including the marginalised as well as those who find their position is challenged or changing. Both creative and critical responses are welcomed.
The organisers invite proposals for papers, workshops or other formats (including film/performance/audio) on topics including, but not exclusive to:
- belonging
- exclusion
- mapping
- power and place
- writing place
- walking/running/climbing/other ways of moving through landscape, in themselves and as methodologies
- the climate crisis
- ecology
- psychogeography
- attitudes to place as affected by shifting roles and identities
Submissions Please submit a short description of your proposed contribution (250-300 words), specifying its format (e.g. paper, presentation, video, audio), and including a short bio (max. 150 words) This should be sent to womentalkplace@gmail.com. The deadline is Friday 11 March.
Applicants will be notified by Friday 22 April.
The symposium will take place on Friday 9 September 2022.
WomenTalkPlace are Sarah Butler, Sarah Jasmon, Helen Mort and Anna Turner. We are women who are excited about place, and we all happen to be writers. We want to open a dialogue with others who are interested in place, whatever their gender or area of specialism. We want hear about creative engagements and take part in academic debate. We want to encourage provocations whilst nurturing a sense of community.
The Centre for Place Writing is located within the English Department at Manchester Metropolitan University. The Centre’s aim is to develop new research in the field of place writing and promote the study of the genre, alongside providing a platform to discuss and showcase new thinking and writing on place.
Women Talk Place 