Writing for Liberty is a two-day conference hosted by the Centre for Transcultural Writing and Research at Lancaster University to be held in April 2015. This conference builds specifically on Writing for Liberty, a series of readings by established creative writers (Selma Dabbagh, Aminatta Forna, Gillian Slovo) held in 2013/14 which aimed to promote debate around fundamental issues of human liberty through the agency of creative and critical writings. In the wider context of the Centre’s work, this conference also responds to recent projects in Europe, Africa and Kurdistan and the establishment of a new authorship hub, Authors and the World, within the Centre.www.transculturalwriting.com

We are now requesting academic papers and new creative writings for reading and performance. The Writing for Liberty Conference will focus on the relationship between forms of creative writing and questions of personal, artistic, social, and political liberty. Contributions may refer to any period in history and to any social, political or cultural context, though our main emphasis will be on contemporary writing practice and critical/theoretical response.

Topics for proposals may include, but are not limited to:

– Writing and questions of textual authority
– Writing and political authority
– Writing and artistic/personal/political freedom
– Writing as resistance
– Writing as liberation
– Writing and censorship
– Writing and the nation state
– Writing beyond national contexts

The Centre for Transcultural Writing and Research

The Centre for Transcultural Writing and Research (CTWR) links writers, academics and Lancaster University’s postgraduate student community to extensive research activity in creative writing and its impact on society. Our aim is to create a transnational and interdisciplinary environment. We are committed to promoting creative writing across cultures and to studying the work of writers from a wide range of social and cultural contexts. The Centre encompasses research-as-practice, action-research projects, study of historical and contemporary creative practice, the innovative application of information technology through e-science and the interrelationship between writing and social change. We promote critical, pedagogical and theoretical accounts of praxis with special emphasis on cultural exchange between practitioners and with social and political institutions.

Proposals

Please e mail your proposal to writingforliberty@lancaster.ac.uk by Friday 3 October 2014. Proposals should include a 200 word abstract (for academic papers) or summary (for creative contributions) and a 100 word bio. Panel proposals should include the panel title, abstracts or summaries and bios for all presenters. Presenters will be invited to speak for 20 minutes.