The UFV English department is currently accepting proposals for its 2015 Literatures of the Fraser Valley conference. British Columbia has long been a beacon for storytellers’ imaginations, and while the lion’s share of critical attention to the literary culture of British Columbia seems often to rest on Vancouver, the Fraser Valley’s own literary community is as vibrant as ever. We are interested in taking stock of current and emerging trends in this literature, and are particularly interested in interrogating the multiple ways this part of the province is imagined and represented in fiction, poetry, drama, and oral narratives. This one day conference will be followed by an evening reading/performance with established and emerging writers working in and around the valley.
Literatures of the Fraser Valley conference at UFV: Thursday March 5, 2015
Papers for consideration might engage with any number of topics, including the following:
- the idea of “the West” in literature
- writing and reading beyond Vancouver
- the valley behind the city
- the Fraser Valley’s diverse communities
- Mennonite literature
- Aboriginal literatures and/or oral cultures
- publishing and material culture in BC
- questions of transnationality related to the West Coast
- eco-literature and eco-criticism
- tensions between regionalism and cosmopolitanism
- intersections between the literary and the political
- staging BC
- borders and boundaries
- writing the history/writing the politics of the valley
- children’s literature of the valley
Proposals should be approximately 250 words, clearly outlining the text(s) and argument to be presented in a paper of about 20 minutes.
Please send proposals, along with a brief 50 word bio to ceilidh.hart@ufv.ca.
Deadline for proposals: October 15, 2014.
For more information, contact Ceilidh Hart at ceilidh.hart@ufv.ca
10/15/2014