CALL FOR PAPERS
The University of Edinburgh supported by The Roberts Fund
and in collaboration with the Scottish Poetry Library
ConVersify: Poetry, Politics and Form   10-11th September 2011
[conversifyconference.blogspot.com]

This two day postgraduate led conference will bring together poets and
researchers to engage in a conversation about experimental, innovative
and alternative approaches to poetic form. While many poets
self-report that political objectives underlie their practice, in the
realm of, but not limited to, ideology critique, the assertion or
negation of identity and/or a confrontation with mainstream
publishing, charges of elitism, passivity and inaccessibility can be
levelled. Taking this point of tension as our catalyst, and adopting a
trans-historical perspective, we wish to consider what “experimental”
poetry is, and what it is for.

We are calling for twenty minute papers which: discuss poetry of any
period or genre which challenges or aims to challenge convention
through formal innovation and/or interaction with political, social
and cultural realities; explore the labels we use to denote
“experimental”, “avant-garde” or particular stylistic modes of verse;
question whether political objectives and/or antagonisms can be
articulated or furthered through radical approaches to composition and
language; consider how readers engage with experimental poetry.
Inseparable from these themes is the issue of what we perceive as ‘the
political’, what counts as a political act and whether the writer has
a responsibility to assert political agency; we are particularly
interested in papers in which these questions are at the forefront of
discussion.

Please send 250-300 word abstracts for 20 minute papers as a word
attachment to conversifyconference@gmail.com by 16th May 2011.
The conference will take place at 19 George Square, University of
Edinburgh. We will also be organising evening poetry readings in town
– please mention when you submit your abstract if you would be
interested in reading.
Organised by Lila Matsumoto, Greg Thomas and Samantha Walton.

Via Joseph Walton