Newcastle University

CFP now closed

The Call For Papers is now closed. If you submitted an abstract, you should now have received a notification of outcome.

 

Call For Papers

Diana Wynne Jones was one of the most outstanding 20^th-century writers of British children’s fantasy. She is widely recognised among scholars, writers and fans of science fiction and fantasy as a truly ground-breaking writer who made a significant contribution to the genres in which she operated, and her death in 2011 was deeply mourned. This international conference will celebrate her life, and evaluate her contribution to children’s literature, fantasy and science fiction.

We are currently seeking papers on any aspect of Diana’s life and work, including but not limited to:

• Her contribution to changing ideas of genre, audience, and form in fantasy and science fiction.
• Her contribution to children’s literature, and her engagement with and empowerment of the child reader.
• Her  status as a female fantasy writer, and the ways in which she engaged with the gender discourse within fantasy and science fiction.
• Publishing history and the commercial and creative forces affecting experimental and boundary-breaking work.
• Translations of her books, and the international context and reception of her work.

In 2010, Diana donated her archive to Seven Stories, the National Centre for Children’s Books. The collection contains stories and other compositions written by Jones when she was a child; draft material relating to 49 published works by Jones, including novels and short stories; draft material relating to numerous unpublished works, including plays, novels and poetry; correspondence and personal papers, including professional correspondence; drafts of articles and talks by or about Jones; and copies of some of Jones' published works, including some foreign language editions. We are particularly interested in papers which make use of this material.

Fandom track

We hope that fans of Diana's work will feel free to join the conference. If you have an idea for a paper or panel which is not academic in focus, please contact the conference organisers to discuss it. We would love to include a fandom track which celebrated Diana's work in a more informal way.  

Submissions

Participants are invited to submit 100-250 word abstracts for 20 minute papers via our online contact form. If you are proposing an event for the fandom track, simply give a biref summary of your proposed paper or panel.

Deadline for abstracts:  28 March 2014 - now extended to 7 April 2014.

Notification of outcome: 28 April 2014

Abstracts should be submitted in doc, docx, or odt form via our online contact form. 

You can explore the contents of the Diana Wynne Jones Collection via the Seven Stories catalogue: http://collection.sevenstories.org.uk/home/. Contact collections@sevenstories.org.uk to arrange access.