[Commlist] The 4th Vampire Academic Conference: cfp

*The 4^th Vampire Academic Conference **
*Lauderdale House, Highgate Village, London
10^th -12^th July 2019

**

*‘Hammer, Highgate And The Vampyre’*

**

*CALL FOR PAPERS*

**

*MAIN THEMES:*

*The Undeath of Hammer Films *

*The Tall Tale of the Highgate Vampire*

*Two Centuries of Polidori’s /The Vampyre/*

**

*KEYNOTE PRESENTATIONS:*

**

*Kim Newman*

Kim Newman is a novelist, critic and broadcaster. His fiction includes 
the bestselling /Anno Dracula/ series, while his non-fiction includes 
/Nightmare Movies/ and /Horror: 100 Best Books/. He is a contributing 
editor to The Guardian, Sight & Sound and Empire.

*Nick Groom*

Nick Groom, known as the “Prof of Goth,” is professor of English at 
Exeter University, UK. His latest work is /The Vampire – A New History/, 
an authoritative study of the iconic creature two hundred years after it 
first appeared on the literary scene with John Polidori’s publication of 
/The Vampyre./His previous titles include /The Gothic: A Very Short 
Introduction/.

**

The University of South Wales, in association with the IVFAF, calls for 
papers by scholars interested in presenting their researched essays on 
vampire literature, film, folklore, theatre, games, graphic novels, 
lifestyle, fashion, music and wider art in the fourth annual Vampire 
Academic Conference (VAC) that runs alongside the festival in London.

Themes for this year’s Conference include the Celluloid Vampire, with a 
non-exclusive focus on the undeath of Hammer Films and the enduring 
legacy of their iconic vampire films; the Fake News Vampire, examining 
the consequences when fiction and folklore are presented factually, such 
as the tall tale of the Highgate Vampire and the moral panic and media 
sensationalism that grew around it fifty years ago; and a celebration of 
Polidori’s /The Vampyre: A Tale/ two centuries on and its influence on 
the notion of the vampire as a romantic monster.

*However, the VAC is not limited to these themes. The two overriding 
criteria for papers delivered at the conference are:*

·*they must be about Vampires*

·*they must be interesting*

This major interdisciplinary international conference aims to examine 
and expand debates around vampires in all their many aspects. We 
therefore invite researchers from a range of academic backgrounds to 
re/consider vampires as a phenomenon that reaches across multiple sites 
of production and consumption, from literature and film to theatre and 
games to music and fashion and beyond.What accounts for this Gothic 
character's undying popular appeal, even in today's postmodern, digital, 
commercialized world?  How does vampirism circulate within and comment 
upon mass culture?

We invite papers in genre theory & history, popular fiction, media 
culture, television theory, adaptation, journalism, comic studies, the 
transformative arts and other areas of film, literary and cultural 
studies in order to explore and expand the significance of the vampire 
as a figure of fascination across popular culturein shifting historic 
and social contexts.

We welcome proposals for conference papers of 20 minutes but also for 
pre-formed panels (of 3x20-minute papers), roundtable discussions, or 
formats that allow for the presentation of praxis (installations, 
lecture performances, for instance). We also want to support 
undergraduate scholarship: any current UG students interested in 
attending the VAC would be eligible for special, 10-15 minute 
presentation panels to facilitate their participation in an 
international conference at the undergraduate level.

*Please send a 300-500-word abstract, along with a short biography and 
indication of the format of your proposed presentation to: 
(craig /at/ ivfaf.com) by Friday 31st May 2019.*If submitting a full panel 
proposal, the moderator should send a 50-word summary statement 
outlining the panel's title and central topic, along with all three 
proposals. Accepted submitters must confirm their commitment to attend 
and present a finished written paper in a talk lasting approximately 20 
minutes at the conference at Lauderdale House in Highgate Village, 
London. It must be their own original work.

*Presenters must register by purchasing an Delegate ticket. For more 
information on conference registration and location, visit 
**www.ivfaf.com <http://www.ivfaf.com>*

The *VAC* runs in tandem with the *Vampire Creative Congress*, which 
focuses on the creative industries and featuring talks about 
*filmmaking, writing, games* etc. The wider festival includes literature 
and film strands and includes guest talks from *Hammer film stars *and 
the screening of the best Hammer vampire film (as voted for by the 
public), *Mark Kermode* presenting his favourite vampire film at the 
beautiful *Phoenix Cinema* and a walk detailing the genesis of *Bram 
Stoker’s Dracula* by following in the footsteps of the author himself. 
There’s also a programme of *theatre performances* and *parties*, 
including the spectacular *VampFire Ball*. For more details, go to 
www.ivfaf.com <http://www.ivfaf.com>


Abstracts will be moderated by the following panel:
+ Mike Arnzen, Ph.D, Seton Hill University

+ Dr Emma McEvoy, University of Westminster

+ Dr Stacey Abbott, Roehampton University

+ Prof Nicole Peeler, Seton Hill University


Potential points of entry:

+ the transgression of narrative boundaries in Newman’s /Anno Dracula/ 
and other metafictional vampire texts

+ the impact on popular culture or non‐gothic genres of Polidori’s /The 
Vampyre, Dracula, Varney, Carmilla/ and other classic vampire texts

+ From Real Life and Real Dead to Undead and Real Scary: blurring 
vampire fiction and fact in Transylvania, Highgate and beyond

+ remakes and remixes of Polidori’s /The Vampyre/, Stoker's /Dracula/ or 
other conventional vampire texts

+ Blood & Lust: Hammer’s vampires and their impact on the modern vampire

+ Women and the Vamp

+ Messy Eaters – gore and violence in vampire stories

+ vampire fiction as subgenre (comedies, romances, YA literature, 
graphic novels, games, theatre)

+ the vampire’s role in genre evolution

+ the vampire as metaphor

+ vampires as signs of cultural change

+ the popular vampire in the literary mainstream

+ the evolution of sex and religion in vampire literature

+ the influence of cinema on literary vampires (and vice‐versa)

+ vampiric tropes in social networking, internet memes and new media culture

+ popular vampire fiction/film in the non‐western world

+ pedagogical applications of popular vampire texts

+ gender and the vampire and/or the vampire hunter

+ vampires and the depiction of alternative sexualities

+ other cultural studies applications of the vampire icon

This is an indicative list only and papers on any vampiric theme from 
any academic or practice background would be welcomed.

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