[ecrea] book events, book culture conference CFP

We welcome paper submissions to the following event, which is supported
by the Royal Society of Edinburgh and due to take place in March 2012

Book Cultures, Book Events Conference
University of Stirling, Scotland, 23-25 March 2012

Call for Papers

Conference Organisers: Professor Claire Squires, Stirling Centre for
International Publishing and Communication, University of Stirling and
Professor David Finkelstein, Queen Margaret University.

Plenary Speakers include: Dr Danielle Fuller, University of Birmingham

A significant development in the environment of literature and the book
at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries has been the growth of
literary festivals and book towns. As part of the literary marketing
mix, book festivals and towns offer publishers the opportunity to
promote their authors and sell their products. Such locations also
provide physical and sociological spaces in which readers encounter
writers and literature, and become book consumers. Book festivals and
towns have clear links to regional economies, and are heavily used in
the promotion of tourist destinations, as testified by the strategic
partnerships and sponsorship arrangements with a variety of agencies. As
part of this process, concepts of cultural identity are forged and
commodified, conjoining literature to cultural heritage, the creative
industries and political ideology. In the era of new media and digital
delivery, the opportunity to meet authors and fellow readers
face-to-face, to buy books and other merchandise, and to align a liking
for literature with travel and tourism, is being taken up by hundreds of
thousands of readers every year. Literary festivals and towns, while
heavily promoted by digital marketing activities, afford physical
meeting spaces for authors, books, readers and ideas.

To explore these events and environments, the Book Cultures, Book Events
conference will bring together academic and student researchers from
different disciplines with practitioners and stakeholders, to their
contemporary perspectives and historical precedents. Suggested topics
include, but are not limited to:

*	literature as live event
*	analyses of contemporary or historical book events, festivals,
conferences and environments (including bookshop spaces)
*	the role of live events in the digital age
*	author/reader interactions at live events
*	literary travel, tourism and heritage
*	literary commerce and merchandising
*	book events and other media/cultural forms
*	partnerships and sponsorship
*	constructions of cultural identity via literature events
*	literature in the context of cultural heritage, the creative
industries, and political ideology

Proposals for papers of 20 minutes are invited. Please send email
attachment abstracts of 300-400 words, plus a biography of 100-150
words, by 6 January 2012, to: (book.cultures /at/ stir.ac.uk).

This conference is supported by the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and as
such registration costs for the conference will be minimal.

The conference is part of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Research
Workshop Book Events: The Transnational Culture, Commerce and Social
Impact of Literary Festivals, organised in association with the Stirling
Centre for International Publishing and Communication at the University
of Stirling, Queen Margaret University, the University of Dundee, and
Bookfestival Scotland.

For any enquiries, please contact: (book.cultures /at/ stir.ac.uk).



David Finkelstein, PhD, FEA, FRSA
Research Professor of Media and Print Culture School of Arts, Social
Sciences and Management Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh Queen
Margaret University Drive Musselburgh, East Lothian, EH21 6UU
tel.: 0131-474-0000
fax: 0131-474-0001
email: (dfinkelstein /at/ qmu.ac.uk)

Web: www.qmu.ac.uk/mcpa
Scottish Charity No. SC002750


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