CFP: Contemporary Women Writing Race: Textual Interventions and Intersections Symposium
Friday 10th September 2021, online (Zoom), time tbc
Contemporary women writers have long been at the forefront of diverse conversations regarding race, society, and culture. From the works of legendary greats, such as Maya Angelou, Maxine Hong Kingston, Amy Tan, and Nawal Ed Saadawi, to the vibrant writing of Octavia Butler, Bernardine Evaristo, and Jenny Zhang, to name just a few, contemporary women authors have elucidated the wide and varied experiences of race across time, genre, and forms. Such work also frequently attends, in nuanced ways, to the lived experience and dynamics of intersectionality.
Following the success of last year’s CWWA workshop ‘Literature Must Fall’ and associated projects (such as the funded ‘Women Writing Pakistan’ initiative), the CWWA wishes to continue the dialogue on the importance of literary and non-literary work devoted to race and racial (in)equality produced by contemporary women writers. How are contemporary women writers providing textual interventions in social and cultural discourses on race, inequality, and the dismantling of racist behaviours, practices, and institutions?
We invite the submission of abstracts for 15-minute papers on any aspect of contemporary women’s writing and race. Topics may include, but are by no means limited to:
- The representation of race, racial politics, and experience in works by contemporary women writers
- Contemporary women’s writing, race, form, and genre(s)
- Contemporary women’s writing and anti-racism
- Intersectionality, including, for example, race and gender, class, religion, disability, sexuality, aging, the body
- Contemporary women’s writing and political activism
- Contemporary women’s writing, race, and intertextuality
The submission of abstracts is open to all scholars and it is our hope that we can provide a particular showcase for postgraduate and early career scholars. The event will be free, and bookings will open via Eventbrite shortly.
Please email abstracts to Claire O’Callaghan and Shareena Hamzah-Osbourne at C.OCallaghan@lboro.ac.uk & zarina.hamzah@swansea.ac.uk by the end of Wednesday 30th June 2021.
Jackie Kay: An International Conference
Thursday 3rd June 2021, online.
The CWWA are thrilled to be supporting the first Jackie Kay international conference organised by Fiona Tolan (Liverpool John Moore University) and Tasha Alden (Aberystwyth University). The conference is also supported by the Research Institute for Literature and Cultural History at Liverpool John Moores University and Gylphi publishers. The conference is on Thursday 3rd June 2021 and will run online for free.
Further details and registration can be found at: https://ljmu.libcal.com/event/3735844
