10 Apr 2019 Independent Publishing Conference
Call for Papers: Sites of publishing: 2019 Independent Publishing Conference
Thursday 21 November to Saturday 23 November at the Wheeler Centre, Melbourne.
Independent Publishing Conference 2019
Industry Research Day 21 November 2019
Deadline for abstracts: Friday 28 June 2019
Scholarly engagement with the contemporary publishing industry has long grappled with the systems, regulations and institutions that shape the production and reception of books.
Place, space and publishing are intrinsically interlinked. Paradigms such as ‘imagined communities’ (Andersen) and the ‘world republic of letters’ (Casanova) have played major roles in shaping contemporary research into publishing. Bourdieu’s literary field—another key influence—uses spatial relation as a conceptual organiser for relations of cultural power. And despite the supposedly stateless, disembodied nature of digital interactions with culture, national boundaries persist as both pragmatic jurisdictional demarcations of the industry, and as intellectual organisers for scholarly studies, in the instance of collections such as A History of the Book in America, The Cambridge History of the Book in Britain, and The Edinburgh History of the Book in Scotland.
We seek papers that engage with the sites of publishing: that identify the places where publishing activities occur and the role of these places on practice. In what ways do the sites of publishing, and publishing’s myriad associated activities, influence the creation, discussion and celebration of literary texts? Is the dual temporality of local and global that defines post-digital publishing practice changing the way that we, as researchers and practitioners, understand the traditional sites of publishing?
Although our preference is for papers that focus on independent publishing, presentations on all aspects of publishing are welcome. We are also interested in papers from related disciplines, such as literary studies, creative writing, and media and communication studies. Graduate students and early-career researchers are encouraged to submit. We also strongly encourage papers that engage playfully or creatively with the conference theme.
Possible topics might include:
• Localised production in a globalised context
• The role of place in the editing and publishing of translated texts
• Digital spaces and the cultivation of book culture
• The relationship between space and power at a writers festival
• The sites of national and international book business
• International regulations in national contexts
• Publishing in remote locations
The 2019 Independent Publishing Conference will run from Thursday 21 November to Saturday 23 November at the Wheeler Centre, Melbourne. Academic panels will be held on Thursday 21 November.
We invite proposals by Friday 28 June 2019. Proposals should contain an abstract of 200–300 words. Please include your paper title, institutional affiliation, bio-note, contact details, and any social media handles in the abstract.
Conveners: Dr Alexandra Dane and Dr Millicent Weber
Please contact Dr Alexandra Dane ([email protected]) with any enquiries.