CFP

Call for Papers and PresentationsContinuities and Innovations: Popular Print Cultures – Past andPresent, Local and GlobalUniversity of AlbertaEdmonton, Alberta, Canada27-30 August 2008 Papers and presentations are invited for any aspect of the conferencetheme. Proposals should be 200 to 300 words in length and clearly statethe central theme or argument, the kind of popular print or relatedmedia to be considered, and its social and cultural location in timeand place.Please indicate any equipment requirements (data projector;conference computer; overhead projector; video or dvd player; audioplayer, etc). A brief resumé should accompany each proposal, statingthe proposer’s name, address, contact information, and relevantacademic, professional, or personal background and knowledge of form ofpopular print culture discussed.Send proposals and resumés by email as pasted-in documentsor attachments in an up-to-date format to: popprint@ualberta.caOr mail hard copies to: Popprint, Kirsten MacLeod,Department of English and Film Studies, University of Alberta,Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2E5. Questions to either address.Deadline for proposals is 30 May 2008. But space on theprogram is limited, and proposals will be considered on a first-come,first-accommodated basis. This conference and popular arts festival consider what most peopleread, here and elsewhere, now and in the past. Popular printcharacteristically includes both words and images, and is intertwinedwith music and performance. In these forms it has been and continues tobe one of the most powerful cultural forces in history, morphing intonew media and new technologies, from the phonograph record throughradio, film, and television to video games and the internet.Popular print culture is now a global phenomenon, withstriking similarities in what most people read, anywhere. Yet there arealso striking local differences, inflections, and variations in whatmost people read, here or elsewhere. “Continuities and Innovations”will bring together all those interested in popular printculture--readers and writers, publishers and fans, librarians andcollectors, teachers and students, and of course researchers in manyacademic disciplines.Proposals are invited from all of these groups, directlyaddressing the conference theme, or taking up any aspect of “PopularPrint Cultures, Past and Present, Local and Global.” Topics can includerelations between popular print and other media, between popular and“high” literatures, between words and images, between words and music,between past and present forms, and so on. Presentations may be fromwriters, readers, publishers, teachers, students, distributors,sellers, librarians, illustrators, opponents, promoters, adapters toother media, fans, collectors, et al. Papers and presentations can beon any relevant topic—reading popular print and creating it, writing itand illustrating it, publishing it and selling it, counteracting it ortransforming it, adapting it and influencing it, censoring it andliving it, and more. Participants may consider popular print andpolitics, religion, sexuality, class, ethnicity, “race,” nationality,or any other theme.Google “Edmonton Alberta” and “University of Alberta” forinformation on the venue. Program and other information, includingtravel and accommodation details, regularly updated, will be availableon the conference website: www.arts.ualberta.ca/popprint -- Gary Kelly FRSCUniversity ProfessorDepartment of English and Film StudiesUniversity of AlbertaEdmonton, ABT6G 2E5Canada(780) 492-0561gkelly@ualberta.ca