Conference

The Stirling Centre for International Publishing and Communication, in collaboration with Queen Margaret University (Edinburgh), the University of Dundee, and Bookfestival Scotland held the conference ‘Book Cultures, Book Events’ at the University of Stirling on Friday 23 and Saturday 24 March 2012. Plenary speakers includes: Dr Danielle Fuller (University of Birmingham), Peggy Hughes (Edinburgh City of Literature), Paula Morris (University of Stirling) and Miha Kovac (University of Ljubljana). Downloads Conference schedule: Schedule with speakers 18 March 2012 Full conference pack with abstracts: Abstracts booklet – 21 March FINAL Original Call for Papers: 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 share 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