'The Work of Life-Writing' Conference
Print versionKing’s College London, 26-28 May 2009
This major conference was hosted by the Centre for Life-Writing Research at King’s College London, in collaboration with the Department of English and Comparative Literature, the College of Arts and Sciences, and the Institute for the Arts and Humanities at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. It aimed to map the state of the field of Life-Writing, in practice and in theory, and across a range of genres and media; and investigated its personal, social and cultural functions.Speakers included: Bill Andrews, Paul John Eakin, Vesna Goldsworthy, Maureen Duffy, Craig Howes, Kathryn Hughes, Meg Jensen, Margaretta Jolly, Hermione Lee, Philippe Lejeune, Mark Miodownik, David Nokes, Ruth Richardson, Sidonie Smith, Angela Thirlwell, and Julia Watson.
The conference ran from 9.30 on Tuesday 26 May to 17.30 on Thursday 28 May, and comprised over seventy lectures, papers, and readings. Topics included: Life-Writing and Cultural Memory; Life-Writing and Film; Memory; Portraiture; the Body; Medical Lives; Life-Writing and the Future; Life-Writing and Work; Life-Writing as Cultural Capital; the Politics and Pragmatics of Life-Writing; Life-Writing in the family; Historicity; the Personal; Exhibiting Lives; Voices; and the Teaching of Life-Writing.
Selected papers from the conference will be published, either in a special journal issue or a volume of essays.
The conference ran from 9.30 on Tuesday 26 May to 17.30 on Thursday 28 May, and comprised over seventy lectures, papers, and readings. Topics included: Life-Writing and Cultural Memory; Life-Writing and Film; Memory; Portraiture; the Body; Medical Lives; Life-Writing and the Future; Life-Writing and Work; Life-Writing as Cultural Capital; the Politics and Pragmatics of Life-Writing; Life-Writing in the family; Historicity; the Personal; Exhibiting Lives; Voices; and the Teaching of Life-Writing.
Selected papers from the conference will be published, either in a special journal issue or a volume of essays.
Conference organisers
Clare Brant & Max Saunders
Co-Directors, Centre for Life-Writing Research, King’s College London Jane Danielewicz
Department of English & Comparative Literature, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
With thanks to the Department of English and Comparative Literature, the College of Arts and Sciences, and the Institute for the Arts and Humanities at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Co-Directors, Centre for Life-Writing Research, King’s College London Jane Danielewicz
Department of English & Comparative Literature, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
With thanks to the Department of English and Comparative Literature, the College of Arts and Sciences, and the Institute for the Arts and Humanities at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
