Events

Deaf authors Judith Wright and Henry Lawson wrote that they became writers partly as a result of being deaf. Similarly, Les Murray said that autism was the main catalyst for his poetic creativity, and Alan Marshall said that being disabled led him to develop the observational abilities that he believed were essential to his writing. Such experiences are shared not only by other Australian disabled authors, but disabled authors from around the world.

This free, online symposium aims to highlight the myriad ways in which disability engenders creative writing in eight sessions across two days. With a focus on intersectionality, the presenters will explore the influence of impairment and disablement on writing techniques or topics.

This symposium will be captioned and Auslan-interpreted. If you have any questions about this symposium please email Dr Amanda Tink amanda.tink@unisa.edu.au

This symposium is supported by the Australian government through the ARC’s Discovery Projects funding scheme (project DP240103154). The views expressed herein are those of the authors and are not necessarily those of the Australian Government or the ARC.

To register for the symposium, click here.

To access the programme, click here.

Deaf authors Judith Wright and Henry Lawson wrote that they became writers partly as a result of being deaf. Similarly, Les Murray said that autism was the main catalyst for his poetic creativity, and Alan Marshall said that being disabled led him to develop the observational abilities that he believed were essential to his writing. Such experiences are shared not only by other Australian disabled authors, but disabled authors from around the world.

This free, online symposium aims to highlight the myriad ways in which disability engenders creative writing. We invite papers that explore the influence of impairment and disablement on writing techniques or topics. We are particularly, but by no means exclusively, interested in how these are entangled with other personal characteristics such as race, gender, age, and class.

Possible topics include:

• Analysis of a particular disabled author
• How impairment shapes creative writing
• How disabled authors influence each other’s writing
• Learning and unlearning writing conventions
• Translating individual experience for a diverse audience
• Stories told and stories concealed
• Crip style, genre, etc
• Disability politics and poetics

This two-day event will take place on Zoom. Each day will run from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM Australian Central standard time. Captioning and Auslan will be available for all sessions.

Each paper will be a maximum of 15 minutes. Papers will be grouped into sessions of two or three, with plenty of time for discussion. All presenters will be required to submit Powerpoint slides or a presentation outline a week before the symposium to facilitate access for all participants. After the symposium presenters will have the opportunity to submit full academic papers based on their presentation for an edited collection.

All are welcome to submit including postgraduate students, independent scholars, and scholars who reside outside Australia. Submissions from disabled scholars are particularly encouraged.

Prospective presenters should email a 250 word abstract and 100 word biography to Dr Amanda Tink by 6 June. If you are considering a topic but unsure if it matches the scope of this conference, please also email Amanda. Submitters will be notified of the outcome by 30 June.

This symposium is supported by the Australian government through the ARC’s Discovery Projects funding scheme (project DP240103154). The views expressed herein are those of the authors and are not necessarily those of the Australian Government or the ARC.

Presented by UniSA Creative at the University of South Australia and the Association for the Study of Australian Literature (ASAL).

This three-day event will take place on Zoom. It will begin with the ASAL Patron’s Lecture on the evening of 25 September 2024. The symposium will then continue between 10:00 AM and 4:00 PM Australian Central standard time on September 26 and 27. Captioning and Auslan will be available for all sessions.

From short-statured Rocca in Katharine Susannah Prichard’s Haxby’s Circus to autistic Don Tillman in Graeme Simsion’s Rosie series, Australian literature frequently relies on representations of disabled people for narrative intrigue. Yet, regardless of how nuanced such representations may be, they cannot substitute for the experiences of Australian disabled authors who, in contrast, are often marginalised or erased. Through poetry, fiction, and nonfiction, these authors continue to demonstrate the complex reality of impairment and of being disabled in Australia. 

This free, online symposium aims to highlight these complexities. For registration and programme details, please click here.