Tenth Nordic Conference for English Studies
University of Bergen, Norway
Thursday May 24 to Saturday May 26, 2007

I just received this call for papers for a conference here in Bergen that may interest some of you – we were thinking of submitting a panel on electronic literature and so on. Or maybe blogs. Interested? Third Circular and Second Call for Papers

The Tenth Nordic Conference for English Studies will be hosted by the English Department of the University of Bergen, Norway, in May 2007. Details of the conference will be posted as they become available on the conference web site at http://www.kongress.no/95.
Scholars in all areas of English Studies are invited to submit proposals for papers or posters to be presented at the conference. Papers will be presented at thematically organised parallel sessions and at workshops on specific topics. Each presenter will be allocated 30 minutes, including time for questions and discussion. (We recommend that papers/presentations last 20 minutes, freeing the rest of the time for discussion.)
The following panel topics have been proposed, and will be included in the programme: îThe Captivity Narrative in British and American Literatures: Beginnings to the Present,î îAmerican Studies and its ëOutsidesí,î îPostcolonial Studies,î îContemporary Poetry in English,î îEnglish in Europe,î îGlobal Migrations: History, Fiction and Narrative,î îInterartial Connections,î îEnglish Historical Linguistics,î îChildren and young adultsí literature.î
There is room for many more panels and workshops, and the conference will be organised around the actual papers submitted. For those who prefer to give a visual rather than an oral presentation, there is the option of preparing a display in poster form. Posters will be displayed throughout the conference, and a specific time will be allocated for conference participants to speak to poster presenters.
There will also be plenary lectures with invited speakers on issues of general interest within English studies. Here are the speakers in question, with provisional lecture titles:
Professor Sylvia Adamson, University of Manchester, UK: ëLinguistics and Literary History, Literature and Linguistic Historyí
Professor Benita Parry, Warwick University, UK: ëA Third World Aesthetic?í
Professor Donald Pease, Dartmouth College, USA: ëThe Planetarization(s) of American Literatureí
Professor Robert Phillipson, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark: ëLingua Franca or Lingua Frankensteinia? English in European Integration and Globalisationí
Professor Peter Trudgill, Fribourg University, Switzerland, and University of East Anglia, UK: “Vernacular universals in dialects of English?”
Proposals – including information about your academic position and institution, as well as a title and an abstract of 75-100 words in length ñ should be sent to Charles I. Armstrong, email address Charles.Armstrong@eng.uib.no.
The organisers welcome proposals for workshop or panel themes from anyone who would like to chair a workshop/panel and is also willing to encourage and invite others to present papers there. If you want to suggest a new workshop or panel title, please contact Lise Opdahl at the following email address: Lise.Opdahl@eng.uib.no.

The deadline for firm proposals for papers and poster presentations is December 1st, 2006, but the organisers will be happy to receive preliminary suggestions before that date.

In addition to the academic programme, there will be a social programme at the conference, including opportunities to see something of Bergen and its beautiful surroundings. Bergen is Norwayís second-largest city, with an intimate city centre and a vibrant student life. The cityís most prestigious cultural event, the annual Bergen arts festival (Festspillene i Bergen), will be taking place at the time of the conference ñ and tickets for concerts, plays, etc., should be available if participants enquire a few months in advance. See this internet link: http://www.festspillene.no/

Bergen has its own airport: Flesland Lufthavn, with direct flights to and from cities like Oslo, Copenhagen and Amsterdam.

English Department, Det historisk-filosofiske fakultet, Postboks 7805, 5020 Bergen, Norway