As always, we invite submissions to AHR on any aspect of contemporary humanities research, especially those informed by contemporary theoretical perspectives, and we are especially committed to working with postgraduate students and early career researchers. Please send a 250-word abstract or proposal in the first instance to ahr@anu.edu.au.

Happy reading!
Russell Smith and Monique Rooney

The School of English, Media Studies and Art History has long-established expertise in research and scholarship in Australian literary studies and remains one of Australia’s leading institutions for research in the field. Potential supervisors include Professor David Carter, Professor Carole Ferrier, and Professor Gillian Whitlock. For staff profiles see http://www.emsah.uq.edu.au/academic-staff.

The amount of the scholarship will be between $6000 and the current APA rate ($24,653) with a possible extension after the first year. One or more scholarships may be awarded each year, on the recommendation of the Head of the School of English, Media Studies and Art History.  For more information and applications forms visit http://www.emsah.uq.edu.au/index.html?page=168101

The deadline for applications for 2013 is 30 June 2013.

In 2014, the MLA will release the first title on Australian and New Zealand literatures in its Options for Teaching series. This will be a substantial volume of 40 new essays, sourced from scholars around the world, on historical contexts, key authors, contemporary critical issues and pedagogical case studies.

Published by the pre-eminent North American professional association for literary studies, with 30,000 members in 100 countries, it seeks to inform and enrich the teaching of Australian and New Zealand writing in many contexts. This seminar presents an informal introduction to the aims of the volume from the co-editors, with short presentations from contributors about individual essays and approaches, drawing on case studies.

The afternoon presents an opportunity to explore contemporary issues for the study of Australian and New Zealand literatures in international frames, to investigate key debates in literary pedagogy, and to think about how best to engage a new, worldwide generation of readers in literature from Australasia.

With the volume still in development, the aim is to allow plenty of time for audience discussion and engagement, and to encourage feedback from potential users. This is your chance to contribute to the debate!

For details of other volumes in the MLA Options for Teaching series please go to http://www.mla.org/store/CID44.

BlackWords is the most comprehensive record of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander publications available. It covers all forms of creative writing, film, television, criticism and scholarship, both by and about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander writers and literary cultures.

BlackWords can be accessed at http://austlit.edu.au/specialistDatasets/BlackWords.

A PDF flyer is available here.

The wrestle with material isn’t about subduing; it is about making a third thing that didn’t exist before. The raw material was there, and you were there, but the relationship that happens between maker and material allows the finished piece to be what it is. [iii]

If capturing is a creative act, is it possible to retain the authenticity of the source material?

The digital era provides a new set of challenges to those engaged in acts of capturing. Digital technologies provide access to infinite artifacts: Winterson’s “raw materials”. How do we go about selecting and preserving them for posterity? For public historians—such as librarians and archivists—as Marcus Foth and Helen Klaebe observe, this act is particularly fraught: “[they face] the challenge to accurately capture and chronicle public history, which is increasingly represented through historical artifacts that stem from digital technology and vernacular forms of creative expression.” [iv] Similarly, the appearance of citizen journalists, ordinary web-users engaged in journalistic activities, has challenged traditional news-making practice and problematised notions of ‘authoritative’ news makers. [v]

The Capture edition of LiNQ (Literature in North Queensland) invites explorations of the relationships between maker and material, particularly in the face of the proliferation of digital artifacts available. Writers, artists and historians may struggle with the task of capturing an event, experience, argument or theme, a process that requires the navigation and molding of raw materials in a way that is recognisable to others, using the sometimes inadequate tools of their chosen form.

We call for academic articles and creative submissions (fiction, creative nonfiction, essays, and poems) that document and question the acts of capturing, selection, preservation and representation:

- What are the ethical implications of attempting to capture a life or event?
- Is there a point where capture becomes entrapment? Are there materials that are not meant to be caught and pinned down?
- How can events, lives, identities, topics or themes be captured in exhibitions, histories, short fiction, novels, digital media or nonfiction representations?
- Are some forms more suited to capturing certain experiences than others? Are there limitations of the form and how can they be negotiated?
- How can you capture an audience?
- Why do we engage in acts of capturing? What is the lure?
- What is the psychological impact of captivity?
- How does captivity relate to questions of race, the body and the natural world?

Submissions should be no longer than 6000 words. Include a brief abstract of the article or creative submission (no more than 75 words) and a 50-word biographical note. Book reviews of no longer than 1000 words are also welcome.

Follow MLA citation style and format. All contributions should be submitted as a Mircosoft Word file, double-spaced 12pt font. All images used must be with permission only.

Suitable papers will be double-blind peer reviewed.

Hard-copy submissions are not accepted and will not be returned. Send e-mail submissions to Ariella Van Luyn: ariella.vanluyn@jcu.edu.au

Submissions close 31 July 2013 for our December 2013 issue.

[i] Cooper, Pamela. The Fiction of John Fowles: Creativity, Power, Femininity. Ottowa: University of Ottawa Press, 1991. [ii] Fowles, John. The Collector. Random House, 2004. [iii] Winterson, Jeanette. “Life is What You Make In It.” The Independent. 17 Jun. 2010. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/life-is-what–you-make-in-it-2002401.html [iv] Klaebe, Helen and Foth, Marcus. “Capturing Community Memory with Oral History and New Media: The Sharing Stories Project.” In Proceedings 3rd International Conference of the Community Informatics Research Network (CIRN), Prato, Italy. 2006. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/4751/ [v] Goode, Luke. “Social News, Citizen Journalism and Democracy.” New Media Society. 11.8 (2009): 1287-1305. http://nms.sagepub.com/content/11/8/1287.full.pdf+html

The draft programme for ASAL’s ‘Country’ conference is now available here.

The best way to use the registration form here is to either:

1)      Fill it in on the screen (the form is ‘dynamic’ and will tally up the costs); save it to your desktop somewhere as a pdf then attach it to an email addressed to humgen@csu.edu.au  or

2)      Print off the form, fill it in, scan it to your computer and attach it to an email addressed to humgen@csu.edu.au.

N.B. Before you complete the Registration form you should, separately, join ASAL: http://asaliterature.com/?page_id=5  If you are joining ASAL for the first time or after an absence, please attach pdf of payment evidence to your registration.  If you are a current member your membership dues fall on or before June 30.

Postgraduate masterclass:      If you wish to be part of the postgrad masterclass on Tuesday 2^nd July, with Nicholas Birns and Alison Ravenscroft, please contact ASAL’s postgrad rep. Katie Hansord at katiehansord@yahoo.com.au

Registrations are now open for this one day Symposium in honour of
David Malouf, which is presented by ACU in conjunction with ASAL.

Contributors on aspects of Malouf’s writing include Damien Barlow,
Nicholas Jose, Stephen Mansfield, James Marland, Kate Matthew, Brigid
Rooney, Yvonne Smith and James Tulip.  Ihab Hassan will be represented
and Colm Toibin will contribute via Skype.  The day will conclude with
a conversation between Ivor Indyk and David Malouf.

Registrations can be made via the website
http://www.acu.edu.au/maloufsymposium

Inquiries to elaine.lindsay@acu.edu.au or Michael.griffith@acu.edu.au

PDF flyer available here.

21-24 October

Queenscliff, Victoria

ASALvets will be convening at Queenscliff, Victoria, from 21-24 October (Monday-Thursday) 2013, to discuss writing about Port Phillip Bay and the writers who’ve lived part of their lives in sight of its waters such as Henry Handel Richardson, Ada Cambridge, Martin Boyd, Alfred Deakin, Helen Garner, Beverley Farmer, Barry Hill, Don Charlwood. We welcome offers of papers on any aspect of Port Phillip Bay writing and culture.

Papers should be no longer than 30 minutes for 45 minute sessions. Please send offers of papers with brief abstracts to Judith Brett by 31 July, though earlier would be appreciated (j.brett@latrobe.edu.au).

We have a block booking at Athelstane House, Queenscliff’s oldest operating guesthouse. Contact – Richard.  Rooms, including breakfast, are $150-200 per night. If we book all 10 rooms, it will be a flat rate of $150. People are to make their own arrangements with the hotel. Prompt booking would be appreciated, as it is a small hotel. If we fill it up, we will need to find some spill over accommodation.

Athelstane House, 4 Hobson  Street, Queenscliff, 3225. (03) 5258 1024

Email: relax@athelstane.com.au   Website:  www.athelstane.com.au

We will hold some sessions at the hotel. Wednesday we will spend in Point Lonsdale at Ballara, the holiday house of Alfred Deakin, a federation house still owned by the family.

Draft program:

Mon 21 October: Arrive Queenscliff; informal dinner at local pub.

Tues 22 Oct: 9-1, papers at Athelstane House.

Afternoon, historic walk around Queenscliff, organized through Queenscliff Historical Society: Henry Handel Richardson’s house, pier, lighthouses, Fort.

Evening: Conference Dinner, Queenscliff Hotel.

Wed 23: 9.30-1.00, papers at Ballara, Point Lonsdale.

Afternoon, walk round Point Lonsdale, Buckley’s Cave, the Rip lookout, lighthouse.

Lunch and dinner at Ballara.

Thursday: 9.00-11.30 Papers.

12.00 Ferry across the Bay to Sorrento for lunch. 3.00 Ferry back to Queenscliff. Conference finishes.  The return fare for a foot passenger is $20.00.

General Enquiries: Judith Brett  (j.brett@latrobe.edu.au).

Registration forms and information are available here. 

Awards: Presentation of the 2013 ALS Gold Medal (outstanding Australian literary work) and the 2013 Walter McCrae Russell Award (best Aust Lit scholarship)

Keynote Speakers:
Dr Jeanine Leane, Wiradjuri woman and author of Purple Threads and Dark Secrets: After Dreaming, Australian National University, Canberra
Associate Professor Alison Ravenscroft, author of The Postcolonial Eye, La Trobe University, Melbourne
Novelist and Professor of Creative Writing Brian Castro (Shanghai Dancing, The Garden Book, Street to Street)

Panels: Mark Macleod (Charles Sturt University) will head up a panel/section on children’s literature. Keri Glastonbury (University of Newcastle) will do the same for poetry/poetics/creative writing.

Plus:
Ivor Indyk on ‘The Provincial Imagination’
Vijay Mishra on Salman Rushdie’s Australia
Nicholas Birns on Australia, the Russian Pacific, and the Transnational Imaginary
Lachlan Brown on Nam Le and many more

…on Australian poetry, regionalism, 19th century writing, teaching Aust lit…

….and Parody Night will return to ASAL (will the Frank Moorhouse perpetual prize for postmodern ballroom dancing return to the conference dinner? Can we have a sneak preview of CSU’s new literary vintage wines???….).

Registration information:
The best way to use the registration form http://www.csu.edu.au/faculty/arts/humss/news is to either:
1)      Fill it in on the screen (the form is ‘dynamic’ and will tally up the costs); save it to your desktop somewhere as a pdf then attach it to an email addressed to humgen@csu.edu.au  or
2)      Print off the form, fill it in, scan it to your computer and attach it to an email addressed to humgen@csu.edu.au. 

N.B. Before you complete the Registration form you should, separately, join ASAL: http://asaliterature.com/?page_id=5.  If you are joining ASAL for a first time or after an absence, please attach pdf of payment evidence to your registration.  If you are a current member your membership dues fall on or before June 30.  

There is some (limited) assistance for Australian postgrads (thanks to a grant from Copyright Agency) which can be requested as a reimbursement after you have presented your paper at ASAL 2013.  Documentary evidence of having tried and been unsuccessful in soliciting support from your university will be necessary.

Travel:
As the www.visitwagga.com website shows you can get to Wagga easily by car, train, plane and bus (for the ASAL 1991 conference it was said John Forbes brought his bicycle on the train…).  There are two trains from Sydney and Melbourne each day, three Rex flights from Melbourne and quite a few Qantas flights between Wagga and Sydney or Melbourne).  There are only a couple of buses through – Greyhound and McCaffertys. 

If you are coming from overseas or from places outside Sydney or Melbourne you’ll have to come through Sydney or Melbourne – this can sometimes have the advantage of adding price options.

Accommodation:
Information about accommodation options in Wagga can be found here.

In addition to the commercial details of hotels, motels, pubs, b&b, camping facilities on the Visitor Information brochure, there are 13 rooms (two of them are twin beds) at The Riverine Club, where the conference dinner will be on the evening of Friday 5 July.  This is an old (built in the 1880s) gentlemen’s club so the rooms are traditional (spartan, shared bathrooms along the corridor, but very much part of an era: ‘unique and comfortable’ is the publicity blurb). $90/room including cont. b/f.  They have been put aside for ASAL delegates. Ph +61269212031.

As well, there will be basic accommodation available on campus which is 10km from the city of Wagga.  Because it is residential school time, most accommodation, including the more recent is already allocated.  Rates will be something like:   |

Bed Only$45.00
Bed/Breakfast$50.00
Dinner/Bed/Breakfast$60.00

For further details please contact:

David Gilbey
Adjunct Senior Lecturer in English,
School of Humanities & Social Sciences,
Charles Sturt University,
Locked Bag 588,
Wagga Wagga, NSW, 2678,
Australia.
ph/fax +61 2 6933 2465
dgilbey@csu.edu.au

Alternate contact:
Dr Lachlan Brown,
Lecturer in English at CSU as above,
ph/fax +61 2 6933 2478
labrown@csu.edu.au