The 30th annual conference of the Australasian Association of Writing Programs is hosted by the University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria
Save the dates: 3 – 5 December, 2025
Call for Abstracts
The deadline for abstract submissions is 30 May 2025.
Hosted by the University of Melbourne, the Australasian Association of Writing Programs (AAWP) 2025 conference will be held at the Parkville campus, situated on the unceded lands of the Wurundjeri people. The Wurundjeri People take their name from the Woiwurrung language word ‘wurun’ meaning the Manna Gum (Eucalyptus viminalis) which is common along ‘Birrarung’ (Yarra River), and ‘djeri‘, the grub which is found in or near the tree (1). Wurundjeri have lived on this land for millennia and we respectfully acknowledge their continuous connection to the site of this beautiful campus, a short walk from central Melbourne.
This year’s conference is on the theme of Movement & Stasis. We invite abstracts for conference presentations of 15 or 20 minutes in duration and pre-formed collaborative discussion panels (three to four panellists only) that reflect consideration of movement & statis. We encourage any or all modes of presentation.
The theme of movement might conjure notions of physical, social, political, communal or artistic movement, but can also suggest arrivals, departures, walking on country, transformation, mobility and change. For you, it could mean something else. Placing movement alongside stasis, we invite conference attendees to consider the two themes in relation: ambiguities, contradictions, tensions, as well as productive entanglements enabled by both/and thinking. The theme of stasis might draw to mind a period of inactivity or equilibrium, a stoppage, a cessation, a form of civil strife. Stasis might mean slowing down; it might mean stability.
We welcome the submission of abstracts relevant to the creative writing discipline, on creative and professional writing practices and processes, research in creative writing, the teaching of writing and related issues.
Areas of interest include, but are not limited to, creative writing and:
…affirmative posthumanism; climate; community; Country; creatures’ movements and migrations; culture and religion; cultural policy; dancing; difficult conversations; digital transformations; disability; environmental humanities; epistemic justice; genre work; grief and loss; health and care; hope; industry change; Indigenous writing and knowledge practices; intergenerational justice; its role for you, or its role in the world; language; madness; metamorphosis; mobility; moving out of the fringes; non-human imaginaries; offline lives and livelihoods; pastoral care; place; public feeling; reparative writing and reading; resilience; resistance; sexuality; song; stagnation; stimming; technological expansion; trans, queer, and intersex lives and literatures; translation; tremors; walking.
The deadline for abstract submissions is 30 May 2025.
Guidelines:
Submissions should include your name, abstract (200 – 250 words), university affiliation, email address, the title of your proposed piece, and a short biographical note that tells us a little bit about you (75-100 words). You do not need to have prior publications, but you can mention them. You will be asked to nominate your preferred presentation time (15 minutes or 20 minutes), as well as an indication of mode of presentation (including a delivered paper, audio recording, performance, song etc.)
The 2025 conference is designed to run as an on-site conference. Selected keynote and plenary sessions will be live-streamed and open to the public.
Only current AAWP members are eligible to present. You can find membership details, prices, and online sign-up options here.
Free registration is offered to First Nations delegates.
Quiet spaces: we will be providing a neuroinclusive conference environment through the provision of quiet spaces that will be available throughout our time together.
If you require an Auslan interpreter or have other accessibility needs, please let us know.
We are committed to sustainable conference practices, such as vegetarian catering, eradication of printed material and deliberate regionalisation.
A discrete, fully online professional development program for Graduate Research (GR) candidates and Early-Career-Researcher (ECR) colleagues will be offered in association with the main conference program on Tuesday 2 December.
Consult the Movement & Stasis: 30th Annual AAWP Conference website for updates and further information over time.
Queries to: aawp-conference2025@unimelb.edu.au
Previous annual conferences of the AAWP have been held at:
1996 University of Technology, Sydney
1997 Deakin University and RMIT University, Melbourne
1998 University of South Australia / University of Adelaide
1999 Edith Cowan University, Perth
2000 Griffith University, Gold Coast Campus
2001 University of Canberra
2002 University of Melbourne
2003 University of New South Wales
2004 Flinders University, Adelaide
2005 Curtin University of Technology, Perth
2006 Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane
2007 University of Canberra
2008 University of Technology, Sydney
2009 Waikato Institute of Technology, Hamilton, New Zealand
2010 RMIT, Melbourne
2011 Southern Cross University, Byron Bay
2012 Deakin University, Geelong
2013 University of Canberra, Canberra
2014 Massey University, Wellington NZ
2015 Swinburne University, Melbourne
2016 University of Canberra, Canberra
2017 Flinders University, Adelaide
2018 Curtin University, Edith Cowan University, Murdoch University and the University of Western Australia, Perth
2019 University of Technology, Sydney
2020 Griffith University, Gold Coast
2021 University of the Sunshine Coast, Sunshine Coast (online symposium in lieu of conference)
2022 Central Queensland University and University of the Sunshine Coast (USC), Sippy Downs
2023 University of Canberra’s Centre for Creative and Cultural Research
2024 University of New England, Armidale, NSW