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Instructions for refereed conference papers

Just when you think it’s all over, here is a gentle reminder that refereed conference papers for the proceedings are due at the end of the week (10 December). Please don’t panic if you are behind, but make sure your paper is formatted as per these guidelines. You can also refer to previous refereed proceedings here. Remember to send your paper in MS Word.

If you have already submitted your piece, don’t worry! We can fix up any formatting issues on our end. Send all completed papers to Dominique Hecq at dhecq@swin.edu.au

NAWE Petition to restore the major in Creative Writing in secondary schools

A recent decision by the UK government has led to a decision to axe the A level and AS level (secondary/high school majors) in Creative Writing. The DfE justified this decision by arguing that there is too much overlap with English and English Language A levels and that the subject is too skills based rather than knowledge based.

NAWE is the Subject Association for Creative Writing in the UK, and was delighted to see the new A level rolled out over the last few years across the country and flourish since its introduction in 2013, and argues that likening studying creative writing to studying English is misguided. Although there is some ‘writing’ as part of the assessment of English Language this is from the perspective of the creation of texts as product for specific audience and purpose. There is no requirement for reflection or understanding of the writing process. At a time when students with good communication skills, flexibility and creativity are in high demand in the workplace, this decision does not seem to make any sense at all.

NAWE has started a petition to bring international attention to this issue. For more information and to lend your voice and signature to the debate, visit the NAWE website.

Call for ‘sparks’

Dates: Monday 25 January and Tuesday 26 January, 2016
Venues: Jan 25—Ng? Kete W?nanga Marae, Manukau Institute of Technology, Otara Rd, Otara
Jan 26—Auckland War Memorial Museum, Parnell

Call for ‘sparks’

What is the state of creative writing pedagogy in Aotearoa? What can we learn from each other as teachers of creative writing? Do our creative writing institutions function as equitable places of learning in terms of diversity and identity? What are the challenges that face our learners in the changing world of the text?

The second conference of the Aotearoa Creative Writing Research Network aims to bring together creative writing teachers from Aotearoa, the Pacific and beyond to continue discourse around the practise of creative writing pedagogy in our time and place.

Ahi K? will feature a range of panel discussions and a keynote by Dr Selina Tusitala Marsh on the important issues facing creative writing and its teaching.

Key Dates

‘Sparks’ are brief papers (no more than ten minutes in length) encouraging discussion. By 19 November, 2015, submit a 300-word spark abstract related to the following subjects:
New Zealand voices: How do we approach issues of identity and place in New Zealand literatures through creative writing pedagogy? How does creative writing in New Zealand negotiate with the world?

  • M?ori literature: What constitutes a M?ori creative writing pedagogy? What is the future for global creative writing connections via indigeneity?
  • Pasifika literature: How do we build a Pasifika writing ethos? How do Moana/Pacific centred approaches work in the writing workshop?
  • Research: How do we teach approaches to research for a creative writing project?
  • Youth: What are the challenges and outcomes of teaching creative writing at primary and secondary school level, and in the community? What is the future of the field?
  • Book culture: How does the creative writing academy prepare its students for the world of publishing, disseminating, and selling books?

 

Key Dates

13 October, 2015: Call for ‘sparks’
19 November: Spark abstracts due
27 November: Online Conference registration open; early bird rates apply (online registration will be linked from the ACRWN website)
11 January, 2016: Online Conference registration closes (additional registration available during the conference)
25 – 26 January, 2016: Ahi K?: Building the Fire

Contacts

For general conference queries contact Robert Sullivan (Robert.Sullivan@manukau.ac.nz) or Courtney Meredith   (Courtney.Meredith@manukau.ac.nz).

Send abstracts to Thom Conroy (T.Conroy@massey.ac.nz).

Conference Committee: Robert Sullivan, Courtney Meredith, Thom Conroy

Annual General Meeting 2015

The upcoming AAWP Annual General Meeting, to be held during the conference in Melbourne.

Venue: Room AMDC 301, Swinburne University, Melbourne, Australia
Date/time: Tuesday, 1 December, 2015, 12–1pm.
During this time nominations and elections for the Executive Committee of Management will be conducted. If you wish to nominate a member of the AAWP for a place on the Committee, please email jvicars@une.edu.au ASAP.

The draft agenda can be found here. We look forward to seeing you at the conference.
AAWP Executive Committee of Management

AAWP thanks its generous supporters

The Australasian Association of Writing Programs wishes to acknowledge those who have generously supported our annual conference ‘Writing the Ghost Train | Rewriting, Remaking, Rediscovering’.

The following literary publications provided generous donations of books, literary magazines and annual subscriptions:

Griffith Review, Island, The Lifted Brow, Meanjin, Overland, Review of Australian Fiction, Southerly, Westerly.

The AAWP is extremely grateful for this support.

AAWP POSTGRADUATE PRIZE— CREATIVE

To reward Postgraduate excellence in creative practice, the AAWP Executive will be awarding a prize for the best creative Postgraduate paper.

Prize: $300 cash prize, annual subscription to Overland, Island and Review of Australian Fiction.

Eligible: Refereed stream (Creative) 2015 conference papers

Criteria: Clarity; originality in thought and approach

Deadline: 9 December 2015

Submission: Dr Julia Prendergast (j.prendergast@deakin.edu.au)

Results: Announced by February 2016

Minding the Gap: Writing across Thresholds and Fault Lines

Minding the Gap: Writing across Thresholds and Fault Lines is a selection of papers from the AAWP’s 19th Annual Conference in Wellington, which was recently published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. The AAWP would like to congratulate Thom Conroy and Gail Pittaway for their stellar work in editing this collection.

The book includes chapters on writing non–fiction, media and genre, and also addresses elements of identity, culture and linguistics in fiction, poetry and creative non-fiction as contributors consider the gaps that exist between the self as writer, as reader and as editor or mentor.

To order your copy, visit the Cambridge Scholars website

Special Issue of TEXT Journal – Call for Papers

Abstract proposals are sought for submission as a proposed special issue to TEXT journal which will explore Romanticism’s legacy for the study and practice of writing, its influences, inspirations, tyrannies and resistances. In the context of creative writing’s establishment as an academic discipline and the advent of digital media as the platform for new writing, this collection offers an opportunity from which to consider Romanticism’s legacies and possibilities for new, post-Romanticist discourses to emerge.

Abstracts are due November 15. For more information and how to submit, see the Call for Papers