Other Voices Other Times
Narrative Voice in Historical and Fantasy Fiction

The Centre for Contemporary Writing at Bath Spa University is holding a one-day interdisciplinary Symposium on Friday 29th June 2012 to explore the challenges of representing other worlds.

Confirmed speakers include:

•     Marie-Louise Jensen
•     Ian Mortimer
•     Ashley Pharoah
•     Fay Weldon CBE
•     Gerard Woodward

with ‘textual interventions’ given for the day by leading fantasy and historical authors, including Hilary Mantel.

Key themes for the event are:

• technical challenges – as in creating dialogue in an invented or reinvented world

• ethical considerations – as in working with known facts, real-life characters and consensual understanding or as in choosing whether a voice should be heard or silenced
• interpretive – as in attempting to bridge a conceptual gulf between the reader and an alternative mode of thought
• subject and reader – who speaks and who listens?
• particular challenges in writing for children or young adults

The symposium will produce an edited on-line anthology of papers, including readings by speakers, and an online forum for continuing discussion. Findings will also be presented at the Association of  Writing Programmes Annual Conference in Boston, Mass. in 2013, when international partners will be asked to join a discussion group towards an international conference.

The symposium will take place at:
Corsham Court Centre,
Corsham Court,
Corsham,
Wiltshire, SN13 0BZ.

http://othervoicesothertimes.com/