Romance Conference in Brisbane
On August 13-14, 2009, the University of Queensland and Queensland University of Technology will host Popular Romance Studies: an International Conference, to be held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Romance Writers of Australia, in Brisbane, Australia.
For decades, scholars have studied representations of romantic love in popular media: novels, films, magazines, comics, advertisements, and elsewhere. They have studied its sexual politics and aesthetic structures, its audiences, its authors, and the industry that produces and distributes it world-wide. For the most part, however, they have done so in isolation, divided by boundaries of nation, genre, and academic discipline. 
This is the inaugural conference of IASPR, the new International Association for the Study of Popular Romance. The best papers from the conference will be published in the inaugural issue of the Journal for Popular Romance Studies (JPRS), a peer-reviewed online journal to be published by IASPR beginning in February 2010.
Scholars from Australia, the United States, and elsewhere will convene for this event, which will take place on the QUT campus (Thursday) and at the University of Queensland’s Fryer Library, home to a remarkable archival collection of Australian romance materials. Papers have already been accepted on romance websites in China, Japanese romance manga, Italian romanzo rosa, and the novels of Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer; we are eager to expand the range of talks both geographically and in terms of the media discussed.
Visit the conference website for more details about the Call for Papers, Registration, and Lodging. Submit a one-page (150-250 word) proposal or abstract no later than May 30, 2009 to the conference organizers; email is preferred. IASPR welcomes proposals from independent scholars, and from romance authors, editors, and publishers, as well as from those with academic affiliation.
Sponsors:
The International Association for the Study of Popular Romance
University of Queensland
Queensland University of Technology
Romance Writers of Australia
Romance Writers of America
Posted on:
5/13/2009 02:58:00 AM
4 comments:
I love that Romance is being taken more seriously these days! This is great news. Yay, Australia!
Yes, indeed, it's wonderful to have these conference, Harlequin's media blitz, positive articles in newspapers around the country, and authors and bloggers taking to radio and television to tout the fabulosity of romance novels.
Hey, Keira, thanks for giving this a bit of publicity. I'm actually going to be talking there - probably on some sort of panel. We're still negotiating. Looking forward to it! I'll have to practice some big words for the occasion ;-)
Excellent!! I was so hoping you'd be a part of the academic side of this romance equation, too. Particularly, since CtC always comes up in many discussions, especially in conjunction with 80's romance and forced seductions. There's your topic. :)
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