We are delighted to announce the winner of the 2017 ASLE/Inspire public lecture competition is Rachel Dowse for her illustrated talk entitled, ‘Starling Song: Murmurations of Meaning’.

The annual Institute for Sustainable Practice, Innovation and Resource Effectiveness (INSPIRE) Lecture is organised by the University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD) and the Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment, UK & Ireland (ASLE-UK). This year’s lecture takes place at the Hay Festival on Friday 2 June, at 7pm.

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Few places in England are as closely associated with wilderness as the moors and fells north of the River Trent. Yet the iconography of this region occupies a central place in the country’s cultural geography. This conference seeks to interrogate the mythologies of England’s northern uplands and to understand the ideological processes that have allowed their material reproduction, many of their less flattering significations and perhaps some of their political potential to remain hidden. This interdisciplinary conference is open to scholars working in English Literature, Cultural Studies, Creative Writing, Art History, Fine Art, Photography, Film Studies, Media Studies, Critical Heritage Studies, Geography, Politics and Sociology. Further details HERE. Download the poster HERE

The exercise of power and the experience of place are often intrinsically linked, whether through the implementation of national borders, mass surveillance of public places or the spatial control and management of the social body. At a moment in history when social and economic anxieties are once again being articulated through the politics of border control, restriction of movement, and the nation state, it seems crucial to examine the formation and experiences of landscapes of power and how we might begin to dismantle and resist them. This one-day, interdisciplinary symposium is the eleventh postgraduate workshop to be run by the Landscape, Space, Place Research Group and hosted by the Schools of English and Geography at the University of Nottingham. Full details HERE.

Gothic and horror fictions have long functioned as vivid reflections of contemporary cultural fears. Now, more than ever, the environment has become a locus of those fears for many people, and this conference seeks to investigate the wide range of Gothic- and horror-inflected texts that tackle the darker side of nature. Gothic Nature seeks to address this question, interrogating the place of non-human nature in horror and the Gothic today, and showcasing the most exciting and innovative research currently being conducted in the field.  Academic papers from a variety of different subject backgrounds, as well as interdisciplinary work are welcome, as are creative submissions from artists and performers. Weblink HERE.

Creating Metaphysics, Embodying Language: a conference and creative summit, June 7-9, 2017

Intimate Geographies, Ecologies of Conversation: a residential short course June 10-14, 2017

For the past two hundred years or so we have become a little giddy with our power over knowledge as our understanding of the material world has grown with little let or hindrance –– with other older knowledges often dismissed in the process as mere superstition. With all we have learned have we in our confidence perhaps forgotten that knowledge is a fleeting thing, held only through the permissions and presuppositions of the dominant culture. Three days of international thought and action at Dartington Hall will be followed by a residential short course. Full details HERE

The University of Worcester is offering a funded PhD studentship in ‘Green Media and Cultural Studies’. The studentship is a tax-free bursary of £13,863 p.a. for three years. Further details can be found HERE or by e-mailing Dr John Parham at j.parham@worc.ac.uk. Link to the website HERE.

The February 2017 issue of Plumwood Mountain is now live with poetry guest edited by leading UK poet, teacher and researcher in ecopoetics, Harriet Tarlo.

Bath Spa University is hosting this year’s Association of Commonwealth Universities Summer School, which is focussed on New Narratives for Environmental Change in the Arts and Humanities. Participation is open to all students from Commonwealth countries from 3rd year through to PhD level. Further information and details on the application process: https://www.acu.ac.uk/events/commonwealth-summer-school/commonwealth-summer-school-2017/

This two-day symposium will explore new critical and interdisciplinary perspectives on the Scottish poet, artist and avant-gardener Ian Hamilton Finlay (1925-2006). As Finlay’s reputation worldwide continues to grow a decade after his death, we wish to ask searching questions about the boundaries of his practice, its philosophical, political and cultural dimensions, and its legacies and affinities across a range of media, disciplines and geographical boundaries. Abstracts due March 2017. Further details HERE. Conference web pages HERE.

Edited collection just out: Victorian Writers and the Environment, edited by Laurence W. Mazzeno and Ronald D. Morrison. More HERE