Please note, the Call for Papers closed in May 2025. Many thanks to all who submitted proposals.
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Papers are invited on any aspect of Evaristo’s writing and work. Potential topics might include:
- The African diaspora and/or AfroEurope
- Black British culture, history, and literature
- Legacies of empire
- History and historiography
- Space and place
- Gender and/or sexuality
- Family, filial relations, kinship and/or community
- Intersectional feminism
- (Auto)biography and memoir
- Formal experimentation (polyvocality, non-linear chronology, genre)
- Language use (non-standard English, code-switching, neologisms, idiostyle)
- Humour (irony, satire)
- Intertextuality and/or intermediality (verse fiction; essay and visual art)
- Adaptations between forms (radio, novel, television, poetry, theatre)
- Lesser-known writings, such as poetry, short fiction, and essays
- Influences (such as Ntozake Shange, Michelle Cliff, Derek Walcott)
- Translations and/or reception in different contexts
- Relation to literary awards and prizes
- Publishing, publishers, and marketing (including cover design)
- Literary activism (e.g. ‘Black Britain: Writing Back’ series; The Complete Works mentoring scheme; Brunel International African Poetry Prize)
- The teaching of Evaristo’s writing in secondary and/or tertiary education
Paper proposals are encouraged from all scholarly disciplines, methodological approaches, and theoretical perspectives, and presenters of all career stages are welcome – especially Early Career Researchers. Proposals for poster presentations are also invited.
Please send an abstract (300 words for a 20 minute paper; 150 words for a poster) and title along with your name, institutional affiliation (if relevant), and a short biography (100 words) to: Dr Nicola Abram (University of Reading) at Evaristo-Symposium2025@reading.ac.uk by 16 April 2025. Decisions will be communicated by mid May.
Publication
Selected papers from the symposium will be published as Bernardine Evaristo: Critical Essays, with a foreword by Evaristo, as part of the Routledge ‘Contemporary Writers: Critical Essays’ book series (General Editor: Professor Sarah Dillon, University of Cambridge). This publication is subject to approval of the book proposal via the usual Routledge processes.
Previously published with Gylphi from 2011 to 2022, other titles in this series include David Mitchell: Critical Essays ed. Sarah Dillon (Gylphi 2011), Maggie Gee: Critical Essays, eds. Sarah Dillon and Caroline Edwards (Gylphi 2015), China Miéville: Critical Essays eds. Caroline Edwards and Tony Venezia (Gylphi 2015) and Benjamin Markovits: Critical Essays ed. Michael Kalisch (Routledge 2023).