Sylvia Plath: Letters, Words and Fragments

Call For Papers

Autumn 2017 will see the much-anticipated publication of The Letters of Sylvia Plath, Volume 1. Following on from The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath (2000) and Ariel: The Restored Edition (2004), this book is another landmark contribution in efforts by Plath scholars to piece together and recuperate Plath’s words that have for so long been fragmented. With The Letters of Sylvia Plath, Volume 1, Plath’s words and experiences will be drawn together to give readers a fuller insight into her creative process and richly artistic literary life. The new information we receive from The Letters of Sylvia Plath, Volume 1 promises to offer new readings of Plath’s poetry, prose and fiction writing as well as her literary influences, passions and pains.

In anticipation of the clarity that The Letters of Sylvia Plath, Volume 1 will surely produce, this conference seeks papers that will explore new and diverse discussions about Plath’s writing, the contexts against which her work was written, how we read her in the past and how we read her today. Papers are encouraged but not limited to the following subjects:

- (Re)reading and recuperating Plath
- Published/unpublished Plath
- Plath and her archives
- Plath and her correspondences
- Plath and friendship
- Plath and biography
- Ecocriticism
- Representations of Plath in popular culture
- Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath
- Plath, her peers and literary influences
- Feminism and Plath
- Plath and Whiteness
- Queering Plath
- Plath and place
- Plath and voice

Papers from all disciplines are welcome - with full panels and artistic contributions especially encouraged. Please send proposals of no more than 350 words to sylviaplath@ulster.ac.uk by Monday 31 July 2017.

This conference is sponsored by the School of Arts and Humanities at Ulster University. The event is free and is open to the public, but registration is necessary. Registration and accommodation information (including conference discounts) will be available shortly.

For more information and media enquiries, please follow on Twitter and Facebook or contact the conference organiser, Dr. Maeve O’Brien.

Keynote Speakers

We are delighted to announce that the Keynote Speakers at this event will be the editors of The Letters of Sylvia Plath, Volume 1, Karen V. Kukil (Smith College) and Peter K. Steinberg (sylviaplath.info).

Social Media

Join the conversation on Social Media, the conference twitter is: @plathconference and the Facebook event can be found here: facebook.com/events/738149256344050

Please use the conference hashtag #sylviaplath2017 and mention @ulsterarts to get the word out and follow Ulster University Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences on Facebook to keep up with our other events and various goings on.