Interest in the fields of food and sustainability studies within the humanities is rapidly growing, in part due to their ability to investigate our perceived relationship with ecology. Food is a text that conveys identity, reflecting historically grounded or socially constructed attitudes through what is produced and consumed, both gastronomic and printed. Likewise, the connection between nature and culture as manifested in narratives allow us to recognize the discourse and disconnect between society and our environment, marking us through this relationship. Central to both fields is the interplay of humanity and environment, depicted in rural and urban ecologies, e.g. food deserts versus urban food jungles.

Speakers include:

John Burnside
Julian Wolfreys (University of Portsmouth)
Sebastian Groes (University of Roehampton)

Celebrated as both a poet and a novelist, John Burnside is one of Britain's leading contemporary writers. He is the winner of numerous awards, including the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize, the Whitbread Poetry Prize, the Petrarca Preis, the T.S. Eliot Prize, the Forward Poetry Prize, and the James Tait Memorial Prize. This one-day event will be the first symposium dedicated to his work, offering the chance for researchers to discuss and reflect upon Burnside's writing and its place within contemporary literature more widely. The day will conclude with John giving a public reading and participating in a Q&A.