Katherine Mansfield: Spaces, Places, Traces

IADT Dún Laoghaire, Dublin

June 14th–16th 2024

An international conference organised by the Katherine Mansfield Society

Hosted by the Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Dún Laoghaire

Katherine Mansfield once wrote ‘How hard it is to escape from places […] — you leave little bits of yourself fluttering on the fences — little rags and shreds of your very life’. Her journeys ‘From the other side of the world / From a little island cradled in the giant sea bosom’ indelibly shaped the form and content of her writing, and the places that she visited and in which she settled throughout Europe exerted a lasting influence on her. 

The Annual Katherine Mansfield Society Conference 2024 will take place in the Institute of Art, Design & Technology (IADT) Dún Laoghaire, Dublin and will focus on the themes of Spaces, Places, Traces in relation to Mansfield’s writing. The coastal suburb of Dún Laoghaire has a long history as a point of departure and arrival for travellers to and from Dublin (including James Joyce). It bears traces of Ireland’s complex colonial history, and offers a unique setting in which to reconsider the spaces and places that Mansfield navigated and the routes that she traced throughout her writing life. The final day of the conference will include some Bloomsday events.

Suggested topics might include (but are not limited to): 

• KM and colonial, postcolonial, and transnational spaces
• KM and island-nations
• KM, coasts, and the sea-side 
• KM, the city, the countryside, and the suburbs  
• KM, borders, and boundary-crossing 
• KM and domestic spaces 
• KM and impermanent/temporary residences (hotels, guest-houses, etc.)
• KM and public space (commemoration; publishing; etc.)
• KM, nature, and non-human worlds 
• KM and new materialisms 
• KM and mobility studies 
• KM’s association with specific places (Wellington, Fontainebleau, Menton; etc.) 

Abstracts of 200 words, together with a 50-word bio-sketch, should be sent to the conference organisers at: kmdublin2024@gmail.com

Conference organisers: Dr Jenny McDonnell (IADT); Dr Janka Kaščáková, Dr Erika Baldt, Dr Anna Kwiatkowska (Katherine Mansfield Society)

Submission deadline: March 31st 2024