Sixteenth International Robert Graves Conference

deadline for submissions: 
July 12, 2024
full name / name of organization: 
Robert Graves Society
contact email: 

Extended Call for Papers: Sixteenth International Robert Graves Conference (deadline 12 July)

Organised by the Robert Graves Society with St John’s College Oxford, Sheffield Hallam University and the Fundació Robert Graves

Keynote speakers include Jean Moorcroft Wilson and Patrick McGuinness. With poetry readings to include David Harsent and Sean O'Brien.

Plans are becoming advanced for the Sixteenth International Robert Graves Conference, to be held at St John’s College, Oxford, 15-18 September 2024. The theme of the conference will be ‘Robert Graves and the Popular Imagination’.

In this, the 90th anniversary of the publication of Robert Graves’s massively popular and widely adapted novel, I, Claudius, the Robert Graves Society is hosting a conference focusing on ‘Robert Graves and the Popular Imagination’. The conference will explore Graves and his contemporaries in relation to the broader popular cultures of which their work is an essential part. Many of Graves’s books continue to reach large and diverse audiences: his Good-bye to All That is arguably the best known of all WW1 autobiographies, and his account of the Greek Myths has been a gateway to the classics for generations. His life was lived both in and out of the public eye, and his high-profile friendships with very differently famous people are intriguing: T. E. Lawrence, Ava Gardner, Spike Milligan to name but three.

 CALL FOR PAPERS  

Proposals are invited for papers (20 minutes) on relevant topics relating to Robert Graves and/or his contemporaries. These could include but are not limited to:  

Twentieth century literature and popular culture

Robert Graves and popular genres, for example, historical fiction, children’s literature

Popularising the Classics

Popularising ancient history and/or mythology

Adaptations of Robert Graves’s life and/or works into other media – Film, TV, Radio etc.

Robert Graves’s friendships and/or collaborations with popular figures

Graves, fame and infamy

Robert Graves in the Media

Robert Graves and cultural tourism

Twentieth century literature and archives, museums, artefacts

Writers and the public eye

Literature and Celebrity

Please send an abstract (max. 250 words) by 12 July 2024 to the conference director and President of the Robert Graves Society: 

 

Professor Charles Mundye, FEA

Head of the Department of Culture and Media

College of Social Sciences and Arts

Sheffield Hallam University

City Campus

Sheffield S1 1WB

E: c.mundye@shu.ac.uk

President, Robert Graves Society

Fellow, English Association

http://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/english-association

 PARTICIPANTS

The conference is open to all. It will be of interest to academics, teachers, research students, and anyone else who is interested in the life and writings of Robert Graves and his circle. The series of Robert Graves conferences have built up a reputation for their scholarly excellence and their friendly dialogue among participants from a wide variety of backgrounds, both lay and academic, and the Graves family itself.

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To register for the 2024 International Robert Graves Society Conference, Oxford, England, 15--18 September 2024, please e-mail Patrick Villa, Secretary and Treasurer, Robert Graves Society, at pjvilla@aol.com. Please send the following details and pay a registration fee by PayPal, bank transfer or electronic banking to the Robert Graves Society, using the details further below, in the payment section of this page.* * * * * *Please 'cut and paste' the following list into your e-mail to pjvilla@aol.com and add your answers:Title:First name:Family name:Postal Address:Post Code or ZIP Code:Country:Telephone:e-mail address:Present post or affiliation (optional):Name(s) of accompanying person (if any):Date of arrival:Date of departure:Dates you will attend the conference (if different):Any special requirements (e.g. diet, disability, other):Any other information:* * * * * *Please send any cheques to Patrick Villa, Secretary/Treasurer, Robert Graves Society and not directly to the Society's bank. Contact him at pjvilla@aol.com to obtain the Society's postal address.* * * * * *REGISTRATION FEES & ACCOMMODATION(S)N.B.: Registration fees, except day rates, will include the conference dinner on one day of the programme. The conference dinner may also be purchased separately by or for partners or other guests or by those paying day fees.RGS non-member: £195RGS member: £180Concession* (non-member): £150Concession* (RGS member): £135*Concessions include the disabled, retired, anyone aged over 65, or registered full-time students.Accompanying person (accompanying a non-member): £150Accompanying person (accompanying a member): £135Day participant (non-member): £75Day participant (member): £60Day participant (non-member, concession*: £75Day participant (member, concession*): £60Extra conference dinner, e.g. for a day participant or an extra guest who wants to attend the dinner. One conference dinner is included in each of the other registration fees listed above, except for day participants: £70Please use the links below to pay registration fee(s) via PayPal. Click on the PayPal link below and edit the amount to the total you need to pay, for example if you are paying for for a full registration fee (£195) and an ensuite room and breakfast for three nights at Kendrew Quad (£270), the total would be £465. Alternatively, use the individual PayPal links below to pay for items individually via PayPal. Some of these still need to be added here and this will be done in coming days. Or payments may be made via GBP Sterling cheque, electronic banking, or online direct bank transfer rather than PayPal if you wish. For direct payments, the Society's account details are: Bank: Bank of Scotland; Account name: The Robert Graves Society; Sort Code: 80-05-57; Account Number: 00151340; IBAN: GB84 BOFS 8005 5700 1513 40; and BIC Code: BOFSGB21372.For Internet banking or other electronic transfers, please type your surname or family name in the reference box to allow your payment to be identified.Conference Registration Fees:Full Registration Fee: £195.00 GBP: Pay via PayPal: paypal.me/robertgravessociety/195Registration Fee (discount for RGS member): £180.00 GBP. Pay via PayPal: paypal.me/robertgravessociety/180Registration Fee (concession) £145.00 GBP. Pay via PayPal: paypal.me/robertgravessociety/145Registration Fee (concession) (discount for RGS member): Pay via PayPal: £135.00 GBP paypal.me/robertgravessociety/135Accompanying Person (accompanying non RGS member): £145.00 GBP. Pay via PayPal: paypal.me/robertgravessociety/145Accompanying Person (acc. RGS member) £135.00 GBP. Pay via PayPal: paypal.me/robertgravessociety/135Day Participant (non-RGS member): £75.00 GBP. Pay via PayPal: paypal.me/robertgravessociety/75Day Participant (RGS member): £65.00 GBP. Pay via PayPal: paypal.me/robertgravessociety/65Day Participant (non-member, concession): £60.00 GBP. Pay via PayPal: paypal.me/robertgravessociety/60Day Participant (RGS member, concession): £50.00 GBP. Pay via PayPal: paypal.me/robertgravessociety/50 ACCOMMODATION(S) RATESA number of rooms have been reserved at St John's College for Robert Graves conference participants, as follows:Kendrew Quadrangle (modern, en-suite, single, within College grounds but 5-10 mins walk from conference auditorium): (£90.00 GBP per night or £270 GBP for 3 nights): Pay via PayPal: http://paypal.me/robertgravessociety/90 per night or http://paypal.me/robertgravessociety/270 for 3 nights.North Quadrangle (good standard rooms but mostly not en-suite, near to conference auditorium): (£80 GBP per night or £240 GBP for 3 nights): http://paypal.me/robertgravessociety/80 per night or http://paypal.me/robertgravessociety/240 for 3 nights.Please e-mail Patrick Villa at the RG Society (e-mail: pjvilla@aol.com), if you need rooms on nights other than 15, 16, or 17 September 2024. A small number of twin rooms may also be available and e-mail Patrick for prices for these.Other accommodation is available in Oxford near to the venue, including rooms at other colleges, hotels, bnBs, etc. and can be booked and paid for directly by participants, who should still pay the RG Society a conference registration fee and for the (one) conference dinner.MEMBERSHIPMembership of the RGS costs £17.00 (concessions, £10.00) per annum and includes online access to the latest issues of the Society's journal, The Robert Graves Review.To join the Society via PayPal or other methods, please visit our membership page at https://robertgraves.org/rgs-membershipBANK DETAILSN.B.: All speakers, except invited keynote speakers, poets, or other special guests invited by the President, need to pay a conference registration fee and for their own travel to the conference, accommodation(s), and all meals or refreshments not provided by the conference. The Society's bank and PayPal details are published above.Please contact Patrick Villa, Secretary/Treasurer, RGS (e-mail: pjvilla@aol.com) for any further information about these fees or any other administrative, travel, or accommodation(s) arrangements for the conference. The Society's address for sending cheques or bank transfer receipts is available from Patrick at pjvilla@aol.com.