PDF of Full Report (inc. IGA bursary reports): Tales of Terror – conference report
Tales of Terror: Gothic, Horror, and Weird Short Fiction took place 21-22 March 2019 at the University of Warwick. There were 48 presenting delegates, an additional ten attendees, and two keynote speakers; Dr Melissa Edmundson from Clemson University, talking about her work recovering the lost works of female short-story writers and Prof. Roger Luckhurst of Birkbeck on the history and theory of the Gothic fragment.
The speakers were arts and humanities scholars at various stages of their careers, both independent and affiliated, and travelled to us from across the UK, and internationally from the United States, Greece, Taiwan, Belgium, Mexico, Ukraine, Italy, Poland. As well as traditional panels, the conference also offered a Roundtable featuring representatives from the British Library’s publishing division, and two independent publishers Hic Dragones and Ars Nocturna – a Greek company. This was particularly well-received, as it involved not only a discussion of the market, but also of how each got involved in this area as a career. Other panels included a conversation with the producers and actors in the independent acclaimed theatre show Providence: Shadow over Lovecraft about the staging process, a pre-recorded analysis of the interactive gamebook Evermore: The Choose Your Own Edgar Allan Poe Adventure by its creator, and three original short stories from alumni/current students of Warwick’s Writing Programme. A short-story competition was also held with prizes donated by the keynotes.
The twitter presence was extremely strong as indicated by the storyboard below, and the glowing conference reports from our four IGA bursary recipients (available on the IGA website) attest to the excellent and invigorating networks established over the two days. As a consequence of the success, I will lead a Guest Edition on this topic in the leading journal Gothic Studies open to the wider academic field, and due to be published late 2021.
My thanks to the International Gothic Association, Warwick’s Humanities Research Centre, and the department of English and Comparative Literary Studies, for the generous and much-needed sponsorship.
Dr Jen Baker
DAY ONE
The post-dinner late-night partiers…
DAY TWO
Tales of Terror: Gothic, Horror, and Weird Short Fiction 