The Ninth Annual Conference of the Australian Association of Writing Programs

‘The Practitioner's Art: Juggling Roles'

Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia

25-28 November 2004

Sponsors: Flinders University, Adelaide University, University of South Australia

Invitation to Attend

The 2004 organising committee extends a warm invitation to attend the AAWP Conference to be held at Flinders University in Adelaide, South Australia, from 25 to 28 November 2004 inclusive. The weather will be wonderful and we're planning some inspirational speakers. We are also initiating a postgraduate clinic on the creative higher degree on 25 November.

Conference Theme: ‘The Practitioner's Art: Juggling Roles'

Writers in the twenty-first century perform in a variety of contexts. They can be editors, students, academics, schoolteachers or community artsworkers, for example. They might have entirely unrelated occupations or be full-time professional authors working in a variety of media.

No matter what their position, however, writers are always readers and editors – of their own and often of others' work. University and TAFE courses allow writers to exploit their multiple identities, especially when student writing is the literature under discussion.

Call for Papers and Panels

DEADLINE: 1 SEPTEMBER 2004.

• Individual papers of approximately 20 minutes duration with 10 minutes discussion time are invited. Please send a 200-word abstract.
• Panels of 3 speakers and a chair (total of 90 minutes) are also invited. Please submit panel title and an abstract for each paper (200 words each).

Papers are invited that treat the subject of the diverse roles that contemporary writers play in secondary and tertiary education as well as in the community at large. We particularly welcome papers that investigate the similarities and differences between university and TAFE courses and potential relationships between the two. Some of the areas to be investigated might include:

• the conflict between one's job and one's art;
• professional responsibility to students or colleagues in both workshop and supervisory contexts;
• performance as a writer in schools and tertiary contexts;
• juggling multiple disciplines in creative higher degrees;
• adaptation of one's own or other writers' work; and
• the artistic midlife crisis: changing genres.

Questions to be investigated might include:

• Is there life after a creative arts degree?
• Is there creative life after a job?
• Is there such a thing as too much education for an artist?

Delegates intending to present papers or to be involved with panels need to be financial members of the AAWP at the time. Membership fees should be paid beforehand by contacting Treasurer, Brenda Glover, at Brenda.Glover@uts.edu.au or post to Brenda Glover, 3 Cover Street, Birchgrove NSW 2041.

All abstracts should be sent directly to the conference administrator, Emily Sutherland, Emily.Sutherland@flinders.edu.au, by 1 September 2004. Fax: (08) 8201 3635.

For further information (including advice about panels), please contact the Conference Convener, Associate Professor Jeri Kroll, at Jeri.Kroll@flinders.edu.au . Telephone: (08) 8201 3400; Fax: (08) 8201 3635.

Postgraduate Day

Thursday (25 November before Conference drinks and registration in the evening) will be devoted to a postgraduate clinic on the creative higher degree. Various speakers will present, including the keynote, Professor Graeme Harper.

1. Opening Workshop: Graeme Harper
2. Strategies for the Exegesis
3. The Examination Process (what do examiners look for)
4. Publishing, Editing and Conferencing
5. Recently Completed Ph Ds (panel of postgrads, supervisors and, if possible, an examiner or two).

The cost is only $30 (including catering), so it's fantastic value. The clinic will be followed by the conference's opening drinks.
We hope that this clinic will provide the opportunity for those tackling the critical portion of the creative thesis to receive feedback, gain tips and share ideas.