St Andrews Book Conference
2-4 July 2020
What next for the study of gender and the book? Important studies have drawn attention to women’s work in the manuscript and printed book trades across and beyond Europe, from classical antiquity to the present day. More recently, scholars, activists, artists and booksellers have started to ask what an inclusive bibliography might look like. Work which tackles questions of masculinity and the book trades, meanwhile, remains conspicuously scarce, even as male subjects remain the default for many bibliographers.
This conference will bring together academics, librarians, archivists and rare books dealers working across periods to explore new directions in the study of gender and the history of the book. Topics may include, but need not be limited to: -Masculinity and the book trades -Family dynamics -Genealogies of the book -Theory and practice of feminist/inclusive bibliography -The gender of books -Women and book production, especially beyond Western Europe and North America -Communities and identity -Religion, gender and the book -Sexuality/ies and the book
-New methodologies for the study of women in the book trades
The conference will take place from 2nd-4th July 2020. Please send proposals (maximum 300 words) and a short biographical note to Helen Smith (helen.smith@york.ac.uk) and Elise Watson (egw2@st-andrews.ac.uk) by 6th January 2020. Proposals for complete panels and roundtable sessions will also be welcome. Selected papers from this conference will form the basis of an edited volume in Brill’s Library of the Written Word.