Preliminary Call for Papers
EILÍS DILLON 1920–94:
Exploring Irish Childhoods /
An Irish writer in her time
CENTENARY CONFERENCE
Long Room Hub,
Trinity College Dublin
6–7 March 2020
in association with the School of English, TCD
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KEYNOTE SPEAKER:
DECLAN KIBERD
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Born in Galway, Eilís Dillon grew up with the new Irish state. She started writing in the 1940s, and over the next half-century published more than fifty works charting the concerns of a changing Ireland following the war of independence. Her range was extraordinary: three literary novels, three detective stories, five historical novels, thirty-eight books for children and young people, two stage plays produced in the Abbey and Peacock, two edited books, some poems, short stories, autobiographical essays, translations and radio plays. She lived at various times in Italy and America, served on the Arts Council, and helped to develop cultural organizations including the Irish Writers’ Centre, Children’s Books Ireland, and Aosdána. Her first publications were written in Irish, but the vast majority were in English; so far, her works have been translated into fifteen languages. Her last children’s book was set in Hungary during the Holocaust.
eilís dillon centenary conference,
tcd, 6–7 march 2020
We now invite proposals for papers or panels at a colloquium marking the centenary of Eilís Dillon’s birth. Possible topics include:
History as background or foreground
Ireland in the mid-century
Modernizing Ireland
Irish women writers
Irish language
Folklore
Translation, translations
Myths, Stories and Archetypes
Influences and tradition
Sources and Successors
Text and illustration
Irish crime fiction
Description and dialogue
Villains
Characters of Irish fiction
Communities and conflict
Family life
Childhood
Intergenerational relationships
Humour and satire
Islands and isolation
Outsiders
Poverty
The Wild Atlantic West
Music and song
Dealing with the past
Ideology
The sea
Rome and environs
These are some suggestions, but everyone will have their own ideas, which are welcome. Proposals are invited which address specific topics, or make a contribution to broader cultural or historical debates. Registration for the conference is free.
In this first call, the deadline for proposing panels, topics or individual 20-minute papers is Wednesday 31 August 2019. Please send all proposals to eilisdillon100@tcd.ie.
Other centenary events will also take place. The Eilís Dillon website (www.eilisdillon.net) is currently being updated and will change to www.eilisdillon.ie.
Contacts: Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, Cormac Ó Cuilleanáin.
Advisory committee: Jane Suzanne Carroll, Celia Keenan, Patricia Kennon, Amanda Piesse, Mary Shine Thompson, Pádraic Whyte.