Call for Papers
Bowie’s Books: David Bowie, Literature, and Language
English and Creative Writing at the University of Northampton
University of Northampton, Friday 13 January 2017

As an artist, David Bowie is famous for crossing boundaries of genre, form, and identity. But the touring “David Bowie Is” exhibition, curated by the V&A, has not only promoted an image of Bowie as highly literate and widely read, but documented Bowie’s extensive reading habits for the first time, making explicit the connection between his music, personae, and patterns of reading. The Guardian has followed this up with a list of Bowie’s “100 Must-Read Books” – http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/oct/01/david-bowie-books-kerouac-milligan. This conference, hosted by the University of Northampton to commemorate the one year anniversary of Bowie’s death, aims to build on this new perspective on Bowie’s work, and welcomes papers that deal with any connection between Bowie and literature. Possible themes could include (but are not limited to): Bowie’s major influences; Bowie, screenplays and cinema; Bowie’s collaborations (actual or possible); obscenity and censorship; Bowie and decadence; covers and textuality; reading popular culture.

Please direct all proposals to ecw@northampton.ac.uk with a subject line of “BOWIE,” and any questions to sam.reese@northampton.ac.uk
Deadline for proposals is 29 April 2016, and the organisers welcome submissions for 20 minute panel papers, panel proposals of 3-4 panelists (with 15-20 minute papers), and plenary sessions of 50-60 minutes. Papers are welcome from academics, graduate students, and independent scholars. Creative contributions are also welcome. Early submissions are encouraged.