Mapping Yeats: An Interdisciplinary Symposium
Crown Center, Kansas City, Missouri
September 3 and 4, 2015
In celebration of the 150th anniversary of the birth of William Butler Yeats, the University of Missouri–Kansas City, the University of Kansas, Rockhurst University, Ottawa University, and the Kansas City Irish Festival are hosting an interdisciplinary academic symposium, “Mapping Yeats,” featuring keynote lectures by Professors Declan Kiberd and Vicki Mahaffey.
We particularly welcome presentations addressing Yeats’s geographical, political, spiritual, philosophical, theatrical, literary and other relationships with specific people and places. We will also consider presentations that use archival materials to develop new insights into Yeats’s life and work, including his life in Dublin, London, Galway, and Sligo, and his contributions to, and relationships with, the Irish Literary Revival, the Irish National Theatre, the Easter Rising, the War of Independence and Civil War, the Dun Emer Press, the Irish Senate, and leagues and societies including the Rhymers Club, the Gaelic League, and the Irish Republican Brotherhood.
Prospective participants are invited to propose a single paper or a complete panel. We welcome proposals by graduate students, independent scholars, non-tenure and tenure-line faculty, and tenured professors. You are welcome to contact us with enquiries.
Please forward a 250-500 word proposal, a brief bio., and contact information to Professor Stephen Dilks (dilkss@umkc.edu) and Professor Kathryn Conrad (kconrad@ku.edu) by April 30, 2015. If you are proposing a complete panel, please include the names, contact information, and a brief bio. for all participants.
Central Standard Theatre, a KC-based company that performs regularly at the Edinburgh Festival, will present “Spreading the News” and “Cathleen Ni Houlihan.” The symposium will also showcase archival artifacts from the P.S. O’Hegarty collection at the University of Kansas, illustrating Yeats’s connections with Dublin, London, Sligo, and Galway.
Symposium participants will have the opportunity to attend the Kansas City Irish Fest on September 4-6. One of the three largest Irish Festivals in the USA, with over 90,000 attendees over the weekend, the KCIF features five music stages, a Culture Area, Whiskey and Beer Tasting tents, a Children’s Area, a Comedy Stage, Genealogy and Art in the Park. For further information see http://www.kcirishfest.com .