{"id":28,"date":"2024-12-05T14:06:45","date_gmt":"2024-12-05T14:06:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital-humanities.open.ac.uk\/letters2025\/?page_id=28"},"modified":"2025-11-11T12:13:28","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T12:13:28","slug":"home","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/digital-humanities.open.ac.uk\/letters2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Home"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-nowrap is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-8f761849 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/fass.open.ac.uk\/english-creative-writing\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"495\" height=\"165\" src=\"https:\/\/digital-humanities.open.ac.uk\/dhou-data\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/12\/OU_logo_Poppins.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-31\" style=\"width:311px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/digital-humanities.open.ac.uk\/dhou-data\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/12\/OU_logo_Poppins.jpg 495w, https:\/\/digital-humanities.open.ac.uk\/dhou-data\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/12\/OU_logo_Poppins-300x100.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 495px) 100vw, 495px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-8f761849 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:100%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/fass.open.ac.uk\/research\/centres\/arts-and-humanities\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"362\" height=\"158\" src=\"https:\/\/digital-humanities.open.ac.uk\/dhou-data\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/12\/OpenARC_logo.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-32\" style=\"width:131px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/digital-humanities.open.ac.uk\/dhou-data\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/12\/OpenARC_logo.png 362w, https:\/\/digital-humanities.open.ac.uk\/dhou-data\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/12\/OpenARC_logo-300x131.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 362px) 100vw, 362px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mklitfest.org\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"526\" src=\"https:\/\/digital-humanities.open.ac.uk\/dhou-data\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/09\/MK_Lit_black_19_hr_edited-9-1024x526.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-232\" style=\"width:148px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/digital-humanities.open.ac.uk\/dhou-data\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/09\/MK_Lit_black_19_hr_edited-9-1024x526.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/digital-humanities.open.ac.uk\/dhou-data\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/09\/MK_Lit_black_19_hr_edited-9-300x154.jpg 300w, https:\/\/digital-humanities.open.ac.uk\/dhou-data\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/09\/MK_Lit_black_19_hr_edited-9.jpg 1666w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized wp-duotone-grayscale\"><a href=\"https:\/\/sharpweb.org\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1829\" height=\"1646\" src=\"https:\/\/digital-humanities.open.ac.uk\/dhou-data\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/01\/SHARP-Logo-Converted.jpg\" alt=\"Logo of SHARP, the Society for the History of Authorship, Reading and Publishing\" class=\"wp-image-120\" style=\"width:129px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/digital-humanities.open.ac.uk\/dhou-data\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/01\/SHARP-Logo-Converted.jpg 1829w, https:\/\/digital-humanities.open.ac.uk\/dhou-data\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/01\/SHARP-Logo-Converted-300x270.jpg 300w, https:\/\/digital-humanities.open.ac.uk\/dhou-data\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/01\/SHARP-Logo-Converted-1024x922.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1829px) 100vw, 1829px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Letters and Literature 1500-2025: histories, forms, communities<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>5-7 November 2025 <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>FREE online only conference<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">THANK YOU<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To all those who attended the Letters and Literature conference:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">THANK YOU for joining us, for your energising comments and questions, and for helping to make it such a successful and enjoyable event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Keep an eye on the website for updates, and we will send news when we have it of recordings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Good luck in your future projects, and we hope to see you again!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote><p>Very best,<\/p><cite>Sara Haslam and the conference team:<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Edward Hogan<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Eleanor Dodd<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Francesca Benatti<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Rachele De Felice<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Jonathan Gibson<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Anne Wetherilt<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Daria Chernysheva<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Letters have been described in one evocative image as \u2018a form in flight\u2019 (Liz Stanley). Seeking to appreciate more fully such descriptions and their importance for literary studies, we aim to bring together in this online event scholars, writers and researchers interested in exploring letters and literature from the sixteenth century to the present day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This FREE 3-day online international conference\u2019s broad focus is the letter in its material and textual forms, as manifested across literary history\u00ad\u2014from the tragedy of <em>Romeo and Juliet<\/em> to the golden age of epistolary fiction, Kate Thomas\u2019 \u2018postal plots\u2019 of the nineteenth century, and what Maria L\u00f6schnigg and Rebekka Schuh have identified as an Epistolary Renaissance in the work of 21<sup>st<\/sup> century writers. Participants are encouraged to engage with this theme in ways including but not limited to the following questions\/topics:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>how, where and why do letters feature in literary texts and literary communities?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>what strategies of narrative, plot, or character do they illustrate and deploy?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>the role of materiality in literary letters<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>letters as vehicles for exploring writers\u2019 ideas about the public and the private, absence and presence, the global and the local, and\/or notions of authenticity and the \u2018authentic self\u2019<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>letters and literary reputations<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>letter writing manuals and the development of literary history<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>what counts as a letter in twenty-first century narratives?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Letters have been described as the \u2018epistolary form of gift exchange\u2019 (Stanley), and Mecca Jamilah Sullivan cites the \u2018breathlessness of urgent listening\u2019 evoked by writers\u2019 correspondence. We seek contributions investigating letters as makers and markers of creative communities, including but not limited to the following topics:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>the role of letters in writers\u2019 networks<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>imagined letters\/letters unsent<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>writers\u2019 letters from prison<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>representation or employment of letters in diasporic\/migrant epistolary narratives<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Creative responses to all these issues are very much welcomed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And with a keen eye on issues of preservation and representation, we are interested to hear too from those working on the editing of writers\u2019 letters (print and digital), and on letters in the archives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Visit the <a href=\"https:\/\/digital-humanities.open.ac.uk\/letters2025\/call-for-papers\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"9\">Calls<\/a> page for more details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/digital-humanities.open.ac.uk\/dhou-data\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/12\/Bodleian_Jane_Austen_1813_envelope_edit02-1024x300.jpeg\" alt=\"Envelope reading: Miss Austen, Chawton. Written by Jane Austen to Cassandra Austen, 1813. Detail from Oxford, Bodleian Library MS. 21838: https:\/\/digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk\/objects\/4ed2b41d-fdc2-4824-9d26-55957ee35040\/ CC BY-NC 4.0\" class=\"wp-image-48\" srcset=\"https:\/\/digital-humanities.open.ac.uk\/dhou-data\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/12\/Bodleian_Jane_Austen_1813_envelope_edit02-1024x300.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/digital-humanities.open.ac.uk\/dhou-data\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/12\/Bodleian_Jane_Austen_1813_envelope_edit02-300x88.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/digital-humanities.open.ac.uk\/dhou-data\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/12\/Bodleian_Jane_Austen_1813_envelope_edit02.jpeg 1159w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Envelope reading: Miss Austen, Chawton. Written by Jane Austen to Cassandra Austen, 1813. Detail from Oxford, Bodleian Library MS. 21838: https:\/\/digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk\/objects\/4ed2b41d-fdc2-4824-9d26-55957ee35040\/ CC BY-NC 4.0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Banner image<\/strong>: detail from Reginald Marsh &#8220;Unloading the Mail&#8221;. Photo by Carol M. Highsmith. Full scale image available at https:\/\/hdl.loc.gov\/loc.pnp\/highsm.24950. No known copyright restrictions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Letters and Literature 1500-2025: histories, forms, communities 5-7 November 2025 FREE online only conference THANK YOU Letters have been described in one evocative image as \u2018a form in flight\u2019 (Liz Stanley). Seeking to appreciate more fully such descriptions and their importance for literary studies, we aim to bring together in this online event scholars, writers <a href=\"https:\/\/digital-humanities.open.ac.uk\/letters2025\/\" class=\"more-link\">&#8230;<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Home<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-28","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digital-humanities.open.ac.uk\/letters2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/28","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digital-humanities.open.ac.uk\/letters2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digital-humanities.open.ac.uk\/letters2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digital-humanities.open.ac.uk\/letters2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digital-humanities.open.ac.uk\/letters2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28"}],"version-history":[{"count":42,"href":"https:\/\/digital-humanities.open.ac.uk\/letters2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/28\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":456,"href":"https:\/\/digital-humanities.open.ac.uk\/letters2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/28\/revisions\/456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digital-humanities.open.ac.uk\/letters2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}