Readers inspire a revealing event
Image courtesy of The Centre for the Book.
As debates about the death of books and the push into the digital age continue, writers and publishers have realised they’re nothing without their readers.
Revealing The Reader, an upcoming conference convened by Monash University, will bring together scholars with a common interest in contemporary and historical reading practices with the aim of showcasing current research in this rapidly expanding field, and providing a forum for discussion and debate on the state of reading research.
Dr Anna Poletti, who has co-organised the conference with Dr Patrick Spedding, both from the Centre for the Book in the School of English, Communications and Performance Studies, said recent developments in the history of the book demonstrate that an interest in the material history of print culture inevitably leads us the question of readers.
“How well can we understand the past, present and future of print culture without examining the uses to which it is put to by its audience?” Dr Poletti said.
“This question serves not only to remind us of the primacy of the economic relationship between readers, writers and publishers, but draws our attention to the variety of cultural, social, political and interpersonal roles that reading has played and continues to play.”
A leading expert in the rise of reading events and the increased role of books in popular culture, Dr Danielle Fuller will be delivering the conference’s keynote address.
Dr Fuller, from the University of Birmingham, has undertaken a large scale research project into mass reading events; projects that bring together communities through the reading of a set book, across countries and continents.
“Dr Fuller’s research moves beyond speculation about changes in reading to provide and analyse data about how books are used to create and strengthen bonds in communities both at the local level, such as government initiatives, and in the mass media, with groups such as Oprah’s Book Club,” Dr Poletti said.
Presentations will investigate reading practices and readers from the perspective of the sociology of literature, book history, literature studies, mixed methods research, reader response theory, history, cultural studies and the study of material culture.
“This conference will bring together researchers from Australia, Europe and the UK to discuss who reads, why, and what researching readers tells us about the history and the future of writing,” Dr Poletti said.
Revealing The Reader be held from 9am-6pm, 28-29 June, at the Wheeler’s Centre and the Monash Conference Centre, Collins St, Melbourne. For further information and registrations, visit the Faculty of Arts website.