2024 Conference Programme
Day One: Friday, 2nd August 2024
The conference was held in the Watershed venue in central Bristol.
Please find under each session the recorded talks, presentations and speech notes.
12:30 – 13:00
(Watershed 3)
Arrivals and Registrations
13:00 – 13:15
(Watershed 3)
Welcome
13:15 – 14:00
(Watershed 3)
Interview with author and friend of Diana,
Neil Gaiman
14:00 – 15:30
(Watershed 3)
Plenary 1: Bookshelves and Writing
Catherine Butler
“Diana Wynne Jones’s Bookshelf”
Irina Ćošković
“The “Queen of British Fantasy”: Exploring Diana Wynne Jones’s Legacy in Japan”
15:30 – 16:00
Coffee Break
16:00 – 17:30
PARALLEL SESSIONS
Workshop 1 – Amy Hutchings: Art Workshop
(Watershed 3)
Talks 1: Making Magic
(Watershed 2)
Meredith MacArdle
“Back on the Shelves”
Charlotte Scott
“Typologies of Magic in Diana Wynne Jones’s Work”
Jackie E. Stallcup
“A Precarious, Magical Balance: Hope, Humour and Melancholy in the Works of Diana Wynne Jones”
Claire Wong
“The Magic of Believability: Where the Sense of Wonder Meets Reality”
Day Two: Saturday, 3rd August 2024
09:00 – 09:30
(Watershed 3)
Arrivals
09:30 – 11:00
(Watershed 3)
Plenary 2: Reading Diana Wynne Jones
MG Zimeta
“Reading Therapy: Diana Wynne Jones’s Books and Childhood Complex Trauma”
Leigh Shulman
“We Are Made of Stories: Diana Wynne Jones’s Storytelling Legacy”
11:00 – 11:30
Coffee Break
11:30 – 13:00
PARALLEL SESSIONS
Workshop 2: Virtual Walk
(Watershed 2)
Talks 2: Translations, Transformations and Adaptions
(Watershed 3)
Rei Uemura
“Diana Wynne Jones’s Success in Japan”
Chelsea Roasa
“Illustrating Diana Wynne Jones”
Saya Kanemoto
“The Curse of Life: The Secret of Sophie’s Magic in Howl’s Moving Castle”
Gili Bar-Hillel
“Esh vaRosh: Translating ‘Fire and Hemlock’ and Other Diana Wynne Jones books into Hebrew”
13:00 – 14:00
Lunch, Booksale and Signings
14:00 – 15:30
PARALLEL SESSIONS
Workshop 3: Ania Varez – Dance and Movement Workshop
(Watershed 2)
Talks 3: Influences and Legacy
(Watershed 3)
Emma Falconer
“A Deep Dive into T.S Eliot’s Four Quartets and Fire and Hemlock”
Matthew Knights
“Today’s Children and Diana Wynne Jones”
Kate Forsyth
“Truth and Strangeness: Diana Wynne Jones and Fairy Tales”
Robyn Little
“Diana Wynne Jones’s Inspiration to New Writers”
15:30 – 16:00
Coffee Break
16:00 – 17:30
(Watershed 3)
Plenary 3: Panel Discussion with Anna James, Garth Nix and Pari Thomson
Facilitators Rosy Low and Henrietta Wilson
18:30 – 21:00
(Watershed 3)
Conference Dinner
Day Three: Sunday, 4th August 2024
09:00 – 09:30
(Watershed 3)
Arrivals
09:30 – 11:00
(Watershed 3)
Plenary 4: Workshop
“The Art and the Perils of Adapting Diana Wynne Jones’s Novels for the Screen”
with Dan Gaster and Richard Jackson
11:00 – 11:30
Coffee Break
11:30 – 12:30
(Watershed 3)
Plenary 5: Talks by Diana’s Sister and Son
- Isobel Armstrong “Two Unique Diana Myths: Spells and Bounders”
- Micky Burrow “A Bombardment of Books: Reading with my Mother”
12:30 – 13:00
(Watershed 3)
Wrapping Up, Thank you, and Close of Conference!
Thank you very much for coming!
We hope you had a fantastic time with us in August!
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