XXVI International Congress of the FILLM

XXVI FILLM Congress: Plenary Speakers Announced

The FILLM is happy to announce that the plenary speakers at the XXVI FILLM Congress will be Professor Tope Omoniyi (University of Roehampton), Professor Julie Sanders (University of Nottingham), Professor Hein Willemse (University of Pretoria) and Professor Zhang Longxi (City University, Hong Kong).

Update (6.6.2014): Please note that, unfortunately, Professor Zhang Longxi (City University, Hong Kong) has been obliged to cancel his participation.

To download the plenary speakers' abstracts, press here.

Professor Tope Omoniyi is a published poet. He is also a leading sociolinguist and author and editor of many books and articles. For more information on both sides of Tope’s work, visit his home page here.

Paper title: "African Languages and Literatures under the Change Dynasty" / "African Literacies, Confucius Institutes and Dragon Floats"

Professor Julie Sanders is Professor of English Literature and Drama at the University of Nottingham UK and currently Vice Provost (Teaching and Learning) at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China. She is the author of Adaptation and Appropriation (Routledge, 2005) and several books on Shakespearean adaptation as well as being on the editorial board of key journals in the field. Working with Susan Bennett, she recently contributed to projects on Shakespeare and the Cultural Olympiad for Cambridge University Press and Contemporary Theatre Review.

Paper title: "Shakespeare Beyond English?: Adaptation, Case Study, and Creativity in World Cinema"

Professor Heinrich Stephen Samuel Willemse is a South African academic, literary critic, activist and author. He currently serves as Professor in the Department of Afrikaans at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, and as editor-in-chief of the African literary journal Tydskrif vir Letterkunde (Journal for Literature). He has published widely in academic journals and South African national newspapers. He is a regular contributor to LitNet, an Afrikaans literary e-zine, and he has also authored and edited several works of literature: as editor, Die Trojaanse perd (Taurus, 1986), Swart Afrikaanse skrywers (University of the Western Cape Press, 1986),  iQabane Labantu (Taurus, 1986, co-editor),  Die reis na Paternoster (University of the Western Cape Press, 1997, co-editor), Die stukke wat ons sny (Kwela, 1999)  and More than brothers: Peter Clarke and James Matthews at 70 (Kwela, 2000); and as author Angsland (Blac Publishers, 1966, volume of poetry) and Aan die ander kant (Protea Boekhuis, 2007, on black Afrikaans authors in the Afrikaans literature).

Paper title: "'Where is home?' The alienation and integration of Afrikaans literature and the African continent"