​Organising Committee for Othello’s Island: Dr. Stella Achilleos (University of Cyprus, Cyprus); Prof. James Fitzmaurice (Northern Arizona University);  Prof. Lisa Hopkins (Sheffield Hallam University, UK); Dr Sarah James (University of Kent, UK); Dr Michael Paraskos (Imperial College London, UK)

Now in its second year as a strand within the annual academic conference “Othello’s Island”, the Early Modern Women Writers’ Colloquium has demonstrated the interest in developing a regular annual event dedicated to exploring the lives of women writers in the Renaissance and early modern periods.

For our second year in 2018, we are following the successful format established in our first year, by teaming up with the organisers of Othello’s Island, a well-established conference on medieval, renaissance and early modern studies, held annually in Cyprus. Again we will be organising a semi-autonomous conference strand (“the Colloquium”) within the Othello’s Island conference, focusing on the lives and work of women during the Renaissance and early modern periods.

As a whole, Othello’s Island attracts around 100 delegates, whose topics include archaeology, art history, history, and literary studies, to name but a few. The Early Modern Women Writers’ Colloquium runs alongside this at the Centre for Visual Arts and Research in Nicosia, Cyprus, allowing for interesting cross referencing to the work of speakers in the Othello’s Island Conference, and shared resources and events.

For 2018 the convenors of the Early Modern Women Writers’ Colloquium will be Dr Stella Achilleos of the University of Cyprus, and Professor James Fitzmaurice of Northern Arizona University.

The aim for 2018 is for the Early Modern Women Writers’ Colloquium to be open-minded, allowing a diverse range of approaches and topics related to Renaissance and early modern women to be discussed. This might include the lives of women during the periods, the work of specific women writers or other women artists, or the role and activity of women in wider society and culture. In the case of women writers and artists, this might also include consideration of their contemporary and posthumous reputations.

The Early Modern Women Writers’ Colloquium is fully intergrated into the wider Othello’s Island conference. This means delegates can mix-and-match attendance at talks in the strand with talks on other topics at the conference.

​Those taking part are also welcome to join in with the social events for the wider conference, including group meals and trips to some stunning medieval and renaissance sites.

Call for Papers

If you are interested in giving a talk at the conference on the early modern women strand please submit a proposal for a paper as early as possible. Standard papers are 20 minutes long, followed by 5 or 10 minutes for questions.

If your paper does not fit in this area you should submit it instead to the main Othello’s Island conference (click here for the Othello’s Island Conference website).

​ Proposals for papers for the early modern women strand should comprise a cover sheet showing:​

1. Your title (eg. Mr, Ms, Dr, Prof. etc.) and full name

2. Your institutional affiliation (if any)

3. Your postal address, e’mail address and telephone number

4. The title of your proposed paper​ ​

All papers must be delivered in English. Attendance of speakers is mandatory – we do not allow Skype or proxy presentations.

The deadline for submissions of proposals is 22 December 2017.

Early submission is strongly advised. We aim to have a decision on the acceptance of papers within four weeks of submission.

If you have any questions please contact Professor James Fitzmaurice at  j.fitzmaurice@sheffield.ac.uk