Imagination and the Natural World - Writers, writing and perception

How do contemporary writers who think about the environment begin to recognise their own approaches and tropes as symbolically linked to that environment? How might forms of writing begin to create new ways of composing the natural world? Could the imaginative act, played out in fiction, poetry or hybrid works, stoke or hone habits of attention which lead to possible new perceptions?

This panel will be made up of writers who are interested in possibly de-instrumentalizing the act of imaginative writing. Perhaps it is when least didactic or informative that work which rests on metaphor, symbol or experimental strategies is most likely to capture or convey something real and sustainable?

This panel will explore how writing itself is intrinsically an act of political dissent in our present moment.

Speakers:

Sarah Butler, PhD student in Creative Writing, The Open University,

Siobhan Campbell, Lecturer, The Open University,

Sally O’Reilly, Senior Lecturer, The Open University.