BIG SCREENS, SMALL SCREENS: SIZE MATTERS (IN ADAPTATION)
CALL FOR PAPERS:  LITERATURE/FILM CONFERENCE, 10-12 OCTOBER 2013
OREAD HOTEL, THE CAMPUS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS, LAWRENCE, KS.
Deadline: June 1, 2013
 
“I like to watch. . .” writes David Thomson in his new book, The Big Screen. (2012). “We citizens are living with screens, even if nowadays we don’t go to ‘the movies’. . .  ." Thomson, noted critic and historian, is the Keynote Speaker at the 2013 LFA Conference at the University of Kansas, 10-12 October 2013. His book provides the theme of this year’s Conference—“Big Screens, Small Screens:  Size Matters (in Adaptation).”

This year we explore the changing aspects and consequences of the many “screens”—big, small, stationary, and mobile— that dominate our visual culture.  These range from the big theater screens of classical Hollywood to today’s television and computer screens, mobile, hand-held screens of SmartPhones and Ipads, interactive video games, and the still frames of comic books and graphic novels.  Moreover, we are no longer stationary viewers and readers positioned in public theaters and domestic armchairs; we consume our cinematic and literary texts on the move, in cars, office spaces, shopping malls, and airplanes.  Consumption, perception, and comprehension of these texts are affected.  As a result, the whole nature and practice of “adaptation” is changing. 

In addition to traditional adaptation studies topics, other suggested subjects for conference presentations include:  

•	How have the convenience, variety, and ubiquity of digital technologies affected the distribution and consumption of classic literary texts?  
•	What literary texts have best lent themselves to a variety of channels of dissemination?  How do newer and less conventional texts—such as comic books and video games—lend themselves to adaptation?  
•	How does the mobility of smart phones and ipads affect patterns of consumption?  
•	What consequences do the interactive potentials of video games have on classic literary texts?  
•	How do fan editors at their home computers adapt and “author” their own adaptations of pre-existing cinematic texts?  
•	And the question that hovers above it all:  What does it mean these days “To watch. . . .”  

In addition to David Thomson’s Keynote presentation, there will be special panels, roundtables, and workshops, including demonstrations on fan-editing and a new panel on “Poetry on Film.”   

Please send your (200-word) abstracts or inquiries to the co-organizers by June 1, 2013.

	John C. Tibbetts: [log in to unmask]
	Cynthia J. Miller: [log in to unmask]

The conference host site is the new Oread Hotel, a attractive multi-service facility located at 1200 Oread Avenue, conveniently situated on northern edge of the campus of the University of Kansas, just a few steps from the campus Student Union.  All conference activities and dining facilities are under one roof. If you wish to explore Lawrence, the Oread is just minutes away from downtown.  The conference has secured a block of discounted rooms. Additional information can be obtained from [log in to unmask]  Phone number:  785-843-1200.

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Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite
http://www.ScreenSite.org