Western Regional Conference on Christianity & Literature 2024

Trinity Western University, Langley, BC

May 9-11, 2024

In Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies, our conference keynote speaker Marilyn McEntyre presents literary art and the study of literature as a form of stewardship. Caring for words is akin, she says, to environmental concern and action, for we hold both language and the land in common. We invite presentations and conversations exploring the relations between literature and conservation, of serving together creatively to keep and pass on what has been given to us. Our theme is intentionally broad as we seek to encourage and celebrate the creation, interpretation, and appreciation of literature from across historical periods and genres. We welcome professors, graduate and undergraduate students from within the discipline of literary studies, as well as scholars from other disciplines who engage with the theme.

Presentations can be in the form of an academic conference paper or a creative presentation on topics that include, but are not limited to, literary creation conversing with

• the work of conservation: ecology, creation theology, contemplative and active practices of creation care

• the work of honoring First Nations or Indigenous ways of knowing and ways of life

• the work of cultivating words: exemplars, strategies, practices of language stewardship

• the work of social justice: remembrance, lament, protest, reconciliation

• the work of the Inklings: Christian imagination and cultural criticism, mythopoesis, literary community

• the work of liturgy: sacred services, sacrament, spiritual practices

• the work of God: grace, transformation, restoring all things in Christ