[ilds] CFP: Writing Port/Cities in the Blue Humanities

[James Gifford]

*Writing Port/Cities in the Blue Humanities*

*On Miracle Ground XXIII*

*July 16-18, 2026 – Vancouver, Canada*

*Venue: Fairleigh Dickinson University Vancouver Campus*

    “Landscape-tones: steep skylines, low cloud, pearl ground with
    shadows in oyster and violet. Accidie.” (/Justine/ 216)

The International Lawrence Durrell Society invites proposals for its 
July 2026 *in-person conference* hosted by Fairleigh Dickinson 
University <https://www.fdu.edu/>, Vancouver. While proposals on any 
aspect of Durrell’s writing and that of his contemporaries are welcome, 
the organising committee encourages consideration of the theme of the 
Port/City or the Blue Humanities more generally, including Vancouver 
literatures.

The conference venue of the coastal, seaport city of Vancouver in 
British Columbia—the largest port in Canada and the fourth largest in 
North America—suggests exploration of ports and urban (marine, aquatic) 
settings in Durrell’s works, addressing the historical, cultural, and 
social significance of port cities. With Vancouver Port being in the 
immediate vicinity of the conference and a vital hub of trade between 
Canada and world economies, the conference will explore how literary 
cities or communities use the ocean or sea as connections or barriers. 
Vancouver literatures depict the Pacific Ocean as a passage exploring 
migration, homelessness, reconciliation, and belonging as well as 
identity, hybridity, and liminality—all themes across Durrell’s works.

Whether focused on Vancouver or the many port cities in Durrell’s 
literary works (Alexandria, Athens, London, Istanbul, Rhodes, &c.), the 
theme of port cities also gestures to recent scholarship on Oceanic 
Studies 
<https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/pmla/article/abs/prospect-of-oceanic-studies/A7BBE12AC4EA6B9C9D49C010ED86927B>, 
the Blue Humanities 
<https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781003166665/introduction-blue-humanities-steve-mentz>, 
Oceanic Modernisms 
<https://modernismmodernity.org/articles/hayward-long-towards-oceanian-modernism>, 
and Atlantic Studies 
<https://lsupress.org/9780807172940/atlantic-studies/>. Such approaches 
are welcomed and encouraged in relation to Durrell’s works, his 
contemporaries, and Vancouver literature.

Please submit *abstracts* (300 words maximum) for 20-minute papers and 
short *biographical notes* stating affiliation (150 words): 
https://lawrencedurrell.org/wp_durrell/omg-xxiii/

  * Proposals will be considered until *February 28*, with formal
    response by *March 8*.
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