Università degli Studi di Torino, Italia
Dipartimento di Scienze del Linguaggio e di Letterature Moderne e Comparate
AIA (Associazione Italiana di Anglistica)
Città di Torino
and Fondazione CRT

ESSE members are invited to submit proposals for seminars and round tables on topics related to our fields of study: English Language, Literatures in English, and Cultural Studies (broadly defined). National Associations are invited to nominate potential lecturers. Proposals may be submitted directly to the Academic Programme Committee (APC, see address below) or through the Presidents or representatives of the National Associations, who will in due course forward them to the APC.

Proposals for seminars on specialised topics within our field should be submitted jointly by two ESSE members, preferably from two different National Associations. The degree of international appeal will be one of the selection - criteria used by the APC. Proposals will not be entertained if they come from two people in the same institution. In exceptional cases the APC may permit one of the two convenors not to be an ESSE member (e.g. because they come from outside Europe), if it is argued that their presence is especially important for the seminar. Seminar proposals must include the names, affiliations and addresses of the convenors and a 100-word description of the topic. Unlike round tables, seminars are not pre-constituted events and will therefore be included within the APC‚s future call for papers, although convenors may take an active role in approaching potential participants. The seminar format is intended to encourage lively participation on the part both of speakers and of members of the audience. For this reason, papers will be orally presented in no longer than 15 minutes rather than read. Reduced versions of the papers will be circulated beforehand among participants. Further directions will follow in the call for papers. NB: proposals for individual papers should NOT be submitted at this stage.

The aim of round tables is to present topics and problems currently seen as shaping the nature of the discipline. At a round table a pre-constituted panel discusses issues of fairly general scholarly or professional interest in front of (and subsequently with) an audience. In other words, round tables are not sequences of papers but debate sessions. Proposals should include a 100-word description of the topic and the names and affiliations of at least three participants (including the convenor), who must be drawn from more than one national association. The maximum number of speakers will be five.

A number of distinguished keynote speakers, including at least one representing each of the three main fields covered by ESSE (English Language, Literatures in English, and Cultural Studies), will give plenary lectures by direct invitation of the organisers. In addition, there will be approximately 10 sub-plenary or parallel lectures given by ESSE members nominated by their national associations. These lectures are expected to have a wide appeal and to reflect recent developments in scholarship in one of the three areas mentioned above. They will be fifty minutes in length. National associations should forward a description of their nominee‚s proposed topic together with a brief summary of his or her CV. Each national association can propose up to three lecturers, each of them in one of the three main fields mentioned above, so that the APC can have a wide range of options for the final selection.

A small number of poster sessions will be devoted to research-in-progress and project presentations. The aim is to provide additional opportunities for feedback and personal contacts. Further details will appear in a future issue of the Messenger, together with the call for papers.

NOTA BENE: The organisers of ESSE 10 are especially interested in receiving proposals for seminars and round tables on the implementation of the Bologna Process in European Higher Education. Thus, methodological presentations and discussions of action research and good practice in the three areas of teaching covered by ESSE scholars will be welcome. The aim of these proposals should be to provide opportunities for debate on first, second and third cycle didactic innovation in the process of adjustment to Bologna, from the perspective of different academic traditions/contexts and their respective modus operandi.

ESSE-10
Dipartimento di Scienze del Linguaggio, Letterature Moderne e Comparate
Università di Torino
Via S. Ottavio 20
10124 Torino
Italy

The University has been closely involved in Turin's history since its inception in 1404, sharing the city's successes, adversities and growth, and has always been open to, and active in, European cultural exchange. There is a long tradition of English Studies at the University of Turin and today the University places great importance on the studying and learning of English Language, English Literature and Domain-specific English. The discipline of English Studies in Turin has made a major contribution to the national and international research scene with an excellent record of publications, following the tradition set by ESSE‚s first President, Professor Piero Boitani. Turin's list of Hon. Causa Laureates within the field of English Studies is also worthy of note, as they include Salman Rushdie, Harold Pinter (who received the Nobel Prize three years later), Nobel Prize winner Wole Soyinka, and the linguist Dell Hymes.

Conference venues and accommodation will be within walking distance of the main downtown monuments: the Royal Palace, Palazzo Madama, the Cathedral (where the Holy Shroud is kept), Palazzo Carignano, the Egyptian Museum, the National Cinema Museum. With the Mole Antonelliana, the symbol of Turin, soaring right above the conference venues, the Olympic City of Turin is ready to host ESSE 2010.