A message from LMMI's Chair Dr. Philip Smith about the L.M. Montgomery and Vision Conference:
Dear LMMI Community members,
It remains our hope that we will be able to proceed with the 14th biennial L.M. Montgomery Institute International Conference, L.M. Montgomery and Vision, in Prince Edward Island this June. Like you, we are acutely aware of developments with COVID-19 across the world. We are closely following statements from the Public Health Agency of Canada, which of course links with the World Health Organization and partner agencies globally. At this point there are no recommendations from our public health officials that would suggest the June conference on PEI must be cancelled, but as we know, the situation is fluid. While we hope to be able to proceed as usual, we also are developing contingency plans for the conference
Conference delegates are reminded that anyone who has registered for the conference is able, up to two weeks before the conference begins, to cancel registration for a full refund, less a $25 administration fee. If we need to cancel the conference, full registration fees will be refunded. A higher cost for most delegates is airfare, and given the uncertainty of matters we would not recommend purchasing travel at this time unless appropriate cancellation options are available to you.
Again, we hope to be able to welcome first-time and seasoned Montgomery Conference delegates, from the 13 countries scheduled to be represented, to the Island in June. At the same time, the highest priority is the health and safety of our LMMI community and those with whom we interact. We will keep you updated as we have more information. In the meantime, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel most welcome to get in touch at lmmi@upei.ca.
Sincerely,
“My fingers tingle to grasp a pen—my brain teems with plots. I've a score of fascinating dream characters I want to write about. Oh, if there only were not such a chasm between seeing a thing and getting it down on paper!” –Emily Climbs (1925)
“If for Montgomery Nature was eternal and eternally present, then the memory pictures of Nature reflected were perhaps meant to help her and her viewers to transcend time and, in entering the imaginative landscape, initiate generative seeing and fresh reverie.” –Elizabeth Epperly, Through Lovers Lane: L.M. Montgomery’s Photography and Visual Imagination
The 2020 conference will discuss research pertaining to L.M. Montgomery’s life, writings, and/or scholarship through the lens of vision. Montgomery found inspiration in what she saw around her, and she spent a lifetime translating what she saw into her writing and other creative works. The word vision derives from the Latin videre, “to see,” but as Montgomery knew, there is never a direct or straight line between the observing eye and the object that is seen (or not seen). Beyond topics relating to “visuality,” “vision” might also suggest, among other topics, (in)visibility, prescience, dreams, wisdom, imaginary or supernatural phenomena, apparitions. It could also be the visioning and re-visioning of material – including Montgomery's own life – for which she is renowned.
The conference theme will explore:
- Montgomery’s visual descriptions and aesthetic; how she “sees” the world through her writing
- Adaptations or revisions of Montgomery’s life and works on/in film, stage, art, new media, and beyond
- The art and artistry of the illustrators of Montgomery’s works
- Connections between vision and other senses in her fiction
- Sight/seeing and the limitations of it or the enhancements and physical aids to it (e.g., glasses, binoculars, telescopes, camera lenses, etc.)
- Metaphors of vision (e.g., re/views, perspectives, visionaries, reflections, blindness, opacity/transparency, etc.) in and around the world of Montgomery
- Re-seeing, revision, remembering, and nostalgia in Montgomery’s creative and/or autobiographical processes
- Things unseen, invisible, imaginary, or otherwise out of sight
- And much, much more … looking forward to seeing you in Charlottetown!
Our Co-Chairs for LMMI’s L.M. Montgomery and Vision Conference 2020:
Dr. Lesley Clement, the current Visiting Scholar, will be responsible for our 14th Biennial conference in 2020—L.M. Montgomery and Vision. Lesley has held teaching and administrative positions at various Canadian universities. She has published on visual literacy, empathy, and death in children’s literature. She is currently working on artists’ biographies in children’s nonfiction picturebooks. Her work on Montgomery appears in Studies in Canadian Literature and L.M. Montgomery and the Matter of Nature(s). Recent projects include co-editing, with Rita Bode, L.M. Montgomery’s Rainbow Valleys: The Ontario Years, 1911-1942 (MQUP 2015) and, with Leyli Jamali, Global Perspectives on Death in Children’s Literature (Routledge 2016). She is currently co-editing a volume of essays, L.M. Montgomery in Conversation about Children and Childhood(s), with Rita Bode, Holly Pike, and Margaret Steffler.
Register Now for the 14th Biennial Conference!
Conference Schedule:
A draft schedule for the L.M. Montgomery and Vision Conference is here! Please note that presentation times and other details are subject to change.
Accommodations:
Prince Edward Island is filled with wonderful options for accommodations, in many styles and across price ranges. Visit this provincial government site for details: https://www.tourismpei.com/pei-accommodations
Double - $62.00 (+ applicable taxes)
Double Suite $108.00 (+ applicable taxes)
Emailing: conference@upei.ca
Telephoning 902-566-0442 or 902-566-0952
1) name
2) address
3) telephone number
4) dates you wish to stay
5) type of room
6) valid Visa, Mastercard, or American Express to hold the booking