Date: 23–24 November 2023
Venue: University of Wrocław, Institute of Information and Media Studies (online on MS Teams)

As history shows, publishing activities carried out parallel to the mainstream often have great potential and their impact grows over time, while the digital revolution has brought new opportunities to their creators. During the conference we would like to look at such activities, past and present, undertaken at all stages of the bibliological communication process, considering their social, cultural, economic, or technological environment. Rare, unique and peculiar publications, created between the niche and the mainstream, often escape precise descriptions, theoretical divisions, and sometimes scholarly reflection altogether. Due to their inaccessibility, unusual nature, and low print runs, such publications are a challenging research source – interesting, but at the same time relative and elusive, heterogeneous, and changing over time. They may include not only editions overlooked by the mainstream, considered unattractive, unfashionable because of their subject matter, target group or external form, but also publications actively opposing the mainstream: alternative, experimental, avant-garde, illegal and underground.

We invite papers related to the overall theme of the conference. Possible areas for investigation include but are not restricted to:

• the efforts of authors, illustrators, graphic designers, designers, typographers, printers, bookbinders to give publications an unusual or particularly original form,
• rare books, their collections and collectors, historical book artists and their unusual works,
• contemporary experiments with book form, surprising and extraordinary projects,
• children’s and young adult books: original editions and publishing series, unusual solutions in picturebooks, toy books, educational books,
• publications of various types: books, magazines, newspapers, catalogues, fanzines, digital editions, etc. with characteristic design solutions, publication covers and layouts,
• underground, conspiratorial, illegal and samizdat publishing,
• books and other media: the impact of media convergence, unusual forms of digital publishing, references to the web in books (references, additions, etc.),
• small and niche publishing,
• independent bookselling,
• non-traditional promotional and marketing activities in publishing houses, bookshops and libraries,
• the impact of niche ventures on the mainstream, circulation of initiatives and publications between niche and mainstream publishers.

The conference welcomes papers from international researchers including industry practitioners and PhD students. The conference will be in Polish and English.

Dates and logistics
Deadline for abstract submission: 30 May 2023
Notification of acceptance: 30 June 2023

All submissions are reviewed by the members of the Organizing and Scientific Committee. All abstracts and papers accepted for and presented at the conference must be in Polish or English. Papers will be 20 minutes maximum followed by a 10 minutes discussion.

CfP

Please send applications to konf2023inim@uwr.edu.pl using form available in DOC or PDF format.

Organising Committee
Lead Convenor: Ewa Repucho
Secretary: Jan Kaczorowski
Financial Issues: Milena Osowska
Technical Support: Rafał Werszler

(Quelle: Aussendung)