Plans are in the works for a three-day conference at Queen’s University to celebrate the centenary of George Whalley’s birth on 25 July 2015. Each one of the three days is meant to stand alone (though some people may wish to attend for two or three days), and the subjects have been chosen to recognize different aspects of Whalley’s life and work.
Friday, July 24 – Romanticism and Aesthetics
Saturday, July 25 – George Whalley, the Man and the Legend
Sunday, July 26 – the 60th Anniversary of the Canadian Writer’s Conference, held at Queen’s University, 28-31 July 1955. (Whalley co-organized the event and edited the conference proceedings, entitled Writing in Canada).
Calls for papers will be made in the near future. The intention is for the sessions on the first and third days to address the topics, not necessarily Whalley and his work. For the second day, there will be papers on at least a few of the following subjects: Whalley’s poetry, his writings on John Hornby and Edgar Christian, his translation of Aristotle’s Poetics, Poetic Process, his love of music, his military career, and his contributions to CBC radio, among other things. Michael Ondaatje and Elizabeth Hay have accepted invitations to speak on the second day.
A banquet in honour of Whalley will be scheduled for Saturday evening and may be held at the HMCS Cataraqui – where Whalley was the commanding officer in the early 1950s – in a room with a beautiful view of the water. The organizers will try to arrange a performance of music from the Romantic period for later Saturday evening in the Bader Centre.
The conference is not meant to be narrowly academic. Family, friends, former colleagues and students, as well as people in the Kingston community are all welcome to attend.
Questions and suggestions are welcome: email me at michael.disanto@algomau.ca.