Association for the Study of Literature and Environment
Biennial Conference – University of Galway,
9th (online), 12-14th August 2025
The 2025 conference for the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment, UK and Ireland (ASLE-UKI) will be hosted by the University of Galway, Ireland. ASLE-UKI welcomes participation from scholars, readers, and creative practitioners interested in the relationships between literatures, environments and cultures – past, present, or future from anywhere in the world.
The theme of the 2025 conference is Erosion – Creimeadh. (Creimeadh is the Irish word for erosion: pronounced ‘crem-oo’). Erosion is a slow, gradual type of degradation. It is hard to
perceive, with its effects often only becoming visible over time through generational knowledge, art, or technology. Yet, erosion also contains the risk of suddenness, as once it reaches a certain point, disasters such as floods, mudslides, or avalanches can
strike. Erosion is a salient example of Rob Nixon’s concept of “slow violence” (2011), or Timothy Morton’s concept of the “hyperobject” (2013), which express the difficulty of dealing with nonhuman scales when there are calls for action. How can
literature and culture be a way to perceive, theorise, or address erosion?
Confirmed keynote speakers:
- John Brannigan
- Nessa Cronin
- Malcolm Sen
