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CFP: Dracula Returns – A Conference and Celebration

Calls for Submissions

Dracula Returns is a conference and celebration marking the 101st anniversary of Dracula’s licensed stage appearance in Derby. It begins with a site-specific performance in the same building that housed the original performance. The following conference is the culmination of an Arts and Humanities Research Council Curiosity research project charging Derby with the vampiric energy of the Count.

Conference organizers seek papers that address the span of representations, adaptations, mediums and interactions with the character and related locations across its history, present and complex future. Organizers are interested in heritage, tourism and ostensive action. The conference is interdisciplinary, at the intersection of art, creative writing, folkloristics, literary and theatre studies, heritage studies, human geography, tourism, media studies and Dracula studies.

Proposals should be 250 words max for 15-minute papers. Organizers also welcome suggestions for special events (including interventions, screenings, demonstrations or performances), themed or grouped panels, or anything you think might manifest the conference’s themes.

The conference period will include celebratory cultural activities that we warmly encourage all delegates to attend. These include:

  • a Dracula-inspired art build linked with Derby’s Museum of Making
  • The Derby Dracula Monster Mash – a themed garage-rock music festival celebrating underground DIY music with a genre that has decades-long associations with horror b-movie monsters and punk rock spirit
  • a Vampire slam open-mic night
  • a Vampires in reggae dancehall event

Proposals are due by Halloween, 31 October 2024. Proposals and abstracts of 250 words (or further enquiries), can be submitted via email to dracula@derby.ac.uk.

The conference will take place at the Derby Museums at University of Derby, England, May 15 – 18, 2025.

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