Movement & Stasis: 30th Annual AAWP Conference

The Parkville campus of the University of Melbourne is situated on the unceded lands of the Wurundjeri people & we acknowledge and respect their continuing connection with Country. 

This year's conference is on the theme of Movement & Stasis and our program of academic keynotes, plenaries, papers, panels and allied events reflects consideration of movement & stasis, including notions of physical, social, political, communal or artistic movement, but also arrivals, departures, walking on country, transformation, mobility and change. Placing movement alongside stasis, conference attendees will consider the two themes in relation: ambiguities, contradictions, tensions, as well as productive entanglements enabled by both/and thinking. The theme of stasis spans periods of inactivity or equilibrium through to stoppages and civil strife.  Stasis might also mean slowing down; it might mean stability.

Our conference program engages these themes in a manner relevant to the creative writing discipline, creative and professional writing practices and processes, research in creative writing, the teaching of writing and related issues.

Tickets to our main conference program

The main conference program runs from 8.30am to 5,30pm on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday 3-5 December on our Parkville campus. Our conference is a fully onsite event and all presenters will present in person.

The online component of our main conference program is limited to keynote and plenary events. These will be livestreamed. Please purchase a free ticket to these events if you wish to be sent the link.

Concession rates to the main conference program apply to graduate researchers (PhD and Masters by Research candidates), full time students, sessional academics, part-time workers, casual workers and the unwaged.

You can provide us with relevant details about dietary requirements and accessibility as you register for tickets.

All conference tickets attract a 2% booking fee.

Tickets to satellite events

We have programmed several satellite events to support and extend the reach of the main conference program These include:

• Welcome drinks and book launches. Wednesday 3 December, 5.30-7.30pm at University House (Professors Rd, Parkville campus). Tickets to this event are free for conference delegates but please register for catering purposes if you plan to attend. If you are a friend of one of the authors who is launching their book & you are not a conference delegate, we ask you to purchase a ticket for a modest $6.50.

• Pre-conference workshops & conference dinner.

  • Pre-conference workshops are scheduled from 2-5pm on Tuesday 2 December and will take place in person on our University of Melbourne Parkville campus. Tickets are priced at $55 (no concessions). Workshop 1 is a walking/writing tour of Carlton with Professor Tony Birch; Workshop 2 is a workshop on reverie and editing with Dr Nicola Redhouse; Workshop 3 is a poetry workshop facilitated by Dr Andy Jackson. Please note that places are limited to 20 participants per workshop, so book early to avoid disappointment. Further details will be provided via our main conference website.

  • Conference dinner. All conference delegates are welcome to attend the conference dinner, however the cost of this event is not included in a general admission ticket. Tickets to the conference dinner are priced at $65 (no concessions). The dinner is at 6pm on Thursday 5 December, and will be held at a venue a short (10 minute) walk from our Parkville campus.

All satellite event tickets attract a 2% booking fee.

You can provide us with relevant details about dietary requirements and accessibility as you register for tickets.

Graduate Researcher (GR) and Early Career Researcher (ECR) day

A discrete, fully online professional development program for Graduate Research (GR) candidates and Early-Career-Researcher (ECR) colleagues will run from 10am-4pm on Tuesday 2 December. Sessions include: how to manage isolation and maintain well-being during research work, how to navigate the academy from diverse identity positions, including queer/trans/disabled and neurodiverse subjecthood, and ways to publish in non-traditional outlets. The day will finish with a session on collaboration and finding joy.

To register, go to AAWP Graduate Researcher (GR) & Early Career Researcher (ECR) Day 2025.

Enquiries

Please send your enquiries to AAWP-conference2025@unimelb.edu.au including any support requirements in order to participate fully. 

For more information please visit the 2025 AAWP Conference webpage. 

Registrations for all events closes Tuesday 25 November 2025.

Image credit: Eva Bronzini, A photograph of a gum tree. Open access via Pexels.com.