IALJS to Host Hybrid Conference in Chile

The Sixteenth International Conference for Literary Journalism Studies (IALJS-16) to be hosted by the Universidad Alberto Hurtado in Santiago, Chile, May 12 to 14, 2022, will be a hybrid event.

At this time, continuing uncertainty about COVID-19 as well as the variety of university-related travel and funding restrictions to which many of our members are subject, make the commitment to a fully in-person conference risky and impractical.

It is hoped that the hybrid model, with its options for both in-person and remote participation, will allow for the lively engagement of all taking part, while preserving the sense of community valued by our members and which we all miss so much.

Those traveling to Santiago can look forward to a warm welcome from conference host Roberto Herrscher who, with his able assistant Marianne Díaz Hernández, has been navigating the uncertainties of organizing an international conference in the current crisis with patience and grace.

Together they have prepared an information package for the IALJS website, linked here, on Chile, on our host university, as well as guidelines on how to plan your travel.

The package includes crucial information on Covid protocols to be followed by those traveling to Chile. Please be sure to also check  https://visaguide.world/south-america/chile-visa/do-i-need-visa/ for visa requirements.

The conference itself promises to be one of the most exciting to date. Included among the more than 20 sessions on the program, will be special panels on Joan Didion, literary journalism and trauma, as well as a number of sessions devoted to Latin American literary journalism. Our keynote speaker will be the award-winning Chilean investigative and narrative journalist Pascale Bonnefoy.

Those attending in person can expect sessions to take place in two large rooms in which social distancing will be possible; plans are currently underway for the Conference Reception and the Banquet, so stay tuned.

To help cover costs arising from mounting a hybrid conference, we will be returning to the standard conference fee of $120 for all participants. Watch for the registration form and conference hotel information on the IALJS website. Please note: for those attending in person, the banquet fee remains $60.

Image Credit: Caio Silva via Unsplash

Rob Alexander is Associate Professor of English at Brock University in Canada and since May 2021 the President of the IALJS. With Christine Isager, he is the editor of Fear and Loathing Worldwide: Gonzo Journalism Beyond Hunter S. Thompson(Bloomsbury, 2018) and, with Willa McDonald, of Literary Journalism and Social Justice (Palgrave, forthcoming).