OGOM Newsletter May 2016

Dear OGOM followers,

We hope you’re all well. We have quite a few news items. First of all, OGOM’s first book, ‘Open Graves, Open Minds’: Representations of the Undead from the Enlightenment to the Present, will be out in paperback from Manchester University Press at a very reasonable price from 1 June 2016. It’s £15.99, so a very affordable book for students and could be adopted for courses.

We’re also making good progress on the second book and the journal special issue which have been inspired by the fabulous Company of Wolves conference in September.

In addition, we’ve made a few changes to the Open Graves, Open Minds website.

First of all, we’ve been working on how to make both the appearance more attractive and the site more navigable—hope you like it. The Welcome page has a scrolling news feed which we can use to alert you to any important events.

We’re improving the ways we keep in touch with you about the OGOM Project. If you’re following us through the Facebook group or via Twitter, we’d like to encourage you to visit the blog and the other pages of the website at:

www.opengravesopenminds.com

You can subscribe to the website from the form at the bottom of the Welcome page and at the left-hand side of the blog; this is an excellent way of receiving updates by email. The blog holds original research posts, CFPS, reviews of conferences, exhibitions, publications, and so on; and news of OGOM’s Undead Studies programmes at BA, MA, and PhD level.

If you like to follow updates using RSS in your browser, we have links to enable that, too—just click on the orange icons.

Conversely, if you’re not aware of our social media presence, we have a Facebook group and a Twitter stream. The Facebook Open Minds, Open Graves group is here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1231153610302396/

Our Twitter account is @OGOMProject. Many of you have been following us individually on Sam’s, Bill’s, or Kaja’s accounts. We try and retweet from these but very soon the blog will only automatically send alerts via @OGOMProject—so please, please follow us on that account!

We value your contributions a great deal and so we’re trying to find ways in which we can cultivate lively discussions. We’re looking at discussion software and ways to integrate the Facebook responses with the blog. We’re also thinking of inviting guest bloggers to contribute. If you have any suggestions about these ideas (or comments in general), please do send us feedback.

Finally, exciting events are being planned. In 2017, OGOM is (tentatively) due to become a properly instituted research centre with an international focus. There is also the Books of Blood exhibition which will be launched in Limerick in autumn 2017 and will be touring around the UK. This will feature original artwork and performances, and objects on the history of blood from the Wellcome archives,

And we are drafting the CFP for the next OGOM conference. It’s all very dark and secret at the moment, but be prepared to think of witches and magic. This will be posted on the website very soon.

Best wishes,

Sam, Bill, and Kaja