2011 INTERNATIONAL GOLDEN JUBILEE CONFERENCE

The conference was the highlight of the Golden Jubilee celebrations in 2011 as it resonates with the key aim of the Academy to stimulate interest in the English language and its literatures as well as promote the effective use of English as a national resource. The conference invited established and emerging researchers, teachers and policy makers to engage with challenges and issues in the areas of literature, literacy and language. The area of English Literature included both papers on texts and theoretical analyses, especially in the areas of postcoloniality and global literature. The range of papers within the theme of literacy was also wide. The potential that English has in literacy education in a multilingual society, with particular emphasis on reading and critical educational approaches in English teaching, is of pressing concern for contemporary southern Africa. The concept of literacy used here goes far beyond acquiring a set of technical skills for reading and writing, focusing on a capacity to use these skills in making sense of the world. Literacy is at the heart of basic education for all, and is essential for eradicating poverty and ensuring sustainable development, peace and democracy. Within the theme of language education, papers addressed the repertoire of challenges and innovations in educational/work contexts (schools, colleges, universities, workplaces).

The opening of the conference took place at the cocktail and awards evening held on 6 September 2011. The conference was opened by the President of the English Academy, Professor Stanley Ridge, and the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic) at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Professor Anthony Staak. A full house attended Athol Fugard’s plenary lecture, ‘Millstones or milestones? The journey of a South African bastard’. Professor Mastin Prinsloo and Professor Stanley Ridge delivered the other two plenary lectures.

Five English Academy awards were made during the cocktail evening: the Olive Schreiner Prize for Poetry to Finuala Dowling, the Thomas Pringle Award for Reviews to Michiel Heyns, the Thomas Pringle Award for a Literary Article to Leon de Kock, the Thomas Pringle Award for a Short Story to Stephen Watson (received by Tanya Wilson), and the Percy FitzPatrick Prize for Youth Literature to Andy Petersen.

The programme consisted of 114 paper presentations and delegates from 23 countries attended. The papers addressed a wide range of issues: Literacy and work/community/diversity; Inequalities and epistemologies: exploring knowledges, oracies and literacies; Literacy in schools and higher education; Multi-modal literacies; Postcolonial and global writings; Literature in schools and universities; English language education; and English and Englishes.

The panel discussion on South African Literature included presentations by Sindiwe Magona, Ronnie Govender, Finuala Dowling and Andy Petersen. The participants in the Translation panel discussion were Christine Marshall Cloete, Andrew Foley, Nonzuko Gxekwa and Michiel Heyns.

The English Academy Golden Jubilee dinner was held at the Bloemendal Restaurant in Durbanville and the highlight of the evening was the award of the Academy Gold Medal to Athol Fugard.

The conference was very successful and we are grateful to the National Lotteries Distribution Trust Fund for their generous sponsorship.

Two issues of the English Academy Review have been set aside for the publication of peer- reviewed, revised articles emerging from the conference.

Past Conferences

Every three years the English Academy has held a conference. These are the conferences we have held up to now:

• The Need for an English Academy in Southern Africa (inaugural conference); Johannesburg 1961
• English as Communication; Johannesburg 1966
• South African Writing in English and its Place in School and University; Grahamstown 1969
• Teaching English in African Schools; Roma (Lesotho) 1973
• Teaching English in Afrikaans Schools, Colleges and Universities; Pretoria 1975
• The Teaching of English as First Language in Schools; Pietermaritzburg 1977
• English in a Multilingual Society: Planning for the Future; Johannesburg 1979
• English for Everyman; Grahamstown 1980
• English Language and Literature in South African Society, 1961 to 1986; Johannesburg 1986
• English at Tertiary Level; Pretoria 1989
• Access to English; Cape Town 1992
• English in Africa; Grahamstown 1995
• English at the Turn of the Millennium; Johannesburg 1998
• Mother Tongue, Other Tongue: Law, Learning and Literature; Pretoria 2002.
• Africa in Literature; Cape Town, 2005
• Language, the Creative Arts and the Media; Pretoria, 2008
• Literature, Literacy and language; Cape Town, 2011