Deadline: Wednesday, April 30, 2025
5th Annual Corridors: Blue Ridge Writing & Rhetoric Conference
Saturday, September 27, 2025
Radford University | Radford, Virginia
Conference Theme
A Voice That Carries: Embracing Authenticity in an Artificial Age
Description
Writing and rhetoric graduate students, instructors, and scholars in the Appalachian region are invited to submit a proposal for the Corridors: Blue Ridge Writing and Rhetoric Conference to be held on September 27, 2025, at Radford University in Virginia. The conference theme (A Voice That Carries: Embracing Authenticity in an Artificial Age) focuses on pedagogy, practices, and research that help students and faculty alike reconnect to, re-engage with, and celebrate their authentic voices. As a new age of artificiality sets in, this conference’s purpose is to embrace authenticity by providing a space where real voices can be heard in rhetorically meaningful, creative, and intellectual ways. These voices can, then, engage with others in authentic ways that inspire real action and change within our classrooms, across our campuses, and throughout our communities.
“A voice that carries” is an idiom that expresses the physical ability of sound to travel distances as well as a person’s voice to be impactful, influential, or inspirational to listeners and readers. Its dual literal and figurative meanings can have lasting positive effects on audiences, sometimes in surprising ways not anticipated by speakers and writers. Communication that can be both clearly heard and humanly understood is what leaves a mark, makes a connection, and testifies of the power of words on the human spirit. Therefore, the goal of this conference is to bring together writing and rhetoric humans who desire to carry their voices in presentation rooms and during hallway conversations in the name of authenticity.
Questions to Consider
Potential contributors may want to consider the following questions:
- What is a writer’s voice, why does it matter in our modern day, and how does one find or develop it in such a complex (distracting and competitive) world?
- How does a writer’s voice manifest itself on the page or in a speech act, and what are the implications for, effects on, or benefits to the audience?
- What challenges do writers (students, instructors, researchers) face when considering voice in their writing? How can they overcome these challenges?
- How does a writer’s voice change across traditional and digital media and their audiences? How does a writer’s voice influence an audience’s interpretation of, reaction to, and reception of the message?
- How can writing and rhetoric courses and programs support minority/marginalized voices?
- How can writing instructors help students find their authentic voices or voice identities? How can writing instructors and researchers find their own?
- How can writing instructors help students choose authenticity over artificiality? What happens when a student chooses artificiality over authenticity?
- In what ways can writing students, instructors, and researchers carry their voices, and why does it matter as the age of artificiality sets in?
- In what ways can student writers benefit by embracing their authentic voices?
- What writing and rhetoric pedagogical or research innovations are needed to navigate the intersection between authenticity and artificiality?
- How has your writer’s voice been supported or expressed? How did this experience help you develop as a writer?
Proposal Submissions
Please submit a 300-word proposal (plus a 50-word abstract for the conference program) related to the theme by Wednesday, April 30, 2025. References are not included in the word count. Even so, please keep references to a minimum; instead, concentrate on your topic’s connection to the theme, importance/relevance, and key takeaways. Proposals can focus on classroom practices, research, theory, faculty development, personal narratives, case studies, literature reviews, analyses, commentaries, and reflections. Sessions are 75 minutes. Presentation sessions include at least 15 minutes for questions and answers. The interactive roundtable discussions and workshops have the full 75 minutes. All rooms are equipped with a computer, projector, audio, document camera, and whiteboard. Presenters should submit only one proposal in one of the following four formats:
- Panel Presentation: 3-4 presentations of 15 minutes each.
- Individual Presentation: 15-minute presentation (that will be combined into a panel by conference organizers).
- Roundtable Discussion: 15 minutes of introductory framing by the leader(s), followed by a facilitated discussion among roundtable participants and attendees (up to four roundtable participants).
- Workshop: A participatory session that engages attendees in an active-learning activity. Proposals should be explicit about the activity.
A Special Open-Mic Session
This optional Open-Mic Session is an opportunity for attendees to “carry their voices” by reading/singing/dramatizing their original work (e.g., a poem, a song, a short story, an essay, an excerpt from a fiction or non-fiction book of any type, a scene from a play or script, a profile, a magazine or newspaper article, a journal entry, personal narrative, a letter, a sermon, a blog post, a speech). An original reading/song/dramatization can be up to seven minutes long and can include others as long as one of the participants originated the work. Presenters submitting a proposal type listed above can also participate in this open-mic session if they wish. A separate 100-word description of the reading/song/dramatization, including the title of the work, is required.
Proposal Submission Form
Submit your proposal using this Conference Proposal Form by Wednesday, April 30, 2025.
Timeline
Call for Proposals Released: February 15, 2025
Conference Proposals Due: April 30, 2025
Notifications Sent: No Later Than May 20, 2025
Confirmation of Presenters Due: No Later Than June 20, 2025
Registration Opens: July 1, 2025
Draft Program Available: No Later Than July 1, 2025
Final Program Available: No Later Than August 1, 2025
Registration Closes: September 20, 2025
Conference: September 27, 2025
About the Conference
Corridors is a free, in-person, one-day (8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.) regional conference; however, registration is required to attend. Breakfast nibbles will be provided on the day of the conference, but attendees will be on their own for lunch, dinner, beverages, snacks, travel, and lodging. An opportunity to gather in groups for dinner will be available and will be hosted by a faculty member or graduate student from Radford University’s School of Writing, Language, and Literature. Free on-campus parking will be available.
Conference Website
Visit the conference website for information about the keynote speaker, lunch and dinner options, lodging options, schedule-at-a-glance, and directions to Radford.
Contact
Have questions? Please contact Laura Vernon at lvernon.
Sponsors
The 2025 Corridors: Blue Ridge Writing & Rhetoric Conference is sponsored by Radford University’s School of Writing, Language, and Literature and College of Humanities and Behavioral Sciences.
Laura Vernon, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Professional Writing
School of Writing, Language, and Literature
Radford University
PO Box 6935
Radford, VA 24142
lvernon
Hemphill Hall 4131