Warwick Venice Centre, 29-30 November 2024

The Traveller’s Tale workshop brought together 15 researchers based in the UK and Italy to discuss future directions in the study of travel and travel writing.

It opened with reflections by some of the leading experts in the field on the forthcoming special issue in Studies in Travel Writing edited by Natalya Din-Kariuki,Link opens in a new window Department of English and Comparative Literary Studies, University of Warwick and Guido van MeersbergenLink opens in a new window, Department of History, University of Warwick, followed over the next two days by presentations showcasing Warwick postgraduate research conducted in part under the new Wheeler History of Travel Writing Programme, an interactive travel and maps session, and a roundtable discussion of an AHRC funding bid involving partners at Surrey, Oxford, and Warwick.

These sessions at the Warwick Venice Centre were complemented by off-site activities which drew the participants into more direct engagement with Venice’s past and present, including a historical city walk with Professor Luca MolàLink opens in a new window, Departmet of History, Warwick and a decolonial museum tour led by Professor Shaul Bassi, Department of Linguistics and Comparative Cultural Studies, Ca’Foscari University of Venice. The latter juxtaposed the African presence in Venetian Renaissance art on display at the Gallerie dell’Accademia with contemporary African art created by artists in residence at the AKKA Project.

Taking stock of the legacy of figures such as Marco Polo, workshop participants asked what a history of travel and travel writing would look like if we paid attention to a much wider set of practices, experiences, forms, and records of mobility than has hitherto been the case, offering a necessary starting point for truly global conversations.