The 4th annual conference of the British Society for Literature and Science will take place at the University of Reading on 27^th-29^th March, 2009. Keynote speakers will include Dame Gillian Beer, formerly King Edward VII Professor of English Literature at Cambridge; Patrick Parrinder, Professor of English at the University of Reading; and Simon Conway Morris, Professor of Evolutionary Palaeontology at Cambridge.

The Society invites proposals for 20-minute research papers addressing any aspect of the interaction between literature and science; collaborative panels of two or three papers; and papers or panels on the teaching of literature and science. We welcome work on literature from all periods and countries, and on all aspects of science, including medicine and technology. Presenters need not be based in UK institutions.

Please email proposals of up to 400 words to Dr John Holmes (j.r.holmes@reading.ac.uk) by Monday 1^st December, together with a 100-word biographical note (or in the case of a panel, abstracts and notes for each speaker). Please send abstracts in the body of messages; do not use attachments. Alternatively, abstracts and proposals may be posted to Dr John Holmes, Department of English and American Literature, University of Reading, Whiteknights, PO Box 218, Reading, RG6 6AA, UK.

Keynote speakers will include Dame Gillian Beer (King Edward VII Professor Emerita at Cambridge University), Patrick Parrinder (Professor of English Literature at Reading University), and Simon Conway Morris (Professor of Evolutionary Palaeobiology at Cambridge University).

The call for papers will be announced this autumn. If you have any preliminary enquiries about the conference, please email the conference organiser Dr. John Holmes.