NEWSTEAD ABBEY BYRON CONFERENCE
21-22 April 2023
At Newstead Abbey
In July 1823, Byron embarked upon his ill-fated trip to Greece. Although this trip resulted in his death at the age of 36, it also redeemed a somewhat tarnished reputation and forever immortalised him as the poet of liberty and revolution. Instead of a degenerate exile living in jaded Italian debauchery with a menagerie of animals and a string of mistresses, Byron was transformed into a globally-recognised freedom fighter, willing to sacrifice everything to challenge oppression and tyranny. 1823 also saw the continuation of Byron’s provocative and controversial poetic activities with the publication of Heaven and Earth and ‘The Blues’ in The Liberal, the writing of The Island, and the completion of Canto 16 of Don Juan.
The 2023 Newstead Abbey Byron Conference will therefore focus on the themes of independence and integrity in Byron’s life and works.
The event will start at 12pm on 21 April, at Newstead Abbey. At 5pm a bus will collect us from the Abbey and take us to Portland Lodge, here we will have the Keynote and the Conference Dinner. The bus will then take those of us who need it, to the Mansfield Travel Lodge. The Bus will collect us at 9.15 the following morning and take us to Newstead Abbey for the second day of the conference. The presentations will finish at 4pm, and you will have an hour to tour the abbey or the gardens.
Full programme details are available here.
If you wish to attend the conference, please find Registration, Accommodation and Cost details here.