Keynote SPEAKERS

Download the PDF file with all keynote abstracts

We are proud to announce that the following internationally renowned speakers are prepared to deliver a keynote presentation at our TSD Conference 2016:

      (listed in alphabetical order of their first names):

• Bill Hughes, Professor for Gothic Studies at Bath Spa University, immediate Past President of The International Gothic Association and founder editor of the internationally refereed journal Gothic Studies.
  Bill promised us to bring some amazing news about unpublished correspondence between the author and one of his publishers.

• Clemens Ruthner, Assistant Professor for German at Trinity College, Dublin, and initiator of the Doctor van Helsing Society.
  Clemens presentation is titled: BATSHIT! Common errors, misperceptions and other drivel re: vampires.

• Clive Bloom, Emeritus Professor, Middlesex University, Adjunct Professor, University of Notre Dame, and editor of the Palgrave Gothic academic book series. His website: www.clivebloom.com/ 
  Clive will talk about crime, terrorism and anarchism in Victorian London and their relationship with Dracula, in the light of recent research about the Ripper-Dracula link.

• Damian Byrne, a well-known Dublin artist and Director of Oracle Pictures. Damian has been creating props and set elements for modern horror movie productions such as Penny Dreadful and The Raven (after Edgar Ellen Poe). 
  Damian will give us some fascinating behind-the-scenes insights in the art of visualising the uncanny.

• Dara Downey, Lecturer in English at The National University of Ireland, Maynooth and author of American Women's Ghost Stories in the Gilded Age (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014).
  Dara will speak about "The Evolving Material Culture of the Vampire Narrative," discussing the way in which the vampire in various movies and TV series has been associated with material objects such as the cross, the Bible, Holy Water, the Wafer, coffins, stakes etc. - and what this says about our perception of the monstruous.

• Hans Corneel de Roos, Munich, Acting Editor of Letter from Castle Dracula, the official news bulletin of the TSD, and author of The Ultimate Dracula (Munich: Moonlake Editions, 2012).
   Hans will talk about his upcoming book Powers of Darkness - The Lost Version of Dracula  -- the first English translation of Makt Myrkranna (Reykjavík, 1900), with contributions by Dacre Stoker and John Edgar Browning.

• Paul Murray, Dublins, author of From the Shadow of Dracula (London: Jonathan Cape, 2008).
  Paul will speak about the books the young Bram Stoker read at the Marsh Library in Dublin while studying at Trinity College - including books about Romania. This will throw a new light about Bram's early interest in this country, that later would play such an important role in Dracula.

• Bogdan Popa, historian and researcher at the "Nicolae Iorga" Institute of History at the Academiei Române."How Dracula came to Romania - Revisited." This will be a talk about the history of the TSD, about what has been accomplished over the last 25 years and what perspectives the TSD has for the future.

As we have 8 keynote speakers now (instead of 7, as originally planned), each keynote speaker will have 30 minutes for his/her presentation. There will be time for Questions & Answers after all keynote speakers for the day have finished their presentation.