Reflections: OGOM Sea Changes

We’re pleased to report that our 3-day conference Sea Changes: The fairytale Gothic of mermaids, selkies, and enchanted hybrids of ocean and river at the British Library and online was a resounding success and an absolute pleasure to attend. A truly international affair, we had delegates attending from Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Trinidad and Tobago, the UK and the USA.  

OGOM would like to thank The British Library for hosting us and all the delegates for such high quality and diverse papers and for their warm and generous company throughout the three days.  The online conference pack is brimming with innovative and compelling books and publications from all those who attended. It was a truly memorable and moving experience for OGOM to celebrate fifteen years with you (especially in light of Bill’s gruelling cancer treatment). We couldn’t help getting a little teary at the end because of this! If you missed some or all of the conference do have a look at our fantastic Sea Changes Booklet on the web pages

And consider submitting to our next CFP. We have a botanical gothic theme coming up next and then we will be returning to hybrids with Winged Beings: Enchanted Hybrids of the Sky and Air. We will be in touch with delegates about submitting to our Sea Changes publications in the meantime; an opportunity for contributors to make even more of a splash!

OGOM at the British Library

Following a full and rich conference day online it was exciting to see the in-person event unfold with all the signage and screens going up at the Knowledge Centre with the OGOM logo and Sea Changes design.

We also had an Open Graves, Open Minds display table with OGOM books, posters, postcards and fliers offering 30% off purchases for delegates from our publisher MUP.

We would like to say a big thank you to our Keynote Speakers: Betsy Cornwell, Dr Katie Garner and Prof. Catherine Spooner for being so inspiring and sharing their wonderful research. Betsy’s selkie novel Tides has featured in my YA Fiction and the Gothic module for some years so it was a privilege to be able to introduce her in person and hear about her selkie-inspired memoir Ring of Salt.

Bill introduced Katie’s keynote online and she seamlessly interwove her experience with humanities funding with her research into Romantic Scottish mermaids to give a creative and informative talk for Postgraduates and ECRs. Catherine is a long-standing contributor to OGOM, having been on this remarkable journey with us for fifteen years. She surprised us by saying how much OGOM has influenced the direction of her own research before delighting us with her take on the sparklification of the mermaid figure in its various manifestations. 

I shared my own research into Ningyō and the rise of the fake museum mermaid, whilst also exploring the mummified mermaid as a sacred object in Japan. I was excited to chair the lively panel on ‘Water Women of Japan’ following this, with papers by Associate Professor Joseph Crawford on yuri manga and Dr Izumi Nagai from Osaka University on the sea woman in Tanka poetry.   

Our OGOM postgraduates excelled in helping with the organisation and registration of the conference and in delivering their own research papers. Harley was able to present to her idol Betsy Cornwell in a paper on adolescence in Tides and Rebecca’s paper on Faustian bargains was name checked by Catherine Spooner! Jane presented her research on the Lamia figure in the ‘Mermaids in Poetry’ panel. Shabnam, having submitted her thesis, presented on mermaid transgression and transformation in Ruth Manning-Sanders’s work, an important contribution to the ‘Oceanic Postcolonialism’ panel. Finally, Deborah presented her first ever conference paper on female sexual expression through merfolk in the panel on ‘Aquatic Romance’.

Elsewhere Bill enchanted us with his knowledge of contemporary selkie fiction and OGOMer Ivan treated us to a paper on ‘The Forsaken Merman’, landscape and memory.

It was a thrill to see Daisy presenting for the first time as Dr Butcher, following a successful Viva and exploring Hans Andersen’s Sea Witch in the wonderful ‘Gothic Little Mermaid’ panel. Daisy and Ivan were brilliant as the hosts of our online day which wasn’t easy to negotiate. They have our gratitude. They also looked after the creative part of the day, the mermaid flash fiction (winners to be announced shortly).    

If you attended the conference look out for the photo slide show and comments page coming soon and keep in touch with us until the next time by following the blog and our social media channels:  @OGOMProject @ogomproject.bsky.social