Rudyard Kipling’s experience as a journalist and colonial correspondent honed his distinctive, concise prose style, and it is this pithiness that

accounts for his enduring legacy in the twenty-first century as a writer often in support of – but occasionally critical of – first British and then US empires.

At a time when both pervasive imperial nostalgia and movements to decolonise the university are dragging Kipling back into the news, this conference will explore the importance of journalism to Kipling’s literary life and, in so doing, ask larger questions about the relationship between journalism, empire, and decolonisation. It will also invite reflections on the continued relevance of these questions in what has been characterised as our “post-truth” era.

This will be a blended conference, offering delegates the option of attending in person (lockdown restrictions permitting) or online via Zoom.