Programme

The conference runs from 17 to 19 June.

Wednesday, 17 June 2026

Location: Maison de la Recherche Germaine Tillion, Université d‘Angers

09:00 – 09:30 Registration & Welcome
09:30 – 10:00

Opening Remarks / Introduction

Anne-Rachel Hermetet (Université d'Angers)

Nora Pleßke (Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg)

10:00 – 11:00

Keynote Lecture

Water as Living Heritage: From the Orisha Oshun to Contemporary River Rights
Christina Horvath (Bath University)

11:00 – 11:30 Coffee Break
11:30 – 13:00

Panel 1: Language, Songs & Cultural Mediation

(Ra)Conter la Loire. Rhétoriques fluviales et anastomoses écolinguistiques en milieu ligérien
Anatole Danto (Tartu Ülikool)
The Euphrates as a Cultural Generator: Readings through Songs and Myths
Hanan Alahmad (Magdeburg)
Le voci dei fiumi nelle opere di Giuseppe Verdi
Ivonne Begotti (Université Paris 8 Vincennes - Saint-Denis)

13:00 – 14:30 Lunch Break
14:30 – 16:00

Panel 2: Scottish Waters

Arteries of Imagination: Examples of Writing with Rivers in Anglophone Literatures from the 19th Century to the Present
Gioia Angeletti & Lucia Scaringella (Università degli Studi di Parma)
Scotland Submerged: Interrupted Rivers and Flooded Glens
Emily Alder (Edinburgh Napier University)
River of Stories: Confluence, Empire, and Literary Memory between India and Scotland
Arunima Bhattacharya (Edinburgh Napier University)

16:00 – 16:30 Coffee Break
16:30 – 17:15 Panel 3: Conversation with Emmanuel Ruben
18:00

Evening Reading at the Maine

Frei and Irtysch

Karsten Steinmetz (Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg)

The Stones Themselves

Simon Bracken (Independent Writer & Researcher)

19:00

Drinks at the Maine Bank or

Discussion with Emmanuel Ruben about his Book Sur la route de la Loire

Librairie Lhériau, 10 Pl. de la Visitation, Angers

20:00

Dinner

Restaurant L‘Ardoise (7 Pl. Molière, 49100 Angers)

Thursday, 18 June 2026

Location: Saint Mathurin-sur-Loire

08:00 Leaving by train or by car for La Ménitré
09:00 – 10:30

Geopoetic Walk

Isabelle Trivisani-Moreau, Cristiana Oghina-Pavie, Nuscia TaÏbi

10:30 – 11:30

Boat Trip Round the Loire

Loire Odyssée, Port Saint-Maur, 49250 La Ménitré

12:30 – 14:00

Lunch Break

Restaurant Reflets de Loire (2 Pl. du Port Charles Sigogne, 49250 Loire-Authion)

14:00 – 15:00

Film Screening and Discussion

L‘île de Chalonnes-sur-Loire: entre enjeu et identité
with the director, Maëlle Boisteau
Loire Odyssée, La Maison de Loire en Anjou, Saint-Mathurin

15:00 – 16:00 Visit of the Exhibition
16:00 – 16:30

Conversation

Se mouiller avec Nos RIVIÈRES: étude d‘un projet chorégraphique au fil de l‘eau
Caroline Granger & Flora Pilet (Université de Caen Normandie)

16:30 – 18:30

Atelier
Bodies in Convergence: Somatic Practices and Landscape Interpretation on the Banks of the Loire
Compagnie Noesis, Saint-Mathurin

19:00 Return to angers by train and car
  Free evening

Friday, 19 June 2026

Location: Maison de la Recherche Germaine Tillion, Université d‘Angers

09:00 – 10:30

Panel 4: Contemporary Writing

On the Roads of the Danube
Isabelle Trivisani-Moreau (Université d'Angers)
“There’s Nobody Home”: Rivers of London and the Limits of Reading Fantasy Ecocritically
Carsten Kullmann (Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg)
How Do Odra Rivers Speak? A Variety of Ideas for Listening to the River’s Voice
Joanna Wyrwa (Uniwersytet Przyrodniczy we Wrocławiu)

10:30 – 11:00 Coffee Break
11:00 – 12:30

Panel 5: Education & Ethics

Learning from Rivers: Rights of Nature and the Porous Limits of the Personhood
Marina Sportelli (Université Toulouse - Jean Jaurès)
Water is Life: Environmental and Experiential Education at University
Maja Antonietti & Elena Nardiello (Università degli Studi di Parma)
Rivers in the Age of the Anthropocene: How Water Crises Emerge and How Societies Can Confront Them
Alessio Malcevschi (Università degli Studi di Parma)

12:30 – 14:00 Lunch Break
14:00 – 15:00

Panel 6: Cinema

The Lost Language of the Rivers
Vítor dos Santos Gomes (Universidade de Évora)
Tales of the Great Rivers: A Cinematic Comparison of the Po and Mississippi
Carlo Ugolotti (Università degli Studi di Parma)

15:00 – 15:30 Final Discussion
15:30 – 16:00 Coffee Break
16:00 – 17:00

Film Screening

Keɗoɗaa maayo / Listen to the River
Frank Guillemain and Marie Lorin: the Voice of the Senegal River

17:00 End of Conference

Last Modification: 09.06.2026 -
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