Emily Dickinson wrote that, while she “never saw a moor” or “the sea,” she knew “how the heather looks” and “what a billow be.” She knew, too, the sea’s swells, tides, mysteries, and familiar creatures. This year, the 2019 Emily Dickinson International Society Conference will take scholars to the heart of this place that Dickinson explored in her poetry, to Asilomar in California, between August 8 and 11.

The conference will feature panels by international scholars on a variety of topics, including critical interpretations of Dickinson’s poetry and letters in light of water, environmental criticism, non-human studies, plant studies, creativity and imagination, ecology, geography, and landscape. A variety of panels, round tables, and flash presentations will fill the conference’s days and nights, which participants will spend by the sea, facing West.