Thank you to Zed Books

A big thank you goes out to Zed Books for sending us some books for the raffle, including our keynote speaker Dr Julia Long's book Anti-Porn: The Resurgence of Anti-Pornography Feminism. Other books include Sexual Violence As a Weapon of War?, Reclaiming the F Word and Sexuality in Muslim Contexts. I know this is going to be the most exciting raffle I've ever taken part in, and I personally will be buying a stack of raffle tickets! I hope everyone who comes has a pound coins (or a handful of pound coins!) to be in with a chance of winning some of these wonderful prizes and to raise money for Women's Aid and WRASAC Tayside.  Thanks again Zed Books, and to all the publishers who have generously contributed to the raffle!

Thanks to Jessica Kingsley Publishers

A big thank you, and a Merry Christmas to Jessica Kingsley Publishers who have sent us some books for our raffle. These include Violence Against Women, which features a chapter by one of our keynote speakers, Nel Whiting of Scottish Women's Aid. It's a wonderful collection and I'm sure it would widen the horizons of anyone who wanted to deepen their awareness of this subject. We particularly appreciate the support of a small publisher like JKP, and one that was founded by a woman. We hope that their wonderful contribution will help us raise even more raffle money for Scottish Women's Aid and WRASAC Tayside.

Transport, Accommodation and the Conference Dinner

I already sent this information out to some people by email, but I thought it would be useful to put it here too so everyone can find it. Hopefully this is helpful, but as always feel free to email us if you have any specific problems or questions that haven't been addressed.

Flying: Dundee does have its own airport but it is small and flights tend to be expensive with limited destinations. You will probably find it more useful to use Edinburgh airport (1 hour 20 mins away by car) or Glasgow (2 hours away by car). Both airports have buses or shuttles that take you into the city centres, from which you can take a train to Dundee. You can also hire a car from the airports. There is also a Megabus from Edinburgh Airport to Dundee that you can book here (just make sure to select 'Edinburgh Airport', rather than simply 'Edinburgh').

Bus: There are good bus services from around the UK that you can book at Megabus, Citylink or National Express.

Train: Dundee train station is right in the centre of town and very convenient for getting to the university. You can book trains here.

Accommodation: I suggest that you look at the Dundee accommodation options listed at Booking.com to see what's on offer. There is also the Aauld Steeple Guest House, which doesn't seem to be listed but is a cheapish option in the centre of the city and a 5-10 minute walk from the university.

Registration and Money Concerns: Unfortunately we only have enough money to cover the costs of our keynote speakers. Speakers are also required to register so that we can pay for catering (lunch, teas and coffees will be provided throughout the conference). We will provide receipts for your registration fees if you require them so that your home institution can reimburse you.

Conference Dinner: The conference dinner will be held at the D'Arcy Thompson Dining Room. There will be a vegetarian option, but if you have more specific needs please make sure you let us know by the 1st of January as we will be agreeing the menu around this time. There is space on the registration form to tell us about any dietary requirements so try and return the form ahead of time if you have specific needs. There will probably be a set menu from which you can choose either 2 or 3 courses and this will hopefully be a little bit cheaper than the meals on offer to the general public! We will send around the menu once it is agreed but this will probably be a few days, maybe a week, before the conference.

Registration Open: And Thanks to Zero Books

It is with great pleasure that I declare registration officially open! We have sent registration forms to all delegates and to those on our mailing list. Please drop us an email at smashingthepatriarchy[at]gmail.com if you haven't received your form - or if you would like to be added to our mailing list.

Also, thanks to Zero Books who have sent us copies of Laurie Penny's Meat Market: Female Flesh Under Capitalism and Nina Power's One Dimensional Woman among others. We are building up quite a collection of books to raffle for Women's Aid and WRASAC. We have also been gifted some Scottish lesbian Victorian poetry, There is Room for Roses in God's World by Bessie Craigmyle.

Thanks to Virago!

I have taken delivery of a beautiful collection of books from Virago who are celebrating their 40th birthday this year. The introduction to their 'Virago is 40' ebook is here and it's quite inspirational. We have a physical copy of 'Virago is 40' for our raffle, as well as titles by Margaret Atwood, Muriel Spark and Sarah Dunant among others.

Charity Raffle - Thanks to Icon Books!

We've been brainstorming ways to integrate activism into our event and one of the ideas we had was to have a raffle for Women's Aid and a local charity, the Women's Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre (WRASAC) Tayside. And how do we make this raffle academic? Well, we're going to raffle off some of the amazing feminist books that have come out in the UK over the last few years.

Thanks go to Icon Books who have very generously sent us copies of Delusions of Gender and Introducing Feminism: A Graphic Guide. We'll let you know some of the other titles that will be included in the raffle as we receive them so that you can start getting excited about the great prizes that we'll have on offer.

In other news, registration will be opening very soon. We will be emailing all delegates about this automatically; if you didn't get an abstract in, but you want to be kept up to date about registration etc. then drop us an email at smashingthepatriarchy[at]gmail.com and we'll add you to our mailing list. That way, you'll be kept in the loop and you won't miss out on what is shaping up to be a great day of sisterhood and books.

Abstract Deadline and Webzine Article

So, the abstract deadline has passed. Thanks so much for all of your contributions. Laura and I are planning to go through them over the next few days and start to put together an exciting day of thinking, speaking and getting to know each other. If you missed our deadline but still want to attend then please drop us an email on smashingthepatriarchy[at]gmail.com, we can always add you to our mailing list and give you all the latest information, including links to register once registration opens.
In other news, there is now an article about the conference online, published at Bad Housekeeping. Bad Housekeeping is a new webzine that covers feminist issues from an academic perspective so many of you might be interested in checking them out, or submitting an article.