Organisers

For more information,
please contact the conference organiser
elke.dhoker@arts.kuleuven.be

or the assistant organisers
stephanie.eggermont@arts.kuleuven.be
debbie.brouckmans@arts.kuleuven.be

or consult the website of the
Leuven Centre for Irish Studies


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Registration

Please send the completed registration forms (see e-mail) to debbie.brouckmans@arts.kuleuven.be before the 1st of October 2012.

Registration fee

The registration fee covers conference materials, coffee breaks, a reception on Thursday and lunch on all three days. The conference dinner in the University Faculty Club however, is not included.

Non-students pay 140 euros (dinner included) or 100 euros (without dinner).
Students pay 120 euros (dinner included) or 80 euros (without dinner).

These early-bird rates apply until the 1st of October. Participants registering afterwards will pay an additional late registration fee of 30 euros.



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Transport in Leuven

The Leuven central station is a nice 25 mins walk away from the conference venue.
Alternatively, you can travel by bus or by taxi.

• Walk:

*Take Bondgenotenlaan (the big shopping street) until you see St Peter's Cathedral in Grote Markt
*In Grote Markt, turn left to Oude Markt
*In Oude Markt, turn right to Parijsstraat
*Follow Parijsstraat, until you come to Pater Damiaanplein (square on your right). In the square you take the street in the left corner. This is Janseniusstraat. On your left is the Louvain Institute for Ireland in Europe

• Bus:

Take a bus from the railway station - bus number 2 (every 15 minutes).
*Get off at Sint Michielskerk (St Michael's Church)
*Walk down Sint Antoniusberg and arrive at Pater Damiaanplein. In the square you take the street in the left corner. This is Janseniusstraat. On your left is the Louvain Institute for Ireland in Europe.
A prepaid bus ticket costs 1.20 euros and is valid for one hour within Leuven. If you buy your ticket on the bus, it will cost you 2.00 euros. Prepaid tickets can be bought in 'De Lijnwinkel' near the railway station.

• Taxi

Phone Taxi Gérard: +32 016 250999

• Services

*Tourist Map of Leuven

*Tourist Office Leuven
Tel: + 32  16 20 60 20
E-mail: tourism@leuven.be
Address: Townhall, Naamsestraat 1, 3000 Leuven
Open from 10pm to 5pm
*University Sports Centre
*Printing Shop, Copies
*Hospital
*University Library



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Travel info: getting to Belgium & Leuven

By air

International Airports:

• Brussels Airport

*There is a a regular and quick train service between Brussels Airport and Leuven (direction 'Leuven'), which takes 15 minutes. The airport train station is located below the terminal (basement level-1). A one-way ticket to Leuven will cost you €7.90.

Information on the schedules of all Belgian and international train services can be found on the Belgian Railways website. Enter BRUSSELS AIRPORT as departure station or destination.

*Taxis are permanently available in front of the arrivals hall. The fare from the airport to Leuven is normally around 60-90 euros (rates are higher in the evening)

• Brussels South (Charleroi airport)

The Charleroi airport or Brussels South is served by several low cost carriers such as Ryanair. There are several options to reach Leuven. Buses must be reserved in advance:

*Airportbus.eu: this bus with destination 'Eindhoven' takes you directly to Leuven (be careful: it also stops in 'Louvain-La-Neuve', which is a different place). The bus leaves every 2 hours, and it takes 1h20 to reach Leuven. Prices are about €12.00 for a one-way ticket.Please note that bookings are mandatory– you won’t be allowed to just hop on the bus.The bus will stop in Leuven at Naamsepoort, which is a 10-15 minute walk from the Irish College.
*Airport Shuttle: this bus takes you in 45 min from the airport to the railway station of 'Brussel-Zuid' ('Bruxelles-Midi') where you can take the train to Leuven. This bus departs every 30 min and will cost about €13.00 for a one-way ticket.
-Of course, taxis are available at the exit terminal, though a ride to Leuven can be quite expensive.

By Train

The city of Leuven is located close to Brussels and has convenient and easy international access by railway. The Thalys high speed train (TGV) links Brussels South to Paris North station (1h20min) and Paris CDG Airport (1h), while the Eurostar high speed train connects it to London St. Pancras International Station (2h25min), via Lille (40min). The Thalys trains also connect Brussels to Amsterdam (2h45min), Rotterdam (1h40min), Aachen (1h35min) and Köln/Cologne (2h20min), among others. There are also direct Inter-City trains between Brussels and the German cities Frankfurt-am-Main (3h35min), via Aachen (1h30min), Cologne (2h10min), Bonn (2h30min) and Limburg-an-der-Lahn (2h55min).

Trains arrive in the station 'Bruxelles-Midi'/'Brussel-Zuid'. There is a regular train service between 'Bruxelles-Midi' and 'Leuven', which takes about 25 minutes (with direction 'Eupen', 'Genk' or 'Leuven'). A one-way ticket from Brussels to Leuven will cost €5.00. Be careful: make sure that you take a train which stops in 'Leuven' (in French: 'Louvain'). Several trains have as destination 'Louvain-La-Neuve', which is a different university town.

Further information about train times can be found on the Belgian Railways website.

The Leuven central station is a beautiful 25 minute walk away from the Leuven Institute for Irish Studies.  (map)

By Bus/Coach

Eurolines offers a (daily) bus service to Brussels, and for some routes also Leuven, from all major cities in 29 European countries. Check out their website for more details.

By Car

Leuven-Brussels = 30 km, from Brussels there are motorways to the most important Belgian cities and to important cities in the neighbouring countries. Leuven is at the junction of the E40 highway (Brussel/Bruxelles – Leuven/Louvain – Luik/Liège – Aachen (D) – Köln (D)) and the E314-A2 highway (Leuven - Hasselt - Genk - Maastricht (NL) – Aachen (D)). Leave the E314 at exit 15. That is the N264 direction Leuven.

It can be very difficult to find a parking spot in the city centre of Leuven and parking durations are typically limited to a maximum of 1 or 2 hours. Parking fees are strictly enforced by the police. Some hotels have a private parking at a reasonable rate. There are however free parkings outside the city centre and underground parkings in the city center.
     
Underground parkings in the city center:

There are a number of underground parkings where parking for longer periods is possible, rates of € 2 per hour or € 12 – 20 per day should be taken into account. A congress card can be purchased for € 55 at the entrance of parking Ladeuze, allowing access for one week.

• Parking Ladeuze: 740 places
   Address: Ladeuzeplein 20
  Opening hours: 7 days a week, 24 hours a day
  15 minutes walk (800m) from the conference venue (map)
• Heilig Hart: 447 places
  Address: Naamsestraat 102/c
  Opening hours: 7 days a week, 24 hours a day
  10 minutes walk from the conference venue (map)
• De Bond (at railway station) 385 places, underground
  Address: Martelarenplein 18 (entry from the tunnel)
  Opening hours: 7 days a week, 24 hours a day
  25 minutes walk from the conference venue (map)

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Accommodation

Hotels in Leuven

Leuven Institute for Ireland in Europe (conference venue, Janseniusstraat 1)

It is possible to book a room in our conference venue, but you have to contact the Leuven institute directly for that. Don't forget to mention the conference, since we have secured reduced rates.

• Tel: +32 16 310 430
• E-mail: reception@leuveninstitute.eu
• Website

Begijnhof Hotel**** (map)

authentic setting, quiet neighbourhood

within walking distance of Leuven's historical centre, a 10 minute walk from the conference venue

website 

 

Binnenhof Hotel*** (map)

recently renovated hotel

comfortable rooms with en suite bathrooms

18 minutes (walking) from the conference venue, close to the train station and the city centre

website

 

Mercure Hotel*** (map)

situated at the heart of the city centre, a 10 minute walk from the conference venue

business and travel

website

 

New Damshire*** (map)

situated right next to the conference venue

the historical centre, the shopping streets are within walking distance

website

 

Novotel Leuven Centrum*** (map)

within walking distance of the train station and the centre, 22 minutes from the conference venue

modern rooms with all facilities

website

 

Ibis** (map)

situated in the heart of the city, a 10 minute walk from the conference venue

website

Hostels in Leuven

Leuven City Hostel (map)

• for low budget travellers
• a 15 minute walk from the conference venue
• website

 

The Leuven Hostel ('Blauwput') (map)

• for low budget travellers
• 24 minutes from the conference venue, close to the train station
• website

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Conference Venue

The conference takes place in the Leuven Institute for Ireland in Europe, commonly known as 'the Irish college'.

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Conference Dinner

The conference dinner will take place in
the university Faculty Club,
located in the historic Leuven Begijnhof (béguinage) (map)
on Friday 16 November.






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Reading

Thursday 15 November, 7.30pm

Venue: Leuven Institute for Ireland in Europe

Éilís Ní Dhuibhne

Irish writer of short stories, novels and plays, in English and in Irish.










website: http://www.eilisnidhuibhne.net/

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Keynote Speakers

Heather Ingman (Trinity College Dublin)

• Research: women's writing; Irish writing; gender theory; Irish women’s short stories; the theme of nation and gender in Irish women’s fiction; the mother-daughter relationship in twentieth-century women’s fiction. 
• Selected publications: Women’s Fiction Between the Wars: Mothers, Daughters and Writing (Edinburgh University Press, 1998), Mothers and Daughters: A Literary Anthology (Edinburgh University Press, 1999), Women’s Spirituality in the Twentieth Century: an exploration through fiction (Peter Lang, 2004), Twentieth-Century Fiction by Irish Women (Ashgate, 2007), A History of the Irish Short Story (Cambridge University Press, 2009).

Anne Fogarty (University College Dublin)

• Research: Colonial Representations of Early Modern Ireland; Literary history of Seventeenth-Century Ireland; Literature and Law in the Early Modern Period; Gender and Genre in Contemporary Irish Writing; Gothic Fiction; Psychoanalysis; Historical and textual aspects of the work of James Joyce, Spencer and representations of early modern Ireland, twentieth and twenty-first century Irish fiction, and feminist investigations of Irish women writers.
• Selected publications: Beja, M. & Fogarty, A. (eds.) Bloomsday100: Essays on Ulysses (UP of Florida 2009), Fogarty, A. and Martin, T. (eds.), Joyce on the Threshold. (UP of Florida, 2005).

Eibhear Walshe (University College Cork): 'Oblique, Frayed Landscape': Ireland in the Short Stories of Elizabeth Bowen

• Research: Modern Irish fiction and drama, the interconnections between politics, literature and the representations of sexuality,
• Selected publications: Kate O'Brien: a Writing Life (Irish Academic Press, 2006), (ed.) Elizabeth Bowen: Visions and Revisions (Irish Academic Press, 2008), Oscar's Shadow: Wilde, Homosexuality and Modern Ireland (Cork University Press, 2011), Elizabeth Bowen's Selected Irish Writings (Cork University Press, 2011). In September 2011,  Eibhear Walshe was awarded a Literature Bursary by the Arts Council of Ireland to complete his first novel.