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Genre Worlds: Popular Fiction in the 21st Century CALL FOR PAPERS

March 27, 2017 @ 8:00 am - April 21, 2017 @ 5:00 pm

Academic Conference in association with GenreCon

State Library of Queensland, Brisbane 10 November 2017

Abstract Deadline: 21 April 2017

Convenors: Dr Kim Wilkins, Dr Beth Driscoll, and Dr Lisa Fletcher

All artistic work… involves the joint activity of a number, often a large number, of people…. The work always shows signs of that cooperation” – Howard S. Becker, Art Worlds.

Popular fiction is one of the most dynamic cultural and commercial divisions of twenty-first century publishing. Internally, it is organised along the lines of genres, creating what we call ‘genre worlds.’  This conference will consider the ways that contemporary genre worlds function as sectors of the publishing industry, as social and cultural formations, and as bodies of texts. Who is publishing popular fiction? Who is reading it? How do genre communities form, and how do texts circulate within them? How are terms like popular fiction, genre fiction, commercial fiction and trade publishing used, and what do they suggest about the way that popular fiction is conceived of and valued, by the industry and academy alike?

We invite abstracts for presentations on aspects of Australian and international popular fiction genres, industries, markets and communities. Submissions are welcome from scholars across the humanities and social science disciplines, including those working in cultural studies, publishing studies, sociology, cultural economics, literary studies and creative writing.

Possible topics include:

  • Close and distant reading of works of contemporary popular fiction
  • Career trajectories and models of authorship in popular fiction, within and across genres
  • Social media and popular fiction
  • Distribution and routes to readers, including studies of booksellers, libraries, and the use of advanced reading copies
  • Popular fiction readers, reading practices, and fan cultures
  • Pleasure and popular fiction
  • The material formats of genre texts and paratexts, including studies of ebooks, print books, and audiobooks
  • Systems of value and gatekeeping in popular fiction, including blogging, reviewing, booktubing, bestseller lists, prizes, festivals, and events
  • Genre writing and reading groups, both online and offline
  • The spaces and places of popular fiction, including studies of book tourism
  • The economics of genre fiction: persistent and emergent business models, including self-publishing, author services, marketing strategies, and sales patterns

Plans for publications arising from the conference include a special issue of Australian Literary Studies. To be considered for inclusion, full papers of between 5,000 and 10,000 words will be due by 9 December 2017.

200-300 word abstracts should be sent to Kim Wilkins at the School of Communication & Arts, University of Queensland, at k.wilkins@uq.edu.au, by 21 April 2017.

genreworlds.com | @PopFicDoctors

Details

Start:
March 27, 2017 @ 8:00 am
End:
April 21, 2017 @ 5:00 pm
Event Category: