A Research Symposium & Workshop
Friday 24 February 2017, 2.00-5.00pm
Venue: The Council Room, Fielding Johnson Building, University of Leicester
Organised by CAMEo Research Institute for Cultural and Media and Economies & Centre for New Writing, University of Leicester
Key Speakers:
Claire Squires (Stirling Centre for International Publishing and Communication, University of Stirling)
‘‘’There’s only so much shelf space to go around”: Publishing’s diversity deficit’
Rick Rylance (Institute of English Studies, University of London)
‘What’s in the Literary Economy’?
This symposium brings together an interdisciplinary group of researchers, writers and practitioners to explore the changing role of literature, writing and writers in the dynamic context of the creative industries and creative economy. The event starts from the premise that while ‘Publishing’ has formal recognition as an important sub-sector of the UK creative industries, there remains significant variety in the ways in which the book and publishing industries are organised – including how literature and other forms of writing are actually produced, distributed and consumed, in different social and spatial contexts. The question of how the book and publishing industry is changing, who it employs (and where and how), and how markets for taste, prestige and recognition are being developed is a fertile field that invites further collaborative and interdisciplinary research.
Our two key speakers will set the scene by introducing their own research and observations on the ‘literary economy’ – followed by Q&A and discussion, before we then invite participants to take part in a workshop session led by the organisers where we will co-identify promising themes and problematics for new inquiry, and explore the potential for forming a new collaborative writing and research network on literary economies.
We invite interested participants from any academic discipline, writers, publishers, and members of industry to attend this free event, to help discuss the key issues and explore new collaborative opportunities. All are welcome.
To register your place at this event visit https://literaryeconomy.eventbrite.co.uk
Other enquiries to cameo@leicester.ac.uk
Map and Directions: http://www.le.ac.uk/maps/
Speaker biographies:
Professor Claire Squires is the Director of the Stirling Centre for International Publishing and Communication at the University of Stirling, Scotland. Her research interests include late 20th and 21st century publishing, literary prizes, and book festivals, with her publications including Marketing Literature: The Making of Contemporary Writing in Britain (2007) and, with Padmini Ray Murray, The Digital Publishing Communications Circuit (2013). She is one of the volume editors for the forthcoming Cambridge History of the Book in Britain: Volume 7 The Twentieth Century and Beyond. She has worked as a judge for the Saltire Society Literary Awards and Publisher of the Year Award, and in 2015 was the recipient of a Scottish Book Trust New Writers Award. She tweets from @stirpublishing and @clairesquires.
Professor Rick Rylance is Director of the Institute of English Studies, and Pro-Dean of the School of Advanced Study at the University of London. He was until last year CEO of the Arts and Humanities Research Council and Executive Chair of Research Councils UK. Previous roles have included Dean of Arts at Exeter and Anglia Ruskin Universities. He has served on the governing boards of numerous organisations including the Global Research Council. He has published several books on Victorian, twentieth-century and other topics, most recently Literature and the Public Good (Oxford University Press 2016).