Comics Studies: Beyond the Canon?
Wednesday 11th May 2016 The study of comic books, graphic narratives and sequential art has been a significant focus at Birkbeck in recent years, with new scholarship emerging alongside the annual symposium Transitions. In this special panel, comics practitioner John Miers (Central Saint Martins) will share the stage with leading scholars in the field Harriet Earle (Birkbeck), Nina Mickwitz (London College of Communication) and Tony Venezia (Birkbeck), to discuss the current state of comics studies and where it might be going next. We will ask whether comics studies are now moving beyond a familiar canon (from Art Spiegelman to Alison Bechdel); what are the current gender politics of the comics field; how theory and practice relate; and where new creativity and criticism are happening in comics. Venue: B04, 43 Gordon Square Time: 6-7:30pm All those with an interest in the field are welcome to attend and join the discussion. Image by Richard Stevens, Diesel Sweeties, used under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 2.5 Licence....
Events & Conferences
The Centre for Contemporary Literature at Birkbeck regularly hosts leading conferences, symposia and research workshops relating to all aspects of contemporary literature, culture and theoretical approaches. Forthcoming Events: 27 May 2020: The New Audacity 11-12 September 2020: Beyond Borders: Empires, Bodies, Science Fictions Past Events have included: 12-14 September 2019: Productive Futures: The Political Economy of Science Fiction 20 June 2019: The Perverse Universals of the Microeconomic Mode 22 May 2019: Terminal Documents: Re-Reading the non-Fiction of J.G. Ballard 21 May 2019: Irish Times: Myles na gCopaleen's Cruiskeen Lawn 10 November 2018: Transitions 8: Mapping New Directions in Comics Studies 31 October 2018: Booker Prize Reading and Q&A with Mohsin Hamid 14-15 September 2018: Sublime Cognition: Science Fiction & Metaphysics 1 September 2018: Utopian Acts 25 November 2017: Ruin and Rebuild: Exhibition of Urban Dereliction 27 November 2017: Booker Prize Reading and Q&A with Julian Barnes 21 September 2017: Waste: A Symposium, Papers on Disposability, Decay, and Depletion 16 September 2017: Organic Systems: Environments, Bodies and Cultures in Science Fiction 10 June 2017: Child Be Strange: A Symposium on Penda's Fen 26 May 2017: Dystopia Now Conference 16 May 2017: What Goes Around: Fifty Years of The Third Policeman 18 May 2017: He Doesn’t Talk Politics Anymore 17 May 2017: Will 2017 be 1984? 16 May 2017: The Contemporary: An Exhibition 16 May 2017: A Country Road, A Tree 10 April 2017: David Brin at Birkbeck 2 March 2017: The Limits of Estrangement Panel Discussion 25 January 2017: Eimear McBride in Conversation with Jacqueline Rose 19 November 2016: Transitions 7: Mapping New Directions in Comics Studies 1 July 2016: True Crime Fictions Conference 28 June 2016: Coming of Age Stories: Now and Then 8 June 2016: Prize Culture & Contemporary Publishing 20 May 2016: You Must Mutate: the Future of Fiction 18 May 2016: Max Porter in Conversation 18 May 2016: The Contemporary: An Exhibition 17 May 2016: Remembering Flann O'Brien 11 May 2016: Comics Studies: Beyond the Canon? 23 October 2015: Living, Thinking, Looking: An International Conference on the Writing of Siri Hustvedt 3 July 2015: Action Writing: The Politics of US Literature, 1960 to the Present 21 May 2015: Historical Fictions 18 May 2015: Environmental Futures: Oil, Ecology, Petrocultures 6-7 March 2015: Stage the Future: The 2nd Annual Science Fiction Theatre Conference 7 February 2015: Supposedly Fun Things: A Colloquium on the Writing of David Foster Wallace 15 December 2014: Booker Prize Reading and Q&A with Hilary Mantel 22 November 2014: Rupture, Crisis, Transformation: New Directions in US Studies at the End of the American Century 25 October 2014: Transitions 5: Mapping New Directions in Comics Studies 11 July 2014: Colours of Memory: An International Conference on the Writing of Geoff Dyer 20 June...
Contemporary Fiction Research Seminar
The Contemporary Fiction Research Seminar was a seminar and lecture series running from 2009 until 2015. It focused on all aspects of contemporary fiction, aiming to discuss a diverse selection of contemporary fictions: from novels to comics, from TV and film to online works; and to consider these works critically, against a broad spectrum of contemporary cultural concerns. Although the focus was primarily for those working in the fields of literary and cultural studies, the group welcomed non-specialists with an interest in the area. Although we used the word fiction, we also liked to talk about things that are not technically fiction. This website is the archive of events, and materials generated by the Contemporary Fiction Research Seminar. Take a look at our posters and podcasts of sessions, and resources for postgraduate and early career researchers from the 2014 workshop series Researching Contemporary Culture. The seminar was supported by the Centre for Contemporary Literature at Birkbeck, the Department of English at the University of Birmingham, and the Institute of English Studies. Convenors: Zara Dinnen (Birmingham) and Tony Venezia (Birkbeck). Thank you to everyone who was involved in the project. The work of thinking about contemporary literature and culture that was started here go on through the following networks: the Transitions Symposia, the Centre for Contemporary Literature Birkbeck, University of London, the Centre for Contemporary Literature and Culture at University of Birmingham, and the British Association for Contemporary Literary Studies...
About Us
Founded in 2012, Birkbeck's Centre for Contemporary Literature (CCL) is a meeting place for numerous ongoing projects by academic staff, creative writers and graduate students. The Centre hosts conferences and symposia, readings and seminars on a range of contemporary writers – in prose fiction but also potentially in other forms and media. The Centre for Contemporary Literature is currently directed by Caroline Edwards, and from 2012-2020 was directed by Joseph Brooker. Major contributors to our work and events also include Julia Bell, Katherine Angel, Mark Blacklock, Martin Eve, Grace Halden, Anna Hartnell, Toby Litt, Agnes Woolley and Roger Luckhurst. Numerous members of staff are also involved in related projects, notably including Richard Hamblyn, Mpalive Msiska, Louise Owen, Jacqueline Rose, Colin Teevan, Jodie Kim, Joanne Winning and Sean O'Brien. Our main annual conferences and events include: Transitions: Mapping New Directions in Comics Studies (launched in 2009), The London Science Fiction Research Community annual conference (launched in 2017), the annual Man Booker at Birkbeck lecture (launched in 2011) and MIRLive, an exciting spoken-word night showcasing the best in new creative writing (launched in 2021). Within Birkbeck, the following people are also associated with the Centre's activities and act in an advisory capacity: Heike Bauer (English) Matt Cook (History) Costas Douzinas (Law/Director of Birkbeck Institute of Humanities) Jason Edwards (Politics) Adam Gearey (Law) Patrick Hanafin (Law) John Kraniauskas (Iberian Studies) Esther Leslie (English) Elena Loizidou (Law) Colin MacCabe (Derek Jarman Lab) Laura Mulvey (Birkbeck Institute for the Moving Image) Lynne Segal (Psychosocial Studies) Rob Swain (English/Theatre) Becky Taylor (History) Matthew Weait (Law) Ben Worthy (Politics) We are open to suggestions for future projects and events, including collaborations with other departments, writers and artists, and non-academic institutions – please use the form on our Contact Us page if you would like to get in touch with a proposed event or activity. Follow us on Twitter:...
Our Events
The Centre for Contemporary Literature at Birkbeck regularly hosts leading conferences, symposia and research workshops relating to all aspects of contemporary literature, culture and theoretical approaches. We try to record as many of our events as possible. Since 2020 we have uploaded video recordings of CCL events on our YouTube channel. Past Events have included: 25 April 2023: Leaves are Alive 28 April 2023: Writing Across Worlds: In Conversation with Victor Fernando R. Ocampo May 2023: Incomparable Poetry: Reading with Dr Robert Kiely 18 April 2023: Book Launch for Corroding the Now 24 February 2023: In the Black Fantastic: Ekow Eshun in Conversation 4-5 November 2022: Transitions 10: Mapping New Directions in Comics Studies (Conference) 8-9 October 2022: SF & Extraction (6th Annual LSFRC Conference) 4 July 2022: Futurisms in Contemporary Turkey 22 June 2022: The Progressive Fantastic in Germany 22 June 2022: Migration & Documentality: Collaborative Thinking and Social Justice 19 May 2022: Writers Rebel on Hope and Climate Activism 15 October 2021: "Fifth Cinema": Theorising Refugee-Led Filmmaking 1 October 2021: Brown Girl Like Me: A Reading and Q and A with Jaspreet Kaur 9-11 September 2021: Activism and Resistance (5th Annual LSFRC Conference) 26 May 2021: Decolonizing the University 13 & 20 May 2021: Interactive Narrative Workshop with Dr Alan Trotter & Dr Mark Blacklock 18 May 2021: Writing, Rights and Literature 11 May 2021: Hannah Lowe in Conversation 7 May 2021: In Conversation: Jeremy Atherton Lin with Katherine Angel 28 April 2021: Aliens, Vampires, Surrogates: Revolutionising the Gestational Workplace 8-10 April 2021: Transitions 9: Mapping New Directions in Comics Studies (Conference) 1 March 2021: LRB Book Launch, Tomorrow Sex Will Be Good Again 26 February 2021: MIRLive featuring Femi Kayode & guests 26 February 2021: In Conversation with Jaspreet Kaur 29 January 2021: Becoming Utopian Roundtable 24 November 2020: Radical Attention Book Launch 16 November 2020: Tade Thompson Q&A 29 October 2020: Writing Shame 16 October 2020: Caryl Phillips Lecture 11-12 September 2020: Beyond Borders: Empires, Bodies, Science Fictions (4th Annual LSFRC Conference) 1 June 2020: Upstaging Ireland: The Theatre of Flann O'Brien 27 May 2020: The New Audacity 12-14 September 2019: Productive Futures: The Political Economy of Science Fiction (3rd Annual LSFRC Conference) 20 June 2019: The Perverse Universals of the Microeconomic Mode 22 May 2019: Terminal Documents: Re-Reading the Non-Fiction of J.G. Ballard 21 May 2019: Irish Times: Myles na gCopaleen's Cruiskeen Lawn 10 November 2018: Transitions 8: Mapping New Directions in Comics Studies (Conference) 31 October 2018: Booker Prize Reading and Q&A with Mohsin Hamid 14-15 September 2018: Sublime Cognition: Science Fiction & Metaphysics (2nd Annual LSFRC Conference) 1 September 2018: Utopian Acts (Conference) 25 November 2017: Ruin...
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