DEADLINE EXTENDED to August 1, 2021

The Creative Writing Studies Organization is now accepting proposals for the 6th Annual Creative Writing Studies Conference (CWSC) to be held virtually on Friday and Saturday, October 8 and 9, 2021. CWSC is an opportunity to share research and scholarship connected to current conversations in the field. To learn more about the Creative Writing Studies Organization, visit http://creativewritingstudies.com.

CALL FOR PROPOSALS:
As we imagine possibilities for a post-pandemic world, we use this conference to recenter care. How can creative writing studies build or rebuild practices and communities of care? The ongoing global pandemic has challenged our notions of productivity and created unexpected hardships for writers and students. What lessons will we choose to take forward into the After Times?

We are interested in proposals that reckon explicitly with accessibility and anti-racist or restorative practices, that challenge patriarchal or heteronormative thinking, and that insist on seeing both teacher and student writers as whole persons. If we can assume that all writers entering our classrooms are whole persons, we must assume all deserve the joy of creative expression.

In the post-pandemic world, we must absolutely reject the spurious argument that caring for students or acknowledging the therapeutic benefit of writing somehow negates the artistic and intellectual value of the field.  

This year, we invite paper or workshop proposals that examine how creative writing can incorporate joy; trauma-informed pedagogy and pedagogy of care; and the therapeutic, political, and hedonistic functions of creative writing. Possible topics could include, but are not limited to: democratizing craft, creative writing as self- or community care, socio-emotional learning in the writing classroom, collaborative writing projects, anti-racist pedagogies, the history of writing as moral/ethical education, pedagogies of love, creative writing program administration and social justice, writing as restorative and social justice, or other lessons of the pandemic.

TRACKS:
Papers that address the aforementioned theme may also match one of the conference tracks: creative writing and pedagogy; history; qualitative and quantitative research; the digital and multimodal; professionalization and labor; theory, craft, and culture; and social action. We expect all proposals to consider how race, ethnicity, ability, culture, class, language, and gender/sexuality difference are experienced and studied in the creative writing academic arena. Instead of existing as a separate conference track, diversity, equity, and inclusion undergirds our thinking about each track.

Pedagogy
We seek presentations on creative writing pedagogies that offer both a theoretical and historical background as well as practical applications to engage and reinvigorate the creative process for both students and teachers. We also welcome work that advances and enlarges theoretical perspectives for creative writing pedagogy scholarship, as well as work that advocates for the interruption of systems of oppression in the classroom.

History
Proposals in this track explore the histories of individuals, groups, and communities, particularly highlighting untold histories. We also welcome histories of institutions (broadly defined) and texts related to creative writing as a process, taught subject, or cultural practice.

Qualitative and Quantitative Research
These proposals investigate the practice, pedagogy, and history of creative writing based on empirical research. We are also interested in proposals that interrogate hegemonic definitions and practices of creative writing research methodologies.

Digital and Multimodal
Sessions within this track examine and engage with changes in technologies–especially digital technologies–that affect the composition, publication, and distribution of creative writing of all genres. These sessions might also explore the equity issues of "digital divides" in terms of not only access but also embedded structures of online spaces.

Professionalization and Labor
Teaching creative writing in the university or college intersects employment and institutional issues that often go unexamined. Proposals in this track might discuss adjunct/contingent or professorial status; exploitative and/or uneven workloads, pay, and/or benefits; teacher training; interdisciplinarity; assessment; funding; and diversity requirements (or lack thereof).

Theory, Craft, and Culture
For years, creative writers have taught “craft” as if it were a transparent set of values—fixed and universally agreed-upon in how it defines a particular genre. But creative writing is always embedded in particular cultural, aesthetic, critical, and (often) institutional contexts. We welcome proposals that investigate the relationship between authors and these respective contexts, ground craft in cultural traditions, and dismantle the assumed universalism of white aesthetics.

Social Action
This track examines the connection between creative writing and its role in the public sphere. More specifically, we are interested in work that reveals how creative writing is being used to engender social change, promote community activism, or intervene in culture in ways that reconnect poetics and politics, form and function, innovation and action, play and protest, artfulness and utility.


PROPOSAL OPTIONS: PAPER OR WORKSHOP
Papers are traditionally 20 minutes. For our online conference, papers will have a pre-recorded portion up to 10 minutes as well as a live Q&A and discussion of up to 30 minutes with fellow panelists.

Workshops are traditionally 60-minute sessions where participants will be actively involved in doing or making something related to creative writing, such as classroom activities or how to use tools or techniques. For our online conference, workshops will have a 10 minute pre-recorded portion as well as a live, interactive portion of up to 40 minutes. Workshops must be grounded in sound pedagogical theory and evidence-based practice; we are not interested in lore-based writing prompts (even if they’re really good ones!) unless they connect to one of the conference tracks in an explicit way, like using digital tools or engaging with social action.

Proposals should demonstrate an understanding of previous scholarship on the subject under investigation and should aim to create new knowledge and/or challenge disciplinary conceptions and practices. Submissions based solely on the author’s own experience may be appropriate if they are the result of well-defined action research and use established research methods. It is expected that research involving human subjects will conform to the highest standards of ethical conduct as outlined by the Institutional Review Board of the scholar’s home university.

If accepted, presenters will be asked to submit a recorded video presentation and accessibility script by Friday, September 24, 2021.

Note: The CWSO is dedicated to democratizing scholarly communities -- including this conference. As we aim to disrupt the typical conference review process, we commit to offering mentorship and support to any proposals that do not yet fit the scholarly requirements of the conference. In line with our ideals of inclusivity and community mentorship, we may be in contact with proposers as needed to work together to ensure the proposal is ready for the conference.