Over the past 30 years, the growth of Creative Writing as a distinct academic discipline has been one of the great success stories of UK higher education. York St John University is pleased to host 'Creative Writing in the World', a one-day conference, bringing together scholars, teachers, and practitioners in order to consider the wider impact and future of that development.

Although this might include reassessments of current pedagogy, we are particularly interested in new thinking about Creative Writing's potential effects beyond higher education: What is the discipline's social impact? What kinds of communities does it support? How does the study of writing relate to writing's capacity for political and social change? This conference will hopefully provide a space for ongoing discussions about ways in which the subject's traditional emphasis on individual development might connect to these more outward-looking concerns.

Proposals are invited for 20-minute presentations. Critical papers, creative work, or combinations of the two are very welcome, as are collaborations. Presentations might respond to any of the following questions (or others):

Creative Writing in the Social World

• How does creative writing engage local, national, and global communities?
• How can the training of individual writers be made more collaborative, or the study of creative writing more inclusive?
• What sorts of projects demonstrate creative writing's potential as a socially responsible discipline?

Creative Writing in the Natural World

• What is creative writing's impact on the environment?
• What can the discipline of creative writing learn from ecological models or the study of non-human animals?

Creative Writing in the Everyday World

• How can creative writing be made more accessible and relevant, beyond the encounters between individual writers, texts, and readers?
• What is the relationship between creative writing's aesthetic ideals and its 'usefulness' as a discipline?
• How does creative writing relate or respond to every day (including cultural and political) life in 2015?

Creative Writing in the Working World

• Where do creative writing graduates work?
• Aside from publishing their own work, do creative writing graduates have a particular impact within specific sectors?
• What broader skills should be included in the study of creative writing – and are other published writers the best ones to teach them?

The full, one-day programme will include lunch and coffee, and conclude with a plenary panel, followed by a wine reception. The event will also serve as the launch of the York St John Centre for Writing.

Proposals for 20-minute presentations (maximum 300 words, plus a short biographical note) should be submitted by 1 March 2015.

Limited travel bursaries will be available for postgraduate students to attend.

Proposals may be sent, as well as any queries, to centreforwriting@yorksj.ac.uk

Online CFP on our blog: http://blog.yorksj.ac.uk/creativewriting/2015/01/23/creative-writing-in-...