What happens next: radical creative writing symposium list of abstracts

Hurley, Ursula Kate; Kendall, Judy

Abstract

What Happens Next: Radical Creative Writing as an Act of Research

10 – 4 Wednesday 21 June 2023

The University of Salford (online and in-person)

This event considered effective ways of framing radical creative writing as an act of research in a PhD thesis. It also pushed the possibilities for what a radical creative writing PhD can be, with the aim of inspiring current PGRs in creative writing – the supervisors of the future – to take up this question and develop it further. The symposium starts from the premise that radical creative writing is inherently diverse, challenging assumptions and dissolving boundaries in its making. Thus, we aim to give a platform to the voices of radical creative writers that enable, provoke, and drive deep engagement with discovery. We also wish to engage with other disciplines to explore how we might go beyond the use of creative writing in public engagement activities and bring it integrally into rigorous methodologies. We invite scholars from diverse fields (including STEM subjects) to show us ways in which acts of radical creative writing research can drive enquiry in their disciplines.

This event brought together expert external speakers and recent and current PGRs in an exploration of the potential and possibilities for different and more inclusive ways of doing and communicating radical creative writing research. Together, we explored different methods and ways of working with and through radical creative writing to develop a community of practice that can address and counter current hierarchies within the academy.

Often, PGRs are made to feel that their critical work must fulfil a certain stereotype of academic standards. The result is that PhD writers tend to internalise a mythology of what academic writing must be. This symposium countered assumptions about academic writing by celebrating creative researchers/critical writers who utilise their creative ability to express and interrogate in critical ways which embrace rather than divide the critical and the creative.  

Our speakers and discussions grappled with process, looking fearlessly at blockages and difficulties. We discussed the ways in which creative PhDs are hampered by a perceived lack of models or precedents. We considered how hierarchies of information, calls for papers, web templates, research repositories and digital systems can influence and enforce unspoken assumptions about what is valid and prioritised in the academy.  

We looked at ways of situating the research and the researcher. Radical creative writing as research is comfortable engaging with and floating between different theoretical positions. Being at the edge is its strength. Casting into the future, we explored ways of developing arguments creatively so that it becomes clear to the reader that the creative development IS the argument. Performing that argument, it does not need to be meta-spoken. 

This documents lists the contributors and the abstracts of their presentations.

• Online Publication Date: Nov 6, 2023
• Publication Date: Nov 6, 2023
• Deposit Date: Jan 20, 2025
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.17866/rd.salford.24242551.v1
• Publisher URL: https://salford.figshare.com/articles/conference_contribution/What_happens_next_radical_creative_writing_symposium_list_of_abstracts/24242551
• Collection Date: Jun 21, 2023