An academic conference with a festival feel English: Shared Futures is the largest event for academics in English literature, language and creative writing. It is run by the major organisations of the discipline: The English Association and University English, and supported by the National Association of Writers in Education with Institute of English Studies and National Association for the Teaching of English.

The first English: Shared Futures conference in Newcastle in 2017 had 600 attendees drawn from nearly every Department of English in the UK, over 150 panel sessions, with sessions from sixteen scholarly societies, and a vibrant cultural fringe (including readings from three poets laureate).  Stefan Collini wrote that the event “contributed to a real lift in morale”; Amanda Anderson praised the “extremely rich and important array of talks and sessions”; others found it a “field-defining event of huge significance at this political moment”.

English: Shared Futures 2020 will have 750 attendees (roughly a third of academics in English literature, language and creative writing in the UK).  There will be plenaries, salons, panels and sessions on emerging research and practice from across literature, language and creative writing. As the call for panels and papers demonstrates we also have some additional special themes.

There will be sessions on learning, teaching and pedagogy, and on aspects of professionalization.  We will be running our mentoring scheme; a strand of panels for, and organised by, early career academics; sessions organised by learned societies; attendance by major academic publishers and small presses; workshops on digital skills and technologies; panels on writing grant applications; sessions for Heads and colleagues at all career stages. We’re also keen explore alternative forms of scholarly engagement, such as shared readings; pop-up workshops; staged conversations; masterclasses; roundtables; interviews; dialogues; ‘research in progress’ sessions; ‘in situ’ events around Manchester; and any other new forms of event.

English: Shared Futures fosters inclusivity and diversity. We encourage representation and participation from minorities, and are proactively working to reduce physical, social, and economic barriers to participation, and to develop an environment rooted in equal respect for all.