Contemporary Writers: Critical Essays

Originally published with Gylphi from 2011-2022, the Contemporary Writers: Critical Essays series has pioneered a unique approach to the academic study of living authors. The titles in the series are devoted to contemporary Anglophone writers whose work is popularly and critically valued but on whom a significant body of academic criticism has yet to be established.

The series covers writers of all forms, from those penning long and short fiction, to poets, dramatists, and authors of creative non-fiction.

Each of the books

• Develops out of the best contributions to an international academic conference, which the writer attends;

• Represents the most intelligent and provocative material in current thinking about the writer’s work;

• Suggests future avenues of thought, comparison and analysis.

With each title prefaced by an author Foreword, the series embraces the challenges of writing on living authors and provides the foundation stones for future critical work on our most significant contemporary writers.

Contributing to the series

The volumes develop out of conferences dedicated to a single author, at which academic papers have been presented and which the writer themselves has attended and contributed to in some way, be it in a reading or Q&A.

If you have an idea for a single-author conference which fits the aims of the series, please send a completed conference proposal form to the General Editor, Professor Sarah Dillon ([email protected]).

It is expected that the conference organiser’s institution will host the event and that any financial support will be secured internally or from external funding bodies. In some instances, the series will consider a Collection Proposal from a conference already held. Please contact the General Editor to discuss this.

Once the conference has been held, a formal book proposal should be compiled and submitted. Our book proposal guidelines are available here.