Great Writing

Great Writing began in the late 1990s with a small number of keynote presentations, and a single panel made up of those keynote presenters. The participants at that first conference were involved in discussions with the presenters, and amongst themselves, they expressed ideas, talked about things that might be further explored - but the event was otherwise somewhat singular in direction! That is: a few people talked, most people listened.

By the second year of the conference things had changed: now there would be multiple panels, made up of three individual presenters per panel - each person would have 30 minutes in total to offer something, with the suggested format being 20 minutes for a presentation, 10 minutes for questions. (Writers could propose a single 20/10 presentation, or three presenters could get together to offer a full 90 minute panel proposal). This was later changed to 20 minutes in total (15/5) to allow for even more productive discussion over the conference weekend.

This format proved extremely popular. As did the change of date - where as the January date of the inaugural conference meant cold (and not to put too fine a point on it) wet weather, the summer dates of the second conference promised not only a lively gathering but a warm one as well!

That proved to be the case: and the conference is now always in June or July of each year. The audience too began to widen, from its second year - more international presenters traveled to the UK to be at the second conference. This has become a Great Writing tradition. It seems the idea of meeting each year, in summer, in the UK, to explore Creative Writing - and to consider how it is being taught and researched - was always going to be popular. But there was still one more development to make the Great Writing conference programme really work!

Up until the fifth year of the conference, Great Writing only had critical presentations - that is, up until its fifth year the conference was home to presentations concerned primarily with critical approaches to written works, with the pedagogies of Creative Writing teaching, and with ideas about Creative Writing and other Humanities subjects. The only creative presentations up until then were those that happened as keynote readings or in an impromptu fashion in the evenings of the conference. In the fifth year, that all changed:

From year five, Great Writing became an international platform for both critical and creative presentations!

The logic of doing this hadn't gone unnoticed - after all, Creative Writing is about creative work, and study (and research) in Creative Writing always has creative work at its core. It made no sense not to be offering the opportunity for creative writers to present their creative works - sometimes presentations at Great Writing now incorporate both creative and critical work!

Today Great Writing: the International Creative Writing Conference (UK) offers the opportunity to present either critical or creative work, to socialise with fellow creative writers from around the world, to discuss, debate and explore topics and findings in Creative Writing research (whether faculty or student research), to establish new collaborations and renew established ones, to discuss the teaching and learning of Creative Writing in universities and colleges (or, indeed, in the wider community), and to celebrate the considerable human interest in Creative Writing as an art form, a form of communication, an exchange between people, and as a site of human endeavour.

The Timetable for the Year:

• A Call for Papers traditionally went out in August, following the preceding conference. (in 2020 for 2021 this occurred in October, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and in 2022 we will trial a new shorter call for proposals period, and a new combined conferenceformat [primarily 'in person" with some opportunities for virtual participation])
• Calls for Papers remain open until there are no spaces left at the conference. We have "rolling calls", but once all presenter spaces are full these stop. (non-presenter/audience spaces remain open, however)
• Accepted presenters are asked to register on their acceptance, to secure their presenter place, and to assist with logistics [technology resources, coffee ordering, and volunteer hours devoted to running each year's conference].
• The Final Programme is constructed around early June, in the year of conference (ie. between 3-4 weeks before the conference).
• Great Writing occurs in the UK each year in either June or July.
• The New Writing: International Journal for the Practice and Theory of Creative Writing welcomes submissions developed into publishable pieces from presentations given at the Great Writing conference - papers accepted are usually published within 12 months.