Call for papers: LCS Digital Humanities Symposium. ‘Consuming fiction in a convergence culture’

5 June 2024, University of Leeds

Call for papers: Please submit your paper proposal (around 200-250 words) as one Word file, containing your name, affiliation and a short biography to Olivia Santovetti (O.Santovetti@leeds.ac.uk), Laura Lucia Rossi (L.L.Rossi@leeds.ac.uk) and Alessio Baldini (A.Baldini@leeds.ac.uk) by 8th April 2024.

An interdisciplinary discussion on the reception and consumption of narrative fiction across different media and artforms. The event is open to all scholars of languages, literature, film, media, game and narrative studies who are using the frame of digital humanities and want to share their works and exchange ideas.

The School of Languages, Cultures and Societies of the University of Leeds have been working on a project entitled ‘Audience engagement with Elena Ferrante’s storyworld. Consuming fiction in a convergence culture’. Using digital humanities methods, they are collecting and analysing social media data and metadata in order to investigate how ordinary readers and TV audiences respond to and engage with the storyworld created by Italian writer Elena Ferrante. By hosting the Symposium at Leeds, they hope to take stock of what is happening in the field, exchange ideas and methodologies arising from their individual case studies and promote discussions, networks and even collaboration among scholars who, in different disciplines, are working on cultural consumption and digital humanities.

The day will involve keynote talks, research project presentations (10-15 minutes), and a round-table discussion.

Small travel bursaries are available to assist participants with travel costs. Priority will be given to PhD student and Early Career Researchers who have no access to funds to cover their travel expenses. If you are interested in applying for a bursary, please include a statement in your proposal explaining the relevance of your proposal to the theme of the Symposium.