For its 25th annual meeting, the British Women Writers Conference invites papers and panel proposals considering the theme of “Generations.” As we look back on a quarter-century of feminist scholarship and practice within British Studies, we want to celebrate those who have defined the British Women Writers Association’s past and nurture those who will shape its future. Of course, even within literary traditions or scholarly networks, generational transitions are rarely ever easy or smooth. Such transitions may be accompanied by paradigm shifts, struggles to be heard, or difficulty letting go. We therefore welcome investigations into the complexities of generational exchange and transition in women’s writing. Papers may focus on generation as a biological, cultural, social, historical, or political process as well as on attendant manifestations in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century literature and contemporary scholarly discourses. In the end, we hope that a comprehensive exploration of generations will help illuminate shifts in literary studies, women’s writing, and critical practice.

By January 15, 2017, send 300-word abstracts for paper proposals, along with a brief bio (in one document) to bwwc2017@gmail.com. Panel proposals should include individual paper abstracts, short speaker bios, as well as a brief panel description (in one document). All proposals must engage the conference theme and relate to British women’s writing during the long eighteenth or nineteenth centuries. Graduate students are encouraged to apply for a travel grant sponsored by the BWWA.

Possible topics may include, but are not limited to:

• “GENERATIONS AND RELATIONS”: parents & children; mentors & mentees; ancestors & descendants; inter/extra-generational friendships; generational conflict
• “GROWING PAINS”: theories of change & the passing of time; obsolescence of cultural practices & social structures; new technologies & techniques; biopower, eugenics, social design
• “SEASONS”: weddings, honeymoons, anniversaries; political & economic phases; schedules, timetables, deadlines; geological time, astronomical time, relativity; retrospectives & futurisms; literary periodization
• “SEEDS”: horticulture, cultivation, conservation; cuisine & consumption; changing landscapes & cityscapes
• “GENRES OF GENERATION”: proceedings, requiems, obituaries; borrowings, adaptations, revisions; multi-generational texts; narrative inventions & residuals; changing aspects & visual arts; performing change & changing performances
• “PHASES OF HUMAN BODIES”: reproduction, pregnancy, birth, maternity; childhood & adolescence; theories of biological (re)generation & healing; carework & disability; discourses of aging bodies or minds & ageism; death & mourning
• “BWWC’S 25TH”: 1992-2017: reminiscences & outlooks; critical & feminist prehistories; anxieties of influence; the state of the field; women’s writing as a category of analysis; scholarship as pedagogy; interdiscipinarity; whither BWWC?