The British Association   of Contemporary Literary Studies (BACLS)  Biennial Conference “What Happens Now  2018” (10th–12th July 2018, Loughborough  University, UK)

Abstract. The paper reviews the work of the British Association of Contemporary Literary Studies (BACLS) biennial conference “What Happens Now 2018”, which was held on 10th- 12th July 2018 at Loughborough University (UK). Key issues discussed at the conference were addressed to contemporary literature in its relation to social, political, gender and media contexts, as well as intermedia and experimental forms of writing today. Another focus of the conference agenda is an elaboration of the most pruductive research and teaching frameworks for understanding the filed of contemporary literature, and particular kinds of interdisciplinary discourse applied to its varieties. The conference shares the ideology of openness and flexibility, aiming at overcoming disciplinary and institutional borders in exploration of ‘contemporary moment’, with two open-access scholar journals supported by BACLS.

Keywords: The British Association of Contemporary Literary Studies (BACLS), contemporary literature, interdisciplinary approaches in literary studies, literature and media.