Young Adult Literature Conference - Call for Proposals

Call for Proposals

As underscored by Michael Cart in his 2022 book Young Adult Literature: From Romance to Realism, young adult literature has the power to affect change. Contributions might consider how young adult literature negotiates questions of identity and belonging, social and cultural developments, power and inequality, or the relationship between individual experience and wider political and social structures.

A non-exhaustive list of potential topics for the conference includes:

• Conflict, violence, and trauma in young adult literature
• Migration, displacement, and home in young adult literature
• Dystopia, speculative fiction, and imagined futures for young people
• Issues of gender, sexuality, and LGBTQ+ identities in young adult literature
• Power, authority, and relationships between generations in young adult literature
• Mental health and wellbeing in young adult literature
• Disability, neurodiversity, and representations of difference in young adult literature
• Young adult literature and wider cultural debates about young people

In recent years, the genre of young adult literature has expanded in both popularity and scope, offering increasingly diverse representations of what it means to be young in a changing world. Young adult literature explores the experiences of adolescence, while engaging with wider social, cultural, and political issues affecting young people. Young adult literature encompasses a wide range of genres, including contemporary fiction, romance, fantasy, science fiction, dystopia, historical fiction, mystery and graphic novels. While Young Adult literature is generally understood as literature written for, or about, young people - particularly those in their teenage years and early adulthood - adults make up approximately half of the young adult readership, highlighting the genre’s broad and enduring cultural appeal (Howlett 2015).

As such, the boundaries of young adult literature are not always clear-cut, and the category encompasses many forms, genres, audiences, and approaches. For the purposes of this conference, we welcome a broad understanding of young adult literature and invite contributions that engage critically with literature written for or concerned with young adults.

We warmly welcome abstracts from researchers at all career stages, including postgraduate students, early career researchers, and established academics. 
The conference will be held in person only. Online or remote presentations will not be possible.

To submit a proposal, please email the following to Mary-Kate.Flanagan@mic.ul.ie.

• Abstract (max 300 words)
• Short bio (max 100 words)

Closing date for proposal submissions is Friday 16 October 2026.

Individuals will be notified of the outcome of their submission by 30 October 2026

Conference Information & Registration

The conference will feature confirmed keynote speaker Dr Deirdre Flynn, Senior Lecturer/Associate Professor, Mary Immaculate College.

• Conference Date: 18 January 2027
• Time: 9am to 6pm
• Location: MIC Limerick
   

There is no registration fee to attend the conference. Please note that we are unfortunately unable to provide funding towards travel or accommodation expenses.

A light lunch will be provided.

Conference registrations will open soon.

About the Organiser

Mary-Kate Flanagan is pursuing her PhD in English literature at MIC Limerick. Her research interests include feminist narratives, feminist literary theory, and young adult literature. More specifically, her doctoral project examines depictions of sexual violence in contemporary young adult literature. Mary-Kate holds a first-class honours MA in English Literature from the University of Limerick and a first-class honours BA from MIC (English Literature and History). Mary-Kate is the MIC Doctoral Award recipient 2026/7.