In the last two decades the production, consumption and critical analysis of literature has been heavily impacted by the participatory cultures of social media. From Instapoets to collaborative online fanfiction and from Booktube influencers to literary quotations on Facebook, social media have become a prime digital outlet for writing and reading, discussing and performing the literary text. This informal workshop aims at bringing together scholars working in various areas of literary digital humanities to discuss shifts in production and reception paradigms within creative digital economies. Participants will inquire into intermedial specificities and social media design as agents of literary production/consumption and discuss ways in which these have shaped presentation, readership and dissemination of literary texts. The workshop envisages to create a forum to rethink existing and develop new critical vocabulary for commenting on digital literary phenomena which cannot be framed within print literary discourses. Possible avenues of exploration include:

• Participatory writing and reading practices
• The art of fragmentation: literary quotations online
• Fictionality in social media narratives
• Hybridity and genre shifts
• Performances of the literary text online
• Liking, sharing, commenting as speech acts
• Archiving literary texts on social media
• Democratization of publication processes
• Online fiction/poetry as a means of social activism
• Literary criticism on social media
• Friends and followers as readers and the fad of instant audiences
• Author support groups online
• Book influencers and social media literary marketing
• The impact of social media on print literary cultures

Participants will present 15-minute papers, followed by ample discussion. If you are interested in participating, please send a short abstract of your proposed contribution (maximum 300 words) to Dr. Eleni Papargyriou (epapargy@gmail.com) by April 5, 2023. Advanced MA students are encouraged to attend and take part in the discussion. Due to limited room capacity, please notify us by email whether you wish to attend.