ZfL INFO 65/2026: Call for Papers: Stars, Hits, and Likes: The Mechanisms of Popularity in Literature and Culture
Call for Papers: Stars, Hits, and Likes: The Mechanisms of Popularity in Literature and Culture
International Conference, October 14–16, 2026, Ukrainian Catholic University (Lviv, Ukraine)
Hybrid format (in person and via Zoom)
Organizers: Department of Philology, Laboratory for Critical Studies of Popular Culture, Ukrainian Catholic University (Lviv, Ukraine); Centre for Transnational and Transcultural Research, University of Wolverhampton (UK); Saarland University (Germany); School of English, Trinity College Dublin (Ireland)
The conference is held in cooperation with the Leibniz Collaborative Excellence project Adjustment and Radicalisation. Dynamics in Popular Culture(s) in Pre-War Eastern Europe at the Leibniz Center for Literary and Cultural Research (ZfL), Berlin.
This interdisciplinary conference is dedicated to a comprehensive analysis of the nature of success and popularity within the realms of literature and culture. Its focus lies on the transformation of authors and books into current trends and brands, the sociology of success, and the influence of publishing houses, reader communities, digital technologies, and new media. It examines how literary genres, styles, and topics are affected by changing social, technological, and political conditions. We invite a dialogue on the interaction between classics, the canon, and popularity, as well as strategies for promoting Ukrainian literary and cultural brands on the global market to establish sustainable recognition.
We welcome the participation of scholars, educators, researchers, PhD students, and undergraduate and graduate students.
Areas of discussion:
- Trend formation: from idea to mass market
- The writer as a brand: celebrities, stars, and fashionable authors
- The role of publishers in shaping reader demand
- Literary prizes, rankings, awards, and the phenomenon of popularity
- Author / book popularity and the literary canon
- The bestseller in historical perspective
- The sociology of success and popularity
- Digital technologies of success: BookTok, Bookstagram, and influencer culture
- Artificial Intelligence and popular fiction: Changing modes of production and reception
- Popular genres and styles: New trends and revived tradition
- The popularity of classics in contemporary culture
- Fandom and fanfiction
- Popularity and multimodality
- Mechanisms of popularity in language; Language as a key to success
- Ukrainian literary and cultural brands in a global dimension
Feel free to suggest your own topic.
Please submit an abstract of 150 words along with short author information (name, surname, affiliation, and email) to Prof. Sofiya Filonenko at sofilonenko23@gmail.com by July 30, 2026.
Please send your text submissions in Ukrainian or in English as Microsoft Word documents (.doc or .docx only) in email attachments.