Poetics and Writing Practices for Constructing the Present. Second International Symposium “O que virá: Conversations on Contemporary (and Emerging) Literature” (Madrid)

II INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE “O QUE VIRÁ: POETICS AND WRITING PRACTICES FOR CONSTRUCTING THE PRESENT” (Complutense University of Madrid, 14th, 15th and 16th of October 2026)

The First International Symposium “O que virá: Conversations on Contemporary (and Emerging) Literature” was held from 29 to 31 May 2024 at the Faculty of Philology of the University of Santiago de Compostela. The title is a clear homage to the Argentine essayist and Professor Josefina Ludmer, a central figure in Latin American literary and theoretical thought and a distinguished example of the transdisciplinary nature of literary studies. With o que virá as a guiding thread, the first edition featured the enriching participation of a score of national and international researchers who presented a range of critical and theoretical perspectives on contemporary literature, placing
particular attention to the Latin American context.

The II International Conference “O que virá: Poetics and Writing Practices for Constructing the Present” arises as an initiative of the “Teoría y retórica de la ficción” Research Group (UCM 930478) at Universidad Complutense de Madrid and the research project “Realismo mágico ibérico en el siglo XXI: análisis comparado y cognitivo de una narrativa postsecular (PID2024-157077NB-I00)” at Universidad de Santiago de Compostela. In this second edition, we aim to center our attention on poetics and writing practices currently in the making, and in which literature plays a fundamental role, not only as a space of representation but also as an active practice of imagination, intervention and meaning production. Questioning oneself o que virá, meaning "what is to come" in Galician, ceases to be an attempt at foreseeing the future and rather becomes a collective reflection on ways of (re)shaping and inhabiting the here and now, as well as an opportunity to explore responses —provisional, uncertain, and unstable, yet also possible and hopeful— to the multiple crises we face in the current age.

With this purpose in mind, the II International Conference “O que virá: Poetics and Writing Practices for Constructing the Present” invites the academic community as a whole to submit proposals addressing the following thematic lines:

1. Femininity(ies) in Dispute.

2. Poetics of Sustainability in the Capitalocene.

3. Literatures of displacement: identity, diaspora, and border in the present.

4. Queer literature and the canon.

5. Magical Realisms of the 21st Century.

6. Writings of precarity.

Parties interested in presenting an unpublished and original paper, must send an email to the conference organizers at oqueviraucm2026@gmail.com with their proposal attached along with their name, a brief resume (100-150 words), title, thematic line and an abstract of approximately 250 to 400 words. Submissions in English and Iberian languages will be considered.

Proposals may be submitted by March 15th 2026, at the latest. Acceptance notifications will be sent starting April 1st 2026.