C21 Literature: journal of 21st century writings

Edited by Shaw, C21 Literature is a new journal that fosters a critical and discursive space for the exploration of twenty-first century writings in English. Addressing a range of narratives in contemporary culture, from the novel, poem, and play to hypertext, digital gaming and contemporary creative writing, the journal features theoretical pieces alongside new unpublished creative works to investigate the challenges that new media present to traditional categorizations of literary writing. Developing out of Shaw’s research background in contemporary fiction, new media, and marginalised voices [1, 2, and 3], this journal seeks to develop the field of contemporary literature studies by bringing together academics, contemporary writers, publishers and readers. Published in hard copy and as downloadable e-format compatible with e-readers and smart-phones, the format of the journal bears a logical sympathy to the writings under discussion, many of which feature online technologies. Further developing this multimedia approach, Shaw enables and encourages further discussion on contributions through email, twitter, facebook, and google+. This allows for a more fluid and postmodern approach to research whereby arguments can continually develop and change, mirroring the approaches taken by a number of the writers studied in this journal. This is supplemented by a blog and twitter accounts that seeks to locate the contents of the journal within broader contexts and in relation to topical and recent events.