WLP’s Kivrak Brings Novel Insight from Conference to Classroom

Writing, Literature and Publishing Assistant Professor Pelin Kıvrak presented original research on what novelists’ personal diaries can reveal about their work at the 2025 Society for Novel Studies Biennial Conference, held from May 29 to June 1 at Duke University.

The Society for Novel Studies’ purpose is “to further study of the novel as a genre and to examine the role of fiction in engaging, formulating, and shaping the world.”

Kıvrak presented original research on a panel, New Perspectives on the Turkish Novel, offering a theoretically rigorous analysis of how authors’ personal diaries can serve as revealing blueprints for the structural and conceptual architecture of their novels. 

“This conference sharpened the theoretical framing of two articles I’m currently revising—each focused on different modern novels—and gave me a renewed sense of how formal innovation in fiction intersects with urgent political and ethical questions,” said Kivrak.

She also contributed to two intensive seminars: Heteroglossia, a term central to novel theory that denotes the interplay of multiple voices and discourses within a single narrative—essential to her current research on multilingual and polyvocal fiction. The second seminar, Novella, a genre-focused seminar that directly informed the design of her upcoming 300-level course on the theory and practice of the novella.

Additionally, Kıvrak participated in a reading and discussion seminar on Adania Shibli’s novel Minor Detail, which offered critical insights for her LI211 course on Contemporary Middle Eastern Narratives. 

Spending three days in conversation with leading theorists and pioneers in the field of novel studies proved transformative for Kıvrak. She said the exchange of ideas refined her research trajectory and deepened her pedagogical practice.

“Engaging with scholars at the forefront of novel studies will directly enrich my teaching at Emerson, allowing me to bring back new texts, frameworks, and questions that energize the classroom,” she added.