This year the MHRA will publish volume 100 of the Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature (ABELL), and to mark the occasion we are hosting an event in central London on 16 October, to which you are warmly invited.

A typical spread from ABELL today. The poet Geoffrey Hill and the fantasy writer Susan Hill, no relation, but each knighted for services to English literature, rub shoulders.

The event is a celebration not only of (more than) a century of work on the Annual Bibliography but of the Association’s work in the field of English Studies in general. There will be three short talks, followed by a drinks reception.

  • The MHRA’s Publishing Manager and ABELL Assistant Editor, Simon Davies, will present an introduction to the Annual Bibliography and its history.
  • Will Bowers, Senior Lecturer in Eighteenth-Century Literature and Thought at Queen Mary, University of London, will talk about his work as a scholarly editor, and how MHRA funding has helped along the way. Dr Bowers received an MHRA research grant early in his career, and is now overseeing a Research Fellow working on an edition of the letters of Shelley for Oxford University Press.
  • Richard Adelman, Reader in English at the University of Sussex, will talk about the state of English Studies today. Dr Adelman recently took on the role of General Editor of the MHRA’s Yearbook of English Studies, and for his first volume in post edited a collection of essays under the heading English Now.

The Annual Bibliography was founded by the MHRA in 1921. Ever since then it has been compiling and reporting all the work published in English Studies each year. Publication was significantly disrupted by the Second World War (which is why volume 100 does not coincide with 100 years since ABELL’s founding), but other than those troubled years the Bibliography has had an unbroken run of publication, reflecting the changing interests and moods of English Studies throughout the twentieth century and beyond. The electronic version, now hosted by ProQuest, was introduced in the late 1990s, but the volume is still published annually in print. The current Editor is Anke Schumacher. This special event is a celebration of all the scholars whose immense labour and dedication have maintained this remarkable resource for over a century.

The title page of ABELL volume 1. The Association was just two years old in 1920: ABELL was one of its first ventures.

ABELL is just one part of the Association’s work in English Studies: we also publish monographs in English Studies (among many other fields) and editions of literary works, as well as publishing the latest research in the field in our journals Modern Language Review, the Yearbook of English Studies, and Working Papers in the Humanities. And of course the MHRA Style Guide is an indispensable tool for researchers and students writing up their work.

It’s no secret that the field is struggling at the moment, and it’s hard to know what the next hundred years will bring. This event is a chance, in the middle of this time of pressure and uncertainty, to celebrate the field and its strengths and joys, recognising the labour and skill that go into academic research, looking to the future as well as to the past.

We hope you’ll join us if you can.

Event information

Friday 16 October 2026, 15:00 to 17:00

Lecture Theatre, Willan House, 4 Fitzroy Square, London W1T 5HQ (nearest Tube: Warren Street or Great Portland Street)

Tea and coffee will be available on arrival, and the talks will be followed by a drinks reception.

The event is free but space is limited; if you’d like to come, please RSVP by sending an email to barbara.burns@mhra.org.uk.

The venue is wheelchair accessible and equipped with a hearing loop system. Please see this page for venue accessibility information, and please inform us in advance if you have any special access requirements.

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