The eighth annual Lowry Lounge was a Bluecoat collaboration with Liverpool John Moores University. Helen Tookey, a member of staff at the latter, led an organising committee of the Firminists in inviting key Lowry scholars from around the world to participate in ‘Under the Volcano', 70 Years On: An International Malcolm Lowry Conference that would provide the main focus of the event, to be staged over two days at the university and the arts centre. There was also this open call for papers.