travel writing

Conference online: 27-28 August 2026 (online)

CFP:

Women and/of the Empire(s): On the 150th Anniversary of Queen Victoria’s Proclamation as Empress of India (1876-2026)

29-30 October 2026

An international conference hosted by the Faculty of Arts and Humanities (Faculdade de Letras), University of Porto, Portugal

Confirmed keynote speakers:
Ana Cristina Mendes (Professor of English Studies, University of Lisbon, President of the Association for Cultural Studies)
Martin Hewitt (President of the British Association for Victorian Studies, Visiting Professor of English, University of Leeds, Editor of the Curran Index)

The 1st Annual Virtual Conference of The Joseph Conrad Society of America

CONRAD NOW!  Joseph Conrad’s Global Crosscurrents

6 - 8  N O V E M B E R  /  2 0 2 6

The Joseph Conrad Society of America (JCSA) invites proposals for our inaugural Annual Virtual Conference, to be hosted on an integrated web-based Zoom platform from 06 to 08 November 2026. The title, CONRAD NOW! speaks to the present state of Conrad scholarship, but also to the ways in which earlier critical debates on that author have shaped his place not only in literary reflection but, as suggested by our subtitle, with respect to the world’s changing cultural landscapes.

We invite original book chapter proposals for the upcoming edited volume“Emergence of New World Imagination in the 20th Century Asia:Understanding the Asian Colonial Countries through the Lens of Travelogues, Memoirs, Testimonies and Archival Documents" to be published with an International publishing house. This edited book aims to provide a multidisciplinary platform for advanced doctoral students, researchers, academicians and faculty members to publish their original works with us.

Brief Synopsis :

This panel examines how Germans have claimed, imagined, and narrated the Pacific from the nineteenth century to the present. From the colonial administration of Samoa, New Guinea, and Micronesia to missionary encounters, ethnographic expeditions, settler migration along the Pacific coast, and contemporary literary reckonings with colonial pasts, German engagements with the Pacific raise questions about imperial ambition, cultural fantasy, and the politics of memory.

Submissions Invited for Upcoming Issues

Dear Colleagues and Researchers,

The Editorial Board of the Journal of Travel Literature Studies (JTLS) warmly invites scholars, experts, and young researchers from the global academic community to submit their original, unpublished manuscripts for our upcoming issues.

The Forum Section invites scholars to reflect on the different ways that their research and/or pedagogy has intertwined with their lives in relation to the theme of the Volume. It is a more immediate exploration of how one’s research is shaped out of one’s personal experiences and positionalities. This section was introduced in 2023, encouraging contributors to experiment with styles outside academic writing to tease out the intricacies of pedagogy, research, and lived experience. Forum pieces can be more personal and self-reflective, and can include open ended enquiries. There are aspects of research that never make it to the research paper.

The Leon Edel Prize is awarded annually for the best essay on Henry James by a beginning scholar.  The prize carries with it an award of $300, and the prize-winning essay will be published in HJR.

The competition is open to applicants who have not held a full-time academic appointment for more than four years. Independent scholars and graduate students are encouraged to apply.

Essays should be 20-30 pages (including notes), original, and not under submission elsewhere or previously published.  Please send electronic submssions in Microsoft Word format and a current CV to hjamesr@creighton.edu.

Abstracts are invited for a traditional panel session to be held at the annual meeting of the South Atlantic Modern Language Association, scheduled for 5-7 November 2026 at the Wyndham Atlanta Buckhead Hotel and Conference Center, Atlanta, GA, USA. 

This session intends to explore the theme of “hospitality” in the works of Joseph Conrad in order to highlight how Conrad’s relationships both reflected and influenced his literary output throughout his career. Some relationships were more enduring than others, but all had an impact, often a profound impact, on his life and writing.

University of Surrey

27-28 September 2026

Editors: María Eugenia Crusetand Aleksander Bednarski

Proposals (500 words): May 15, 2026

Completed chapters (7,000 words): September 15, 2026

Languages: English and/or Spanish

The Maritime Literature and Culture special session at PAMLA 2026 seeks papers that engage broadly with human activity at sea, particularly as they relate to the conference theme, “Our Ruling Classes: Culture, Power, Conflict.” Who rules the sea? How should we navigate and care for our oceans and waterways? What changes—social, ecological, political, cultural—have naval conflicts, commercial ventures, and other maritime activity brought about? How does a ship crew grapple with problems of leadership, mutiny, and internal conflict? This session encourages papers on maritime literatures and media that engage with these and other related questions.

Potential topics include:

- Naval conflict

- Ocean borders and maritime law

African writers such as Chris Abani, Teju Cole, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, NoViolet Bulawayo, Biyanvanga Wainaina, Dinaw Mengestu and many others are committed to reimagining the concept of “home” and “what it means to be African?” in the era of mass globalization and “new” diasporic belonging.

The Eco-esotericism panel invites submissions that examine the intersection of esoteric thought and ecological consciousness as expressed in literature, cultural texts, and critical theory. Eco-esotericism encompasses approaches that unite spiritual or mystical understandings of nature with ecological critique and environmental activism. Engaging with PAMLA’s 2026 theme, “Our Ruling Classes: Culture, Power, Conflict,” this panel asks: How do esoteric ecological imaginaries reinforce, negotiate, or resist ruling ideologies? How have spiritualized visions of nature shaped elite cultural production, countercultural movements, or alternative political communities?