Call for Papers | Society of Early Americanists

American Literature Association | “The American Novel: Forms, Genres, and Traditions”

November 5–7, 2026 | Santa Fe, NM

The Novel in/and Early America

For this upcoming ALA Symposium, the SEA invites papers and presentations that deal with any aspect of “The American Novel: Forms, Genres, and Traditions” prior to (approximately) 1830. Topics might include (but are not limited to):

• The emergence of the “American” novel as a distinct literary tradition.
• New readings/re-readings of canonical early American novels.
• Underappreciated and/or understudied early American novels.
• Early American reading practices and textual circulation.
• Representations of Indigenous lives and cultures in early American novels.
• Developments in archival work and/or digital humanities projects.
• Pedagogical strategies for teaching early American novels.
• New theoretical approaches and/or keywords for the study of the early American novel.
• The relevance of early American novels in the 21st century. Why early American novels now?

Please send short abstracts (no more than 250 words) and brief bios to Joshua Bartlett (organizer) at jcbartlett@gmail.com and Andrew Pisano (chair) at pisanoa@mailbox.sc.edu by Friday, July 17, 2026.

More information about the symposium can be found here: https://americanliteratureassociation.org/ala-symposia/ala-symposium-the-american-novel/