Three peer seminars are lined up for the 2026 meeting of the International T. S. Eliot Society in St. Louis, from 25-27 September.

They are:

Four Quartets, led by Christina Lambert

This roundtable invites speakers to address any aspect of the so-called Renaissance self. Borrowing from Jan Goldstein, the cultural historian Elwin Hofman describes the self as “individuated mental stuff.” How might this definition inform our understanding of conceptions of the self that developed during the early modern period? What was the relationship between selfhood, self-consciousness, and identity? What kinds of evidence—artistic, confessional, visual, literary, legal, philosophical, textual, or medical—allow us to approach this question? What methodologies offer the most promise? Given the paradoxical nature of the self, both historically and in our own moment, how might it be treated as a proper object of study?

“Quiet Desperation”: Pessimism in Emerson and Thoreau 

12-13 March 2027

University of Łódź

Faculty of Philology 

Sorbonne Université

Research Unit VALE

Online conference

Call for Papers 

John Milton is mostly known for writing one of the greatest epics in English, Paradise Lost, but his shorter poems and treatises also contributed greatly to the political and religious conversations of the seventeenth century. The sphere of Milton’s influence was not limited to his time period, but also shaped later periods, including the Romantics, who were fascinated with what they deemed a sympathetic portrayal of Satan. This panel seeks research investigating Milton’s influences on not only his contemporary society, but the ways that he also affected later literary thought and culture.

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.

As the United States celebrates the 250th anniversary of its Declaration of Independence,
at a time of perceived challenges to its promises of freedom and equality, this symposium
invites a multidisciplinary reflection on the narrative strategies used to represent past and
contemporary interpretations of experienced scenarios of crises, resistance and change.
The Symposium is particularly interested in the connections between contemporary
political, social and cultural fractures and previous experiences of confrontation of
opposing visions of the collective national project, which also tested the fulfillment of the

The Bibliographical Society of America (BSA) will sponsor up to four panels at RSA Philadelphia 2027 and invites proposals for individual papers or pre-formed panels on any topic within the scope of bibliography and book history. Papers and pre-formed panels may address, but are certainly not limited to, the following topics:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1640mIIdakTTPDlFTij6sonxPZtCvRJAc/view?u...

Call for Chapters: Strange Tales of Latin(x) America and the Caribbean

Materiality, Language, Power.Talismans in Context

Special issue coordinated by Pierre Petit, Alain Delattre, and Xavier Luffin

This session examines how wars—across historical periods and geopolitical contexts—affect cultural patrimony (monuments, libraries, archives, museums, sacred sites), and what role ruling classes play in either exacerbating or mitigating that damage. It does not assume elite malignity nor elite virtue. Instead, it asks a set of open, empirical questions: Under what conditions do ruling classes protect heritage? Under what conditions do they tolerate, orchestrate, or benefit from its destruction or looting? And what can the historical record teach us about better safeguarding the world’s cultural inheritance in future conflicts?

The Space Between: Literature and Culture, 1914-1945 is accepting manuscripts for our 2027 and 2028 issues. This peer-reviewed journal is devoted to interdisciplinary scholarship on the period bracketed by the two World Wars. We are interested in approaches to texts of all kinds, emphasizing research on lesser-known writers and artists and understudied topics of the period, including literary and cultural responses to the First and Second World Wars.  

Tl;dr: Higher education is failing to effectively communicate with the public, including communicating disciplinary knowledge and the value of higher education. We're looking for ways it can do both more effectively.

WID Goes Public: 

Communicating Disciplinary Knowledge and the Value of Higher Education

Zachary Beare, North Carolina State University

Marcus Meade, University of Missouri-Kansas City

Following confirmation of firm interest from Routledge, Anna Batori is seeking contributions for the forthcoming volume ‘Eastern European Genre Cinema: Forms, Histories, and Transnational Circulation’.

Space and place continuously serve as sources of inspiration in video games and various other interactive media, within which they have a specific way of representing and operationalizing fear and dread. Interactive works can turn fear into a set of narrative and game design sequences that are problems and solutions for the experience of playing and reading. For example, how to structure attention, limit knowledge, choreograph movement, regulate pace, and distribute safety and danger.

RSTEM symposium 05.02.26

Call for PapersRe-Sounding the Early Modern: Art, Power, and the Global Soundscape of the Dutch Masters

The Texas Tech University Vernacular Music Center, in collaboration with the Talkington College of Visual and Performing Arts and the Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts, invites proposals for a one-day interdisciplinary symposium exploring the cultural, historical, economic, and sonic worlds of the Early Modern.

Humans have long believed we are distinct from other animals in our rationality, self-consciousness, and use of language. Why, then, do writers, artists, and even scientists so often use anthropomorphism to interpret the behaviors of animals, plants, and even nonliving things such as trains, teapots, and toys? What are the repercussions of this tendency to understand the world in terms of human social and cultural identities?

James Kelman at 80

Conference, Spring 2027, Glasgow

It is well established in research as well as in the social arena that a number of stereotypes are harmful, because they are “preconceived and oversimplified idea[s] of the characteristics which typify a person, situation, etc” (OED 2025, stereotype), and that they lead to biases in the perception of individuals, who are considered on the basis of their membership in a group rather than their individual qualities. Biases may be explicit (“overtly discriminatory beliefs, actions, or institutional policies”), but also implicit, taking the form of “unconscious tacit attitudes and unintentional actions towards a group” (Rutgers 2026) that are likely to be detrimental to the targeted group and life in a peaceful society.

Call for Sessions for the 2026 Heartland AI Symposium 

Event Dates: Nov. 10 – 12, 2026 

General Call 

Call for Papers for the Edited Volume: Visualising Criminality: Crime and Films in the Global South

Special Issue: Journal of Modern Periodical Studies: Wartime Periodicals

Co-edited by Sarah Cornish, Paula Derdiger, and Amanda Sigler

Futuring Poetic Inquiry: A Return and Renewal10th International Symposium for Poetic Inquiry (ISPI) 
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada 
October 8-12, 2026  Proposal Submissions Due June 1, 2026 - EXTENDEDTo submit a proposal: Please visit the ISPI website for more information and to submit a proposal: ISPI website  

Guest Editors:  

Prof. Om Prakash Dwivedi, Director, Faculty of Humanities and Liberal Arts, Chandigarh  University Uttar Pradesh, India 

Dr. Aditya Anshu, Chair, Department of Social Science, Faculty of International Relations,  Abu Dhabi University, U.A.E.  

Dr. Madhurima Nayak, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Humanities and Liberal Arts,  Chandigarh University Uttar Pradesh, India 

                                  National Identities (Taylor and Francis), Scopus Q1

Concept Note 

“Rhetorical Theory” (Standing Session)
Seattle, WA, Nov. 20-23
Chair: Dr. Ryan Leack (USC)
Email: leack@usc.edu

Abstract

This panel will explore recent movements in rhetorical theory writ large, either in connection with or apart from composition theory and practice. Special attention will be given to proposals that engage with the conference's theme.

Description