Since the introduction of large-scale quarantine and social distancing measures in March 2020, literature conferences have increasingly turned toward examining themes of "emergency" and "crisis." In the midst of this proliferating focus on conditions of catastrophe, however, we might also ask what modes of life, affect, and community formation persist even beyond, alongside, or within crisis. Can we conceive of crisis not as a totalizing event that defines all forms of vitality that exist within its purview, but as a lived environment in which we can discover and facilitate forms of ongoingness that resist the surrounding catastrophes?

Call for Papers: English Department Symposium, University of Alabama (September 8-10, 2022)

(Extended Deadline)

UCL's Moveable Type invites submissions of your creative nonfiction, poetry, fiction and drama relating to the theme of unfeeling for its Autumn 2022 issue. 

We welcome submissions about: 

• Climate change narratives 

• The ruse of universal feelings

• Shame

• Sympathy, or a lack thereof

• The medicalization of feeling 

• Biopower 

• Apathy and/or despair 

The Milton Society of America invites paper proposals considering any aspect of Milton’s writings. This will be a guaranteed session at the 2023 MLA Annual Convention. Please send a 250-word abstract and an abbreviated cv, no later than March 15, to Eric Song at MiltonSocietySec@gmail.com.

Proposal submissions for the Interdisciplinary Studies panel at South Central Modern Language Association's 2022 conference are currently being accepted. We encourage graduate students at the MA and PhD level to submit as well. There is no theme this year for the conference or the panel. A variety of approaches and topics may be submitted for this panel. The 2021 conference's topics were wide ranging.  

SCMLA is a hybrid conference and will be held in Memphis October, 13-15, 2022. In 2021, panelists presented in-person and virtually to an in-person and virtual audience. Details can be found at https://www.southcentralmla.org/conference/

"Now the arts connect":

Tom Phillips’ Constellations

October 6-7, 2022

The year 2016 was a very special one for English artist Tom Phillips. It was in October of that year that the final version of A Humument was published, a work unlike any other which occupied fifty years of the life of its author since its inception in 1966.

Submissions revisiting "emancipation" (as key term) in global and comparative context: emergence and evolution of the term; political, religious, economic, social, and legal contexts; relation to post/colonialism, feminism, abolitionism, slave trade, desegregation, assimilation, etc. 250-word abstracts and bio.

Notes: This is a guaranteed panel sponsored by the CLCS Global Jewish forum at the MLA. We are hoping to solicit proposals from different areas for this comparative panel. (MLA 2023 will take place in San Francisco, 5-8 January)

For an upcoming special section, the editors of PRS are seeking research that uses performance as an analytical method to understand the structure, function, use, meaning, or affects of classical religious, philosophical or religious texts. The problem of how to ‘activate’ classical texts for contemporary readers is difficult, and in recent decades, some scholars, artists and religious professionals have turned to making their own live performances responding to classical texts—in a wide variety of forms and settings—as a means of doing so. In this work, they often are forced to make complex decisions that highlight the assumptions, meanings, and consequences embedded in these texts that may not be as visible to the non-performative reader.

Our “Bridges” conferences provide an international venue and opportunity for academics and professionals from various arts- and humanities-related fields the world over to come together, exchange ideas and learn from each other.  Please consult our website at www.bridgesacrosscultures.org or click on this link: https://bridgesacrosscultures.org/how-to-submit Submissions will include:

Call for Contributions

BTS: A Critical Reader

Co-edited by Patty Ahn, Michelle Cho, Frances Gateward, Vernadette Gonzalez, Rani Neutill, Mimi Thi Nguyen, and Yutian Wong 

BTS is the biggest popular music act on the planet, with a passionate fandom of  unprecedented size and diversity. As a multi-faceted cultural phenomenon, BTS has often brought forth reductive claims of universal appeal to explain their global success. 

Hopkins, Voice, and Echo

Conference dates: 23 and 24 September 2022; to be held online via Zoom

Call for Papers for a non-guaranteed session sponsored by the LLC Italian American Forum and Allied Organization Italian American Studies Association at the Modern Language Association (MLA) Annual Convention on January 5 through 8, 2023 in San Francisco, California.

One of the US’s most famous and beloved independent bookstores, City Lights celebrates its 70 birthday this year while we gather for MLA. This special session, a joint venture between the LLC Italian-American and the Allied Organization Italian American Studies Association, celebrates City Lights focusing on book cultures and print communities. 

Heroes, Rebels and Outlaws: Escapism and 19th Century Literature International Seminar
6 sessions in total (March,April,May 2022) 

Course Facilitator: Olga Akroyd , Ph.D 

An unprecedented wave of literary prizes were awarded to African writers in the past year. These include awards for Abdulrazakh Gurnah (Nobel), Boubacar Boris Diop (Neustadt), David Diop (Man-Booker), Mohamed Mbougar Sarr (Goncourt) and Damon Galgut (Booker). This roundtable brings together scholars of African literatures and francophone studies to respond to these recent developments and reflect critically on what these awards mean for the field. Potential topics might include situating 2021 against other historical arcs of consecration in African literatures or how this recent wave relates to questions of genre, gender, and language of expression.