bibliography and history of the book

We invite you to submit an abstract and bio by June 17, 2026, to participate in a Modern Language Association (MLA) 2027 seminar, "Queer Literary Studies NOW." Seminar participants will precirculate 1500-word papers on the theme, and we will discuss the papers and the larger theme during the seminar on the first day of the MLA 2027 conference. MLA 2027 will take place in Los Angeles, California, January 7-10, 2027. Participants must be MLA members and register for the conference.

Reception, including reading, listening and viewing, occurs at the tail-end of a complex process of production and reproduction that can create a significant distance between the authors who begin the process and the individual recipients who enact multiple, unique endings in their idiosyncratic experience. With an acknowledgement of the digital reproduction that enables this online conference to occur, we invite papers that address the impact of reproduction at any stage of this process. We especially welcome papers that address the impact of reproduction on the textual, material and cultural meaning of the work, text or image that is reproduced on, amongst others:

This year is the 550th anniversary of William Caxton’s establishment of the first printing press in England in 1476. We invite papers for a two-day conference on Caxton’s career, texts, and contexts. Abstracts of up to 300 words to be sent to shaw.worth@all-souls.ox.ac.uk and jacob.ridley@ell.ox.ac.uk by 10 June 2026.

Call for Papers

University of Delaware’s 8th CMCS Conference in Material Culture

April 2-3, 2027

What’s the Matter with Description?

Form, Practice, and Material Culture

Keynote Speaker

Susan Stewart

(Princeton University)

The American Literature II: Literature after 1870 Permanent Section of the Midwest Modern Language Association (MMLA) is seeking proposals for this year’s in-person convention in Chicago, Illinois. This year’s theme for the conference is “After the Archive”; accordingly, the Permanent Section encourages presentations that focus on the notion of the archive. Some questions to be considered in context of American literature after 1870 are:

MMLA 2026 Convention Theme: "After the Archive"  (https://mmla.memberclicks.net/call-for-papers)Meeting Dates: 12-14 November 2026Meeting Location: voco Chicago Downtown (350 W Wolf Point Plaza)

Presentation Length: 15 Minutes (7-8 Double-Spaced Pages)
Submission Materials: 250-Word Abstract and CV
Submission Deadline: April 25, 2026

The inaugural Edinburgh Bibliographical Seminar and Workshop (EBSW) seeks proposals on the theme of ‘Catalogues and Registers as Evidence in the History of Mathematics, Science, and Technology’. The event will occur at the University of Edinburgh from 20 July to 24 July, 2026, the week after the joint meeting of the History of Science Society and the European Society for the History of Science.

Resources for American Literary Study (Penn State UP), a peer-reviewed journal of archival and bibliographical scholarship in American literature, invites submissions for our upcoming 2026 adn 2027 issues. Covering all periods and genres of American literature, RALS welcomes both traditional and digital approaches to archival and bibliographical analysis. We also welcome proposals for our "Prospects" series in which scholars forecast future developments (and identify scholarly gaps) in the study of major authors.

Instructions for submissions may be found @ http://www.psupress.org/Journals/jnls_rals.html. 

Extended Deadline (MLA 2027): William Morris, Collections Technology & the Virtual Archive

Call for Papers: MLA 2027 - Los Angeles

The William Morris Society in the United States is soliciting proposals for two panels at next year's MLA (January 7-10, 2027 in Los Angeles). You are warmly invited to submit proposals for either session. Please submit your proposals to the email addresses listed with each CFP. Submissions must be received by March 22.

William Morris, Collections Technology & the Virtual Archive

Call for Papers: MLA 2027 - Los Angeles

The William Morris Society in the United States is soliciting proposals for two panels at next year's MLA (January 7-10, 2027 in Los Angeles). You are warmly invited to submit proposals for either session. Please submit your proposals to the email addresses listed with each CFP. Submissions must be received by March 15.

William Morris, Collections Technology & the Virtual Archive

Papers on Joseph Conrad and reading, including close reading, book culture, intertextuality, Conrad’s own reading, Conrad’s global readers, and the challenges of reading Conrad in the age of artificial intelligence. This is one of several planned panels for the Joseph Conrad Society of America Allied Organization at the Modern Language Association Convention in January 2027. Email 300 word proposals and a 100-word biography to Jana Giles, giles@ulm.edu. Deadline: March 22, 2026.

For further information and to see the call posted on the MLA website, see: https://mla.confex.com/mla/2027/webprogrampreliminary/index.html.

The Patrick Leary Resource Development Grant is named for long-time RSVP supporter, Board member and former President, Patrick Leary. It is intended to support one scholar or a team of researchers in creating resources that will facilitate the work of other scholars in their studies of British newspapers and periodicals from the long nineteenth century. The grant was created with funds from a generous bequest to RSVP by the late Eileen Curran, pioneering researcher and Emerita Professor of English at Colby College.

Microgrants are seed grants designed to support new research projects and/or explore ideas in the field of periodical studies.

The Microgrants scheme was established in response to the 2025 survey of RSVP’s members, who informed us that they would benefit greatly from access to smaller pockets of funding for existing or exploratory projects. (For our full list of awards, please see the Eligibility chart). The funding for these grants is made possible through the generosity of the late Eileen Curran, Professor Emerita of English, Colby College, and inspired by her pioneering research on Victorian periodicals.

Call for abstracts for proposed articlesTo Be Forever Known: The Brontës and Poetry