SURPLUS is the keyword for the 2024 NeMLA convention for critical and creative work that, in addition to the commonly associated meanings of profit and value, can be more broadly construed as excess or excessive, as surfeit, or what is leftover, or unwanted: an excess of emotion (anger, fear, passion, desire), for example; or surplus time (leisure or its absence); or populations rendered "surplus"- migrants, the marginalized, the unemployed, the incarcerated.