*DEADLINE EXTENDED* Poetry & Poetry Studies at MAPACA 2023

November 9-11, 2023

Philadelphia, PA

The Poetry and Poetry Studies area at the Mid-Atlantic Popular and American Culture Association (MAPACA) seeks creative and critical proposals for this year’s annual conference.

The Poetry and Poetry Studies area welcomes presentations examining all aspects of poetry, including critical perspectives on poetic craft and creative readings of original works. This area encourages diverse and interdisciplinary approaches that expand our understanding of poetry’s impact on modern culture, and presentations are welcome to explore numerous styles and subgenres of poetry, such as ecopoetics, spoken word, visual poetry, received forms, and others. Topics include but are not limited to:

• The confluence of poetry and aspects of modern culture
• The portrayal of poetry in popular culture and media
• Modern reception of older works
• Pedagogical approaches to poetry
• The influence of theory on craft and creative practice
• Readings or performances of original poetry
• Poetry and publishing/print culture

From Amanda Gorman reciting “The Hill We Climb” at the presidential inauguration, to the video game Elegy for a Dead World, where players are tasked with writing their own poems to reflect on the game’s contents, poetry persists as a mode to think through and speak to the contemporary moment. This area welcomes submissions on all the ways poetry does so from established scholars, current students, and all other serious readers and writers of poetry.

Single papers, panels, roundtables, and alternative formats are welcome. Proposals should consist of an abstract of 300 words or fewer submitted through MAPACA’s website. Questions about Poetry and Poetry Studies can be directed to area chair Jessica Guzman at jbguzman@widener.edu, while general questions about the conference can be directed to mapaca@mapaca.net. This year's conference will be held in person at Sonesta Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia. The deadline for proposals has been extended to Friday, July 7, 2023.

For more information, visit https://mapaca.net/.