“That’s for the future to say”: Eudora Welty in the 21st Century

Eudora Welty Society International Conference

Millsaps College, Jackson, Mississippi, April 9-13, 2025

The relationship between a text and its audiences is ever evolving. Noted for keenly evoking the past, Eudora Welty’s photographs and writings also signpost sensibilities and perspectives that transcend the author’s time. Welty affirms in One Writer's Beginnings, “time is . . . the continuous thread of revelation,” a statement signaling an artist's ability to capture or reproduce the recursiveness of time. If we read the past to make sense of the present or to anticipate the future, how does Welty’s legacy as a 20th-century artist translate to future formations of text? Welty asserts in “The Radiance of Jane Austen” about fiction what could easily apply to all art: The future of fiction is a mystery; it is like the future of ourselves.”

Having entered a new century of Welty studies, the Eudora Welty Society in partnership with Millsaps College invites presentations that explore futurist Welty, specifically her own pliable treatment of time as well as any putatively current topic, trend, event, or issue that eclipses the limits of Welty’s lifetime. To what extent has Welty already written or photographed the future? This call does not require papers to prove the prescience of Welty’s prose and pictures, although these discussions are certainly welcome. This conference seeks to examine what Welty’s creations continue to reveal about our past, present, and future selves. In general, we seek 21st century presentations and discussions of Welty’s 20th century productions.

Paper and panel proposals should be sent to Michael Pickard (pickawm@millsaps.edu), Harriet Pollack (pollackh@cofc.edu), and Rebecca Harrison (rharriso@westga.edu) by November 1, 2024. For the full CFP visit: https://eudoraweltysociety.org/?page_id=1963