The Doris Lessing Society, an allied organization of the MLA, invites proposals for the two 2026 MLA sessions; for details of the Calls, see below:

                                               Calls for Paper for the 2026 MLA Convention (01/08--01/11/2026)

1       Doris Lessing the Storyteller: Literature and Social Change

The goal is to explore the ways in which Lessing uses fiction for social transformation through the elaboration and dissemination of knowledge, e.g., self-education, constructing knowledge, questioning moral/political values, and the relationship to language.

Deadline for submissions: Sunday, 23 March 2025

Seda Arikan, Firat University (bulutsedaarikan@gmail.com )

2      Family Resemblances in the Works of Doris Lessing and Her Contemporaries

This panel explores literary kinship across genres, cultures, and histories. We invite papers on intertextuality, dialogism, thematic connections, and transnational influences in Lessing’s works and those of her contemporaries. 250-word abstracts with a short bio.

Deadline for submissions: Sunday, 23 March 2025

Seda Arikan, Firat University (bulutsedaarikan@gmail.com )