Our Glocal Shakespeare: Sustainable Shakespeares

Co-hosted by “Turkish Shakespeares Project” and Istanbul Bilgi University English Language and Literature Department

22-23 May 2026  

Venue: Santral Campus, Istanbul Bilgi University, Istanbul, Türkiye 

Contact: Murat Öğütcü (murat_ogutcu@yahoo.com) and İnci Bilgin Tekin (inci.bilgin@bilgi.edu.tr) 

Deadline for abstracts and bios: 31 December 2025 

Concerns about global environmental crises have underscored the importance of sustainability, also in the arts. Traditional production and consumption practices of prosaic, dramatic and poetic literature have been challenged by accessible and environmentally friendly practices. These practices can also be seen in how Shakespeare’s works are staged, filmed, adapted and taught today. For instance, eco-theatre productions of Shakespeare’s plays upcycle materials for sets or costumes to minimise waste and underscore environmental themes. Likewise, film adaptations set his plays in dystopian and resource-scarce worlds to warn against and criticise the exploitation of human, non-human and environmental resources in today’s consumerist societies. His plays and his poetic works are reinterpreted to tackle climate change and environmental injustice. Through discussions on curricula, educators incorporate biophilic approaches to Shakespeare’s works, creating environmental awareness in their students. Yet, the quest for bridging sustainability and Shakespeare needs further documentation and public discourse, which we intend to provide.

Given the exciting experience of our inaugural biannual conference series “Our Glocal Shakespeare” in 2024, we gladly invite national and international academics to share our enthusiasm by submitting proposals for panels (1-hour panels) and individual 20-minute presentations, including but not limited to the following subjects:  

-      Shakespeare and Eco-Theatre

-      Shakespeare and Green Production Practices

-      Deconstruction of the Spectacle

-      Screening Sustainable Shakespeares  

-      Staging Sustainable Shakespeares 

-      Engendering Shakespeares and Sustainability

-      (Post)colonial Shakespeares and Sustainability

-      Global Shakespeares and Sustainability

-      Shakespeare, New Media and Sustainability

-      Teaching Sustainable Shakespeares 

Please send a 250-word abstract, a short bio, and your recent CV to both Murat Öğütcü (murat_ogutcu@yahoo.com) and İnci Bilgin Tekin (inci.bilgin@bilgi.edu.tr)
before 31 December 2025. 

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any further queries. We are looking forward to receiving your proposals. 

Participation in the conference will be free of charge. We will share nearby accommodation options under suitable conditions soon.

 *Selected papers, following review, will be published as an edited collection by an international publisher and as a special issue at the Multicultural Shakespeare journal in 2027.

The Organizers 

Murat Öğütcü (PhD) is an Associate Professor in the English Language and Literature Department at Adıyaman University, Türkiye. He received his PhD degree from the Department of English Language and Literature at Hacettepe University, Türkiye, in 2016. From August 2012 to January 2013, he was a visiting scholar at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He is the General Editor of the “Turkish Shakespeares“ Project which aims to introduce texts, productions and research on Turkish Shakespeares to a broader international audience of students, teachers, and researchers. He is also a researcher at the AHRC-funded “Medieval and Early Modern Orients“ project which aims to contribute to our understanding of the medieval and early modern encounters between England and the Islamic Worlds. He is among the regional editors of the Global Shakespeares Project and the World Shakespeare Bibliography. He is co-editor of Materializing the East in Early Modern English Drama (Bloomsbury, 2023). He has written book chapters and articles on his research interests, including early modern studies, Shakespeare, and cultural studies. 

İnci Bilgin Tekin (PhD) is an Associate Professor at İstanbul Bilgi University, Department of English Language and Literature. Bilgin Tekin’s research interest in Shakespeare was triggered during her PostDoc study on “Shakespeare and Adaptation Studies” at the Center for Adaptations, De Montfort University in the UK (2013-2014). While she was an Assistant Professor at Boğaziçi University, she got affiliated with the University of Leicester, School of English as a visiting fellow, for her BAP Project titled “Rewriting Shakespeare in Contemporary Intercultural Context”. She has taught “Contemporary Rewrites of Shakespearean Tragedies” for almost ten years at Boğaziçi University and she is now teaching “Contemporary Approaches to Shakespeare” at İstanbul Bilgi University, which she joined in 2020. She is the writer of Female Othellos (Peter Lang, 2018), as well as several articles on Shakespeare in Türkiye and intercultural rewrites of Shakespeare.  Also affiliated with “Turkish Shakespeares Project” as one of its researchers, İnci Bilgin Tekin continues her studies on Shakespeare.