The Evelyn Scott Society
The Society for the Study of Southern Literature
March 28th-31st, 2026
Fisk University
Nashville, TN

The Evelyn Scott Society invites abstracts of about 300 words to participate in a proposed panel focused on the writer Evelyn Scott’s life and work at the Society for the Study of Southern Literature’s biannual conference, which will be held at Fisk University from March 28th-31st, 2026.

This year, SSSL has designated “Building Spaces of Freedom” as the overarching conference theme. While we invite abstracts for papers that discuss Evelyn Scott’s life and work or her positionality as a southern writer from a wide variety of approaches and frameworks, the conference’s theme seeks panels that broach the topics of “Dissident spaces, including spaces of defiance, resistance, activism, expertise, service, safety, care, growth, flourishing, joy, and justice.” In addition, Scott’s writing is uniquely poised to be analyzed from the frameworks of “Old and new relationships between southern literature and African American literature,” “Gender, sexuality, the body,” and “Literary canons, intertextualities, and networks of influence.” You can read more about SSSL’s conference theme on their website (https://southernlit.org/conference/).

Submissions may focus on any genre of her work, including Scott’s fiction, memoirs, poetry, young adult literature, letters, or manuscripts. Participants should be members of the dues-free Evelyn Scott Society by the time of the conference. You can read more about Scott’s writing, becoming a member of the society, and upcoming events and calls for papers on Evelyn Scott at http://www.evelynscott.org/

For consideration, please send 300-word abstracts and a brief 100-word biography to Rachel Bryan at rbryan5@vols.utk.edu on or before December 12th, 2025.