The Shirley Jackson Society invites scholars at all stages of their careers to submit to our panels for the American Literature Association’s 37th Annual Conference in Chicago, May 20-23, 2026.

For “Shirley Jackson in an Age of Anxiety,” we invite papers that explore how Jackson’s texts speak to, reflect, or anticipate our current age of political instability, social fragmentation, economic uncertainty, and concerted attacks on human rights. Topics of interest include cultural and historical trauma, social conformity and marginalization, surveillance and paranoia, the uncanny in everyday life, prejudice, mob mentality, the dismantling of the American Dream, and mental illness as a cultural phenomenon.

For “Shirley Jackson and Animality,” we invite papers that explore the role, presence, and symbolic meanings of animals in Jackson’s work, considering how non-human beings contribute to her themes of otherness, the domestic, fear, and power. We are interested in papers that engage with posthumanism and poststructuralism, queerness and animality, domestic animals and their social roles, animals and witchcraft, interspecies transformations, anthropomorphism, nature v. culture, animal rights, environmental anxieties, queer ecological perspectives, and the symbolic boundaries between pets, wild animals, and pests.

For both panels, we welcome readings that compare Jackson with other authors or discuss adaptations of her work in relation to the theme. Please submit a 250-350-word abstract and short bio to Emily Banks at ebanks@franklincollege.edu by January 15, 2025, specifying which panel you’re submitting for in the subject line of your email.