In the past two decades, scholars of environmental literature have begun expanding the Euro-American canons and contexts that have long dominated ecocriticism and publication, teaching, and reading practices in the West. The perspectives on humans’ relationship with the nonhuman world that emerge from alternate global sites often complicate and even challenge the values and priorities of Western environmental scholarship and activism.

This special session invites papers and other forms of critical attention to the wide range of literary and critical works from and about these “underdeveloped,” ruined, or otherwise peripheral regions of the world – and their literary responses to environmental crisis, natural ecologies, environmental ethics, and other forms of relation in the aftermath of colonialism, neocolonialism, and capitalist globalization. It welcomes scholarly approaches that cross theoretical or disciplinary boundaries or specific fields: the intersection of these “postcolonial” environmental perspectives with, for example, science- and speculative fiction, the Gothic and other genres, disability studies, queer and gender studies, indigenous literatures, pedagogy studies, animal studies, and many more.

Questions or other contact before submission is most welcome!

The 123rd Annual PAMLA Conference

Hyatt Regency Seattle
808 Howell St.
Seattle, Washington, 98101
206-973-1234

The PAMLA 2026 Conference is being held at the lovely Hyatt Regency Seattle Hotel in Seattle, Washington, beginning on Thursday morning, November 12 and continuing through Sunday afternoon, November 15. More information coming soon regarding hotel accommodations (with PAMLA’s special group rate).

The 2026 PAMLA Conference is being held entirely in-person at the Hyatt Regency Seattle. There will be no virtual or hybrid sessions or papers: the entire conference is being held in-person. So, please join us for a warm, welcoming, fun, intellectual, cultural, and social experience in the heart of one of the loveliest and most vibrant of cities: Seattle. It is an intellectual vacation, a celebration of literature, culture, art, and the Humanities, a Chautauqua weekend for the soul!

We are thrilled to announce a few of our featured speakers for 2026:

• Plenary Speaker: Renowned scholar and past MLA president Michael Bérubé (Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Literature, Penn State).
• Arts Keynote: Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Rae Armantrout.
• Arts Keynote: Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize-winning poet Marilyn Chin.
• Theme Keynote: James Hynes, author of the novel Sparrow, to be interviewed by Dr. Sarah Levin-Richardson (Classics, University of Washington), an expert on the embodied experiences of slaves and sexuality in Roman Italy and the provinces.
• We will have a terrific PAMLA Welcome Event on Wednesday evening, November 11: The Pop-Poetry Music Project! Please try to join us for this fun, special event—it was a huge success last year!

 The CFP portal is now open! https://pamla.ballastacademic.com/Home/CFP 

The Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association (PAMLA), the west coast affiliate of the MLA, is a warm, welcoming, inclusive Humanities and Arts association dedicated to the creation, advancement, and diffusion of the aesthetic practices and knowledge of ancient & modern languages, literatures, cultures, and the arts. Approximately 800 to 1,000 faculty, students, writers, and interested independent scholars and members of the community attend our annual PAMLA conference, which offers scholars and writers the opportunity to share research and creative artistic works in a friendly, stimulating atmosphere.

PAMLA, founded as the Philological Association of the Pacific Coast in 1899, and the western affiliate of the Modern Language Association, is dedicated to the creation, advancement, and diffusion of the aesthetic practices and knowledge of ancient and modern languages, literatures, cultures, and the arts.

Please email Craig Svonkin if you have any questions about PAMLA or the PAMLA conference: director@pamla.org.