Online Conference: A Warning to the Curious: Ghostly, Supernatural and Weird Tales
CFP for A Warning to The Curious: Ghostly, Supernatural and Weird Tales
An ONLINE conference on 23rd and 24th August 2025 marking the 100th anniversary of MR James A Warning to the Curious and Other Ghost Stories
SUBMISSION DEADLINE: 10th April 2025
The conference is fully online and is open to scholars and experts from around the world.
In 1925, M R James published his final collection of ghostly tales: A Warning to the Curious and Other Ghost Stories. Often thought of as a writer of ‘ghost stories’, James’ works span a range of supernatural manifestations and generically sit on the cusp of the ghostly and weird. James’ name has become almost synonymous with the ghostly tale and many of his works have been adapted. This conference seeks to explore not only James’ work but also its legacy and it aims to put James’ work within the wider context of ghostly, supernatural and weird writing on both a national and international level. We therefore welcome papers on writers and artists from any historical period and any country.
The year’s conference seeks to mark the anniversary of James’ collection with a conference exploring three key themes:
1) MR James’ work, its reception, adaptation and legacy
2) Short form terror – weird fiction, ghost stories, and other short forms traditions (including oral and digital modes)
3) 20th-century supernatural writing
We welcome papers focusing on ghostly and supernatural traditions globally as well as papers on the British tradition of which MR James formed such a key part. We do not wish to impose rigid definitions of the weird, ghostly, or ‘ghost story’ and welcome a wide range of approaches. While the conference predominantly focuses on written forms, we also encourage papers that look at oral and non-traditional modes of story production and non-narrative forms e.g. art and music.
Romancing the Gothic seeks to encourage innovative conversations across barriers, bringing together scholarship and research from different countries, traditions, sub-fields and perspectives.
We welcome scholars, researchers and experts from all stages of their career and from every background
What are we looking for?
We welcome:
- 20 minute papers
- 10 minute lightning talks
- Panels (3-4 papers of 20 minutes with or without a suggested panel chair)
- Workshops (cooking, writing, art, music, craft, drama, dance) related to the key themes of the conference
Potential Topics
We welcome papers on a range of topics. The below are suggested areas but we welcome papers from outside these themes.
- The production and dissemination of MR James’ work
- MR James’ short fiction
- Intersections between James’ academic work and his fiction
- Adaptations of James’ work
- Horror and the antiquarian
- Intersections of the archaeological and horror
- James’ legacy
- Fictional representations of MR James
- The Victorian or Edwardian ghost story (focus on any specific author or text welcomed)
- Early Weird Fiction
- Ghost belief in the late 19th and early 20th centuries
- 20th century developments in the ghost story
- Adaptations of 19th and early 20th century ghost tales
- The ghost story as form
- Oral traditions of ghost-telling
- Christmas story-telling and adaptation traditions
An abstract of 150-250 words should be sent to awarningtothecuriousconference@gmail.com before 10th April 2025. If you have not written an abstract before, I will be running workshops on abstract writing. Please enquire at the email above. Your abstract should function as a short summary of your paper and demonstrate your expertise in the area. You can also include a short biography (<100 words) but all submissions will be judged solely on the abstract and a biography is not required at this stage.
Accessibility Notes
We want to work with all contributors to make sure that the conference is fully accessible for them. We work entirely online. Subtitles are auto-generated during the conference. Information is provided with alt-text where required and accessibility training is offered to all speakers. For the conference itself, clear information on the timetable, running of the event and what to expect is provided ahead of time. We have a clear code of conduct which is used to maintain a welcoming atmosphere and a comfortable space for all participants. We are explicitly queer friendly and aim to be an inclusive conference for all. If you have any questions, queries or requests at this stage or at a later stage, please do not hesitate to contact me at awarningtothecuriousconference@gmail.com
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