CFP Promises of Monsters: Those Haunting Feminist Speculative Fiction (3/14/2026; MLA 2027)

2027 MLA CFP: The Promises of Monsters: Those Haunting Feminist Speculative Fiction

deadline for submissions:
March 14, 2026

full name / name of organization:
Ezgi Hamzaçebi / MLA 2027

contact email:
ezgi.hamzacebi@ozyegin.edu.tr

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2026/03/04/2027-mla-cfp-the-promises-of-monsters-those-haunting-feminist-speculative-fiction

This panel explores the promises and provocations of monstrous and ghostly figures in feminist and queer speculative fiction, focusing on gendered human and nonhuman bodies. We are particularly interested in how monsters articulate socially ingrained fears and anxieties about women, queer communities, and the nonhuman world, as well as the desires and apprehensions they evoke toward the impossible, the fantastic, or the supernatural. Contributors might consider how these monstrous imaginings shape, challenge, or expand the category of “us,” offering critical insights into who is included, who is excluded, and on what grounds. By interrogating these entanglements, the panel seeks to illuminate how feminist and queer speculative fiction uses the figure of the monster to question normative assumptions, open new imaginative possibilities, and rethink the ethical and social stakes of inclusion, otherness, and coexistence.

*Please submit a 250-word abstract and a brief bio by March 14.

ezgi.hamzacebi@ozyegin.edu.tr

https://mla.confex.com/mla/2027/webprogrampreliminary/Paper33661.html



Last updated March 10, 2026

CFP Ninth Annual Ann Radcliffe Academic Conference at StokerCon 2026 (3/27/2026; Pittsburgh/Hopin 6/5/2026)

The Ninth Annual Ann Radcliffe Academic Conference at StokerCon 2026

deadline for submissions:
March 27, 2026

full name / name of organization:
Horror Writer's Association

contact email:
AnnRadcliffeCon@gmail.com

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2026/03/12/the-ninth-annual-ann-radcliffe-academic-conference-at-stokercon-2026

The Ninth Annual Ann Radcliffe Academic Conference at StokerCon 2026

Conference Date: Friday, June 5, 2026

Conference Location: The Westin Pittsburgh, 1000 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15222, and via Hopin

Conference Website: https://www.stokercon.com/

Stokercon 2026 will be the tenth anniversary of Stokercon, and the Ann Radcliffe Academic Conference is delighted to be a part of this banner year. Along with the HWA, we look forward to reflecting on the history of Stokercon and the horror genre, while considering the potential of our future. We are thrilled to be hosting our 2026 and 2027 conferences in Pittsburgh, home to the University of Pittsburgh’s Horror Studies Center, Horror Studies Collection, and a wealth of historic sites and horror-related venues to explore. We are delighted to take part in this banner year, and to prepare for our own ten-year anniversary in 2027. With these milestones in mind, the co-organizers of the Ann Radcliffe Academic Conference are pleased to announce our call for papers. 

This year, we are eager both to welcome traditional academic presentations and to encourage inventive proposals and formats that engage with the study and critique of the horror genre and its media. This year, we especially seek to engage with the stories, histories, and cultures of Pittsburgh and the wider Appalachian region, as well as with the history of the HWA and Stokercon itself. 

The Ann Radcliffe Conference serves as a research showcase within Stokercon for scholars of horror, and an opportunity for building community and collaboration among participants. We look forward to continuing this tradition by inviting all interested scholars, researchers, creators, academics, and non-fiction writers to submit abstracts for completed research projects, works-in-progress, and projects invested in the academic analysis of the horror genre and its history in all its forms. As in previous years, this conference will be held in a hybrid format, with both in-person panels and recorded online presentations available via Hopin. Please note that while this conference is slightly different in its format and approach, all Stokercon participants are welcomed to take part in the Ann Radcliffe Academic Conference, and to submit proposals for presentation. 

We are eager to receive abstracts that expand scholarship, analysis, and theory across horror and gothic studies in fields or formats including (but certainly not limited to): 

• Art
• Cinema
• Comics/Manga
• Literature
• Music
• Podcasts/Radio
• Digital and Analog Media
• Poetry
• Television
• Video Games
• Cartoons/Anime

We invite presentations that take an interdisciplinary approach to their subject matter and welcome scholarship that considers a diverse range of readings, interpretations, and application of theories. This includes work from a variety of viewpoints, scholarly backgrounds, and transmedial fields including, but not limited to:

• Critical race theory
• Environmental Studies
• Film theory and analysis
• Gender/LGBTQIA+ theory
• Historical analysis and interpretation
• Archival research
• Literary theory and analysis
• Popular responses and audience studies
• Pedagogical approaches to horror and the gothic
• Intersections with psychology, biology, and the history of medicine
• Philosophical approaches
• The history of the HWA and Stokercon, including the Ann Radcliffe Academic Conference

Presentation and Submission Guidelines Please upload a 250 – 300 word abstract to SUBMITTABLE LINK (https://horrorwritersassociation.submittable.com/submit) by March 27, 2026. Responses will follow as soon as possible.
Accepted presentations should adhere to a 15-minute time limit, in order to ensure adequate time for discussion and commentary.

Please note in your abstract whether you plan to present your work in person or virtually. For those presenting virtually, recordings will need to be sent by April 17, 2026.

Please address any questions to AnnRadcliffeCon@gmail.com

In support of HWA’s Diverse Works Inclusion Committee goals, the Ann Radcliffe Academic co-chairs encourage the widest possible diverse representation to apply and present their scholarship in a safe and supportive environment. For more information, please see the Diverse Works Inclusion Committee Mission Statement at: http://horror.org/category/the-seers-table/

The Ann Radcliffe Academic Conference is part of the Horror Writers Association’s Outreach Program. Created in 2016 by Michele Brittany and Nicholas Diak, the Ann Radcliffe Academic Conference has been a venue for horror scholars to present their work alongside professional writers and editors in the publishing industry. The conference has also been the genesis of the Horror Writer Association’s first academic release, Horror Literature from Gothic to Post-Modern: Critical Essays, composed entirely of AnnRadCon presenters, released by McFarland in February, 2020.

Membership to the Horror Writers Association is not required to submit or present, however registration to StokerCon 2026 is required to be accepted and to present. Information regarding StokerCon registration, including day passes and full event registration, can be found on the Stokercon website: https://www.stokercon.com. There is no additional registration or fees for the Ann Radcliffe Academic Conference outside StokerCon registration. If interested in applying to the Horror Writers Association as an academic member, please see www.horror.org/about/.



Last updated March 14, 2026

CFP Monster Media Conference 2026 (3/15/2026; Edinburgh/Hybrid 6/18-19/2026)

Not sure how I missed posting this sooner.

Monster Media Conference 2026

deadline for submissions:
March 15, 2026

full name / name of organization:
Julia Larsen / University of Edinburgh

contact email:
monstermediaconference@gmail.com


source:

As long as humans have been making media, we have been making media about monsters. From neolithic paintings of monsters in the Cave of Beasts and the myriad monsters of Homer’s Odyssey, to the now-classic monsters of 19th-century Gothic literature and the creature features of 20th-century cinema, to zombie video games and Lady Gaga’s Monster Ball tour, our fascination with monsters has spanned across nearly every medium. While monstrosity is complex and its manifestations manifold, Jeffrey Jerome Cohen has theorized that the monster will defy easy categorization, that it is an embodiment of a specific cultural moment, and that it will evolve and shift to ensure its survival through the ages (“Monster Culture (Seven Theses)”). While it has often been accepted that media can be a cipher for a specific cultural moment, new directions in media studies, particularly theories of intermediality, find even more similarities between media and the monster: intermediality posits that media categories are not actually as solid as we may like to believe (Lúcia Nagib and Anne Jerslev, Impure Cinema: Intermedial and Intercultural Approaches to Film), and that media forms evolve and shift over time while maintaining traces of their predecessors in their new forms (Jay Bolter and David Gruisin, Remediation: Understanding New Media). This conference aims to explore the relationship between monsters and the media in which they are portrayed, and the way monsters and monster theory can help us better understand media itself. We are interested in papers on the following topics (or any others that deal with the intersection of monsters and media):



Media about monsters

Vampire movies, zombie video games, ghost novels, etc.


Media that is itself monstrous

Remix/mashup, adaptation, hybrid media forms, etc.


Relationships between monster narratives and their mediums


How medial affordances affect constructions of monstrosity


Media as part of the telling of monster narratives/part of the construction of monstrosity


Adaptations, transmediations, and retellings of monster narratives


Media forms that, like the monster, defy boundaries


Monstrosity in non-narrative media forms

Fashion, music, painting, photography, sculpture


Monsterizing effects of mediation


Using monster theory to better understand medial phenomena/using medial theory to better understand monstrosity



In addition to academic papers, we are interested in showcasing practical and artistic works that use monstrous medial approaches. These could take many forms, including a film screening, a visual art piece, a musical performance, a literature reading – or whatever else your monstrous mind can dream up!



We will also feature keynote talks, presentations, and interactive workshops from special guests – check our website for updates.

Monstrous media that inspired the organizers:

Monograph: Gothic Remixed: Monster Mashups and Frankenfictions in 21st-Century Culture, Megen de Bruin-Molé


Article: “Vampire Adaptation”, Thomas Leitch


Film: Ringu, Hideo Nakata


Novel: Jane Bites Back, Michael Thomas Ford


Video Game: Layers of Fear: Legacy, Bloober Team



The conference will take place 18-19 June 2025 at the University of Edinburgh. Remote participants are welcome and will present their works virtually.



Please submit a title and 250-word abstract to monstermediaconference@gmail.com by 15 March 2026. In your email, please include your name, what type of submission you are proposing (paper or practical work), and if you expect to be presenting in-person or remotely.




Last updated January 29, 2026

CFP 2026 Armitage Symposium (5/24/2026; Providence, RI 8/13-16/2026)

The Seventh Biennial Dr. Henry Armitage Memorial Scholarship Symposium of New Weird Fiction and Lovecraft-Related Research

NecronomiCon Providence convention in Providence, RI

13-16 August, 2026

Location: Omni Hotel, Providence

Symposium Chair: Dr. Elena Tchougounova-Paulson, editor of Lovecraftian Proceedings (Hippocampus Press)

Source: https://necronomicon-providence.com/the-armitage-symposium/.

CALL FOR PRESENTATION PROPOSALS:

The Dr. Henry Armitage Memorial Scholarship Symposium seeks Lovecraftian and Weird Fiction related research for the NecronomiCon Providence convention. Providence, RI, August 13–16, 2026. The Lovecraft Arts and Sciences Council (organizer of NecronomiCon Providence) is seeking submissions of academic presentations that explore all aspects of the Gothic-Neo-Gothic-Weird-Uncanny, from literature and fine arts to the cinema and pop culture, including the life and literary legacy of world-acclaimed horror writer and essayist, H. P. Lovecraft, as well as any topics related to weird fiction, classic and contemporary, cosmic/folk/body horror, ghost stories and ghostlore, etc.

The Symposium is mainly dedicated to the life and works of the Providence-based weird fiction writer, the father of cosmic horror, H.P. Lovecraft, but also to his milieu: his literary predecessors, contemporaries, and current successors of the genre. From his premature death in 1937 until today, Lovecraft’s legacy has been a key theme for difficult conversations and challenging debates, which gave an opportunity to many prominent scholars to engage: it resulted in great insights and, subsequently, in critically important publications. The Armitage Symposium-2026 will continue to explore Lovecraft’s works in relation to classic and contemporary weird fiction, science fiction, dark fantasy, supernatural, and other similarly related genres as well as modern philosophy, cultural history, cultural and literary theory, linguistics, archaeology, ethnography, visual arts, media studies etc.

A small selection of potential topics for 15-minute presentations include:

• Lovecraft’s influence on the Western literary canon
• Lovecraft and the modern interpretation of Cosmic mythology
• Lovecraftian Mythos as a cultural phenomenon
• Lovecraftian grimoire as a precursor to modern metafiction
• Lovecraft’s literary criticism in relation to religion/mysticism
• Lovecraft and race/gender studies
• Lovecraft and pop-culture: from fandom to anti-fandom
• Lovecraft’s correspondence as a prime example of ego-documentation
• Haunted by the past – spooked by the present: the origins of Lovecraftian cinema
• Weird/Horror/Gothic fiction: defining a canon
• “Weird Tales” and other horror pulp fiction magazines: their origins and archival history
• Women in Lovecraftiana/weird fiction in the past, present and future
• Contemporary philosophy of horror and weird: exegetical approaches

Traditionally, the Armitage Symposium has aimed to foster explorations and disseminations of Lovecraft’s elaborate cosmic mythology, and how this mythology was influenced by, and has come to influence, numerous other fiction writers, historians, art critics, philosophers, archivists, bibliographers of the past and the present. However, all submissions that contribute to interconnecting new linguistic and literary theoretical concepts in academic Lovecraftiana/horror studies are very welcome.

Specifically for the Armitage Symposium, we are particularly interested in works by academics: undergraduates, PhD students, post-graduates, independent scholars, established researchers. Presenters should be prepared to deliver a fifteen to twenty-minute oral presentation and are invited to submit a manuscript for possible inclusion in the peer-reviewed Lovecraftian Proceedings no. 7. For consideration, interested scholars should submit an abstract (of around 250-300 words) in Word format along with a short bio (around 100 words) to the symposium chair, Dr Elena Tchougounova-Paulson, at tch.elena15@gmail.com.

The deadline for submissions is May 24, 2026. Early submissions are encouraged. For more information on the Armitage Symposium, or the overall convention, please visit our website:

necronomicon-providence.com.