CFP Arthurian Mini-Conference at the Symposium on Medieval and Renaissance Studies (SMRS) (Saint Louis University, June 8-10, 2026)

Sharing on behalf of the International Arthurian Society-North American Branch.

CFP for the Arthurian Mini-Conference at the Symposium on Medieval and Renaissance Studies (SMRS) at Saint Louis University, June 8-10, 2026

The IAS-NAB invites proposals for individual papers, sessions and roundtables on all Arthurian topics at the Arthurian Mini-Conference held within the SMRS.



All proposals for the Arthurian-Mini-Conference must be made at https://www.smrs-slu.org/arthurian-conference.html. The portal to submit proposals opens on November 1 and closes December 31, 2025.



Melissa Ridley Elmes is organizing a session of papers on “Arthurian Queens.”

Their names are as familiar as Arthur's: Gwenevere, Isolde, Igraine, Morgause, Elaine, Celia .... the Queens of the Arthurian legend are essential figures, though they are typically relegated to secondary status in relation to the knights and kings they partner and serve as wives, consorts, and mothers. Magical female figures like Morgan le Fay and Nimue are investigated by scholars for their agency, strength and power, and how deeply they affect the narrative, but is it the case that only the magic-wielding women have agency, authority, and power in the Arthurian legend, while its quotidian Queens are relatively nonagential by comparison? This session seeks papers examining the role, representation, and/or legacy of Arthurian queens through any discipline or theoretical lens.

Please send abstracts of 250 words to Melissa Ridley Elmes at melmes@lindenwood.edu by 28 December 2025.



Evelyn Meyer is organizing a session of papers on “Arthurian Materiality.”

Materiality is the suggested focus of exploration at the SMRS, so I would like to contribute a session on Arthurian materiality. I invite proposals that engage the question if there is such a thing as “Arthurian materiality,” and if so what it might be; how medieval and modern notions of (Arthurian) materiality differ from one another but can offer new and intriguing insights into the Arthurian objects we study, be those images, manuscripts, stories, physical objects, legends and myths that spread around the world, that find themselves in modern adaptations and materiality, etc. What is the agency or the symbolism of these material objects? I am intentionally keeping the definition of Arthurian materiality vague to allow for a widest possible take on the subject and am seeking papers that address these ideas through any discipline or theoretical lens.

Please send abstracts of 250 words to Evelyn Meyer at evelyn.meyer@slu.edu by 28 December 2025.



We will have our own two plenary speakers, The Annual Loomises Lecture and The Annual Tolhurst Lecture. More information on these will be shared later.



The two SMRS Plenary Speakers are

Kathryn Starkey (Stanford, Professor of German in the Department of German Studies and, by courtesy, Professor of English, History, and Comparative Literature. Her work focuses primarily on medieval German literature from the eleventh to the thirteenth century, and her research topics encompass visuality and materiality, object/thing studies, manuscript illustration and transmission, language, performativity, and poetics.)

Robert Pasnau (Colorado Boulder, Professor of Philosophy, he has particularly devoted himself to the history of philosophy, especially the end of the Middle Ages and the beginnings of the modern era.)

Again, we can create connections with their research areas and our sessions, if there is interest.



Please share this CFP with interested colleagues outside the IAS-NAB as well. We look forward to receiving your proposals.

Sincerely,

Sîan, Molly & Evelyn

Apocalyptic Arthuriana - Kalamazoo 2025 Co-Sponsored Session

I am pleased to report the success earlier today of our first co-sponsored session for this year's International Congress on Medieval Studies. 

Please find the session details below.

Apocalyptic Arthuriana (A Roundtable) (Virtual)

60th International Congress on Medieval Studies

Western Michigan University (Kalamazoo, MI)

Session 144: Thursday, 8 May, from 7:00-8:30 PM EDT

Principal Sponsoring Organization:

Alliance for the Promotion of Research on the Matter of Britain

Co-Sponsoring Organization(s):

International Arthurian Society, North American Branch (IAS/NAB)

Organizers: Michael A. Torregrossa, Bristol Community College; Joseph M. Sullivan, Univ. of Oklahoma

Presider: Karen Casey Casebier - Univ. of Tennessee–Chattanooga

Morte Darthur: Conflicted Loyalties, Promised Reconciliation

Hannah Montgomery, Univ. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Abstract:

Many scholars have commented on the importance of fellowship and unity in Thomas Malory’s Morte Darthur, and it is the failure of this central ideal that leads to Arthur’s death. Malory depicts the fall of Camelot as specifically a civil war. While there is still an element of divine retribution for the moral failings of Arthur and his knights, the immediate and primary cause is discord within the Round Table fellowship. These cracks within the Round Table are not the result of simple disloyalty or betrayal, but rather of irreconcilable conflicts of loyalty coming to a head and forcing Arthur’s most faithful knights to choose between a multitude of important relationships, whether to be loyal to their lord, their brother in arms, their lady, or their family.

In part because Morte Darthur ends in conflict, without resolution, there have long been debates about its genre. While Whetter has argued that Morte Darthur is best understood not as a romance but as a tragic-romance, I argue that it is actually an incomplete romance. The promised return of Arthur suggests the completion of the genre’s narrative pattern of separation and return, rise, fall, and rise again, a narrative structure that I argue is linked to a generic relationship arc of separation and reunion or reconciliation. In delaying, yet promising, the return, Arthurian legend forces us to linger in the moment of conflict, drawing attention to the causes of the fall, but leaves hope that, although reconciliation is not currently possible, it is yet to come.

Hannah Montgomery is a PhD candidate in the Department of English and Comparative Literature at UNC Chapel Hill. Her dissertation project analyzes the role of friendship and loyalty in Middle English romance, considering their connections to ideas of identity and ethics, and arguing for the centrality of interpersonal relationships to the plot, structure, and themes of the genre. She is currently working on a chapter examining romances’ simultaneous idealization and problematization of knightly brotherhood. Her other research and teaching interests include fantasy and medievalism.

Cthulhu Returns to Camelot: New Works of Lovecraft-Inspired Arthurian Fiction

Michael A. Torregrossa, Bristol Community College

Abstract:

In the Matter of Britain, there are multiple ways for Camelot to fall, but some of the more interesting occur in texts that mash up the Arthurian legends with the Cthulhu Mythos of H P. Lovecraft. This presentation represents the latest update in my ongoing attempt to catalog representation of Lovecraft-inspired Arthuriana and will focus on the recent anthology series Shadows Over Avalon (2022-2023) published by 18th Wall Productions.

Michael A. Torregrossa (he/him/his) is a graduate of the Medieval Studies program at the University of Connecticut (Storrs) and works as an adjunct instructor of writing and literature courses in both Rhode Island and Massachusetts. His research focuses on popular culture’s adaptation, appropriation, and transformation of literary classics, like the Arthurian legends and the works of writer H. P. Lovecraft. In addition to these pursuits, Michael is the founder of The Alliance for the Promotion of Research on the Matter of Britain (2000-) and The Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture (2004-). He also serves as editor for these organizations' various blogs and as moderator of their discussion lists and leads the development of their conference activities. Besides this work, Michael is active in the Northeast Popular Culture/American Culture Association (a.k.a. NEPCA) and organizes sessions for their annual conference in the fall. Since 2019, Michael has been NEPCA’s Monsters and the Monstrous Area Chair, but he previously served as its Fantastic (Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Horror) Area Chair, a position he held from 2009-2018. 

Rebuilding Camelot: Life After Arthur's Death in Grossman's The Bright Sword

Leah Haught, Univ West Georgia

Abstract:

Can Camelot survive Arthur's death? Versions of this question have, of course, haunted Arthuriana since the Middle Ages. In these remarks, I will briefly explore how Grossman's recent reimagining of Arthur's death as survived only by the Round Table's "oddballs" is in conversation with medieval narratives that end with Arthur's death, including the Alliterative Morte and Malory. Grossman's original character, Collum, is determined to uphold the legacy of the recently killed king who he long idolized, but he quickly realizes that he isn't entirely sure what that legacy is or should be. Along with the other survivors of Camlann, Collum tries make his way in an Arthurless world, which appears at times impossible, at times hopeful, and, more often than not, inevitable.

Leah Haught is an Associate Professor of English at the University of West Georgia. Her research interests include the Arthurian legend, cultural understandings of gender and sexuality, the history of monsters, and the functions of nostalgia within medievalism. Her work frequently explores the intersections between past and present idealisms and has been published in Arthuriana, Parergon, JEGP, Year’s Work in Medievalism, and Studies in Medievalism as well a variety of edited collections. Forthcoming publications include a chapter in The Cambridge History of Arthurian Literature and Culture and a co-edited volume for METS.

CFP More than The Green Knight: Exploring the Ongoing Tradition of Adapting and Appropriating Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (hybrid) (9/15/2024; ICMS Kalamazoo 5/8-10/2025)

Call for Papers

More than The Green Knight: Exploring the Ongoing Tradition of Adapting and Appropriating Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (hybrid)

Sponsored by Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture; International Arthurian Society, North American Branch (IAS/NAB); International Pearl-Poet Society

Organized by Michael A. Torregrossa, Joseph M. Sullivan, and Amber Dunai


60th International Congress on Medieval Studies

Western Michigan University (Kalamazoo, Michigan)

Hybrid event: Thursday, 8 May, through Saturday, 10 May, 2025

Please Submit Proposals by 15 September 2024

Session Information

Released in 2021, David Lowery’s film The Green Knight thrust the medieval romance Sir Gawain and the Green Knight into the spotlight like never before and attracted the attention of viewers and critics across the globe. Scholars of medieval literature and film have also been inspired by the film’s release, and there is now a flourishing field of The Green Knight Studies as displayed in articles, books, conferences, essays, special issues, and themed sessions. However, all of this attention on Lowery’s work creates a limited understanding of the full post-medieval afterlife of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.


We propose this session as a counter to the flurry of attention on Lowery’s work. The Green Knight is merely one example of a much wider array of adaptations of the story that began in the sixteenth century with The Greene Knight and continues to this day with comics, drama, fiction, film, games, illustration, music, opera, picture books, radio broadcasts, and television programming. Beyond these, aspects of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight have been appropriated by many creative artists and integrated into their own creations in various media. Collectively, these adaptations and appropriations make up a rich textual tradition for Sir Gawain and the Green Knight that now extends over five centuries and deserves more notice.


Our intent in this session is twofold:

• First, to uncover what we lose by focusing on Lowery’s film outside of the larger context of adaptation and appropriations of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
• Second, to highlight what can be added to the larger fields of Arthurian Studies and Pearl-Poet Studies by widening our view of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight to include further or other adaptations and appropriations of the text in our research and teaching.

Submissions should address at least one (if not both) of the following questions:

• What other adaptations and appropriations do we miss by focusing on Lowery’s film?
• What do we gain (for the disciple, our students, and/or ourselves) when we look beyond it?

Thank you for your interest in our session. Please address questions and/or concerns to the organizers at MedievalinPopularCulture@gmail.com.

Submissions will also be considered as part of an essay collection on the theme.

Submission Information

The process for proposing contributions to sessions of papers, roundtables and poster sessions for the International Congress on Medieval Studies uses an online submission system powered by Confex. Be advised that submissions cannot be accepted through email. Rather, access the direct link in Confex to our session at https://icms.confex.com/icms/2025/paper/papers/index.cgi?sessionid=6431. You can also view the full Call for Papers list at https://wmich.edu/medievalcongress/call.


Within Confex, proposals to sessions of papers, poster sessions and roundtables require the author's name, affiliation and contact information; an abstract (300 words) for consideration by session organizer(s); and a short description (50 words) that may be made public. Proposals to sessions of papers and poster sessions also require a title for the submission (contributions to roundtables are untitled).


Proposers of papers or contributions to roundtables for hybrid sessions should indicate in their abstracts whether they intend to present in person or virtually.


If you need help with your submissions, the Congress offers some resources at the Participating in the Congress page at https://wmich.edu/medievalcongress/participating-congress. Click to open the section labeled “Propose a Paper” and scroll down for the Quick Guide handouts.



Be advised of the following policies for participating in the Congress:


You are invited to propose one paper (as a sole author or as a co-author) for one session of papers. You may propose a paper for a sponsored or special session or for the general sessions, but not both. You may propose an unlimited number of contributions to roundtables and poster sessions, but you will not be scheduled to actively participate (as paper presenter, roundtable discussant, poster author, presider, respondent, workshop leader, demonstrator or performer) in more than three sessions.


Further details on the Congress’s Policies can be found at https://wmich.edu/medievalcongress/policies-guidelines.



A reminder: Presenters accepted to the Congress must register for the full event. The registration fee is the same for on-site and virtual participants. For planning, the cost for the previous year’s event is posted at the Congress’s Registration page at https://wmich.edu/medievalcongress/registration.


If necessary, the Medieval Institute and Richard Rawlinson Center at Western Michigan University offer limited funding to presenters. These include both subsidized registration grants and travel awards. Please see the Awards page at the Congress site for details at https://wmich.edu/medievalcongress/awards.

CFP Re-Creating Camelot? Community-Building in Arthurian Studies (A Roundtable) (virtual) (9/15/2023; ICMS 5/9-11/2024)

Re-Creating Camelot? Community-Building in Arthurian Studies (A Roundtable) (virtual)

Sponsored by Alliance for the Promotion of Research on the Matter of Britain and International Arthurian Society, North American Branch (IAS/NAB)

Organizers: Michael A. Torregrossa and Joseph M. Sullivan


Call for Papers - Please Submit Proposals by 15 September 2023

59th International Congress on Medieval Studies

Western Michigan University (Kalamazoo, Michigan)

Hybrid event: Thursday, 9 May, through Saturday, 11 May, 2024


See the shared Google Doc for the full call with a list of suggested resources on the topic: https://tinyurl.com/Re-Creating-Camelot-ICMS-2024.

Panel Objective

Re-Creating Camelot? Community-Building in Arthurian Studies (A Roundtable) (virtual)


Building off our sponsored session idea on Creating Camelot(s): The Idea of Community in Arthurian Texts, we’d like, also, this year at Kalamazoo to highlight in a roundtable format the ways that Arthurian enthusiasts and scholars have come together over the ages outside of fiction and strived to establish aspects of Camelot as reality in our/their world.


Questions to guide our conversations include:

• How have the Arthurian legends influenced and inspired the formation of groups seeking to continue the work of the fellowship of the Round Table and/or help us to promote the Matter of Britain?
• How—both in positive and negative ways—has the Matter of Britain been adapted, appropriated, compressed, expanded, and/or transformed by these new communities?
• Ultimately, how have these communities succeeded in reviving the legends? In what ways could they do/have done better?

Presentations could focus on historic events and/or groups as well as current academic activities, organizations, and publications.


Some possible examples:

• Brands/companies (King Arthur Flour). .
• Classroom activities
• Collection development (Bangor, Newberry Library, Rochester)
• Fandoms (Merlin tv series)
• Fanfiction communities (Merlin tv series)
• Gaming/roleplaying communities
• Labor organizations
• Online communities (ArthurNet)
• Organizations (International Arthurian Society, IAS regional branches, MLA’s Arthurian Discussion Group, PCA’s Arthurian Legends Area)
• Outreach pursuits (conferences, symposia)
• Propaganda (medieval and/or post-medieval)
• Scholarly endeavors (Arthurian Literature, Arthuriana, Avalon to Camelot, book series, The Camelot Project, collections, special editions, special issues, sub-fields of Arthurian Studies)
• Wiki/Wikia building
• Youth groups

Please see the shared Google Doc for the full call with a list of suggested resources for examples of previous scholarship on our theme: https://tinyurl.com/Re-Creating-Camelot-ICMS-2024.

Submission Information

All proposals must be submitted into the Confex system at https://wmich.edu/medievalcongress/call by 15 September 2023. You will be prompted to complete sections on Title and Presentation Information, People, Abstract, and Short Description.


Be advised of the following policies of the Congress: “You are invited to make one paper proposal to one session of papers. This may be to one of the Sponsored or Special Sessions of Papers, which are organized by colleagues around the world, OR to the General Sessions of Papers, which are organized by the Program Committee in Kalamazoo. You may propose an unlimited number of roundtable contributions. However, you will not be scheduled as an active participant (as a paper presenter, roundtable discussant, presider, respondent, workshop leader, or performer) in more than three sessions.”.



Thank you for your interest in our session. Please address questions and/or concerns to the organizers at KingArthurForever2000@gmail.com.



For more information on the Alliance for the Promotion of Research on the Matter of Britain, please visit our website at https://KingArthurForever.blogspot.com/.


For more information on the International Arthurian Society, North American Branch (IAS/NAB), please visit our website at https://www.international-arthurian-society-nab.org/ and consider becoming a member of our organization.

CFP History, Romance, Fantasy, and Others: The Blending of Genres in Arthuriana (9/15/2023; ICMS 5/9-11/2024)

ICMS CFP: History, Romance, Fantasy, and Others: The Blending of Genres in Arthuriana

Posted on August 5, 2023 by lhaught

Source: https://medievalisms.org/icms-cfp-history-romance-fantasy-and-others-the-blending-of-genres-in-arthuriana/.

History, Romance, Fantasy, and Others: The Blending of Genres in Arthuriana

Contact Person: Rachael Warmington; rachael.warmington@shu.edu

Delivery Mode: Traditional in-person

Principal Sponsoring Organization: International Arthurian Society, North American Branch (IAS/NAB)

The blending of genres in medieval Arthuriana signifies a crucial evolution in storytelling. These blended narratives resonate with contemporary audiences, fostering renewed interest in Arthuriana. As cultural norms shift, this intermingling of genres enables nuanced discussions of identity, ethics, and social roles. Additionally, these blended genres make possible reimaginations of the narratives that offer relevant and profound explorations of the human condition which foster a dialogue between the past and present. The diversity and hybridity of Arthuriana, particularly in chronicles, romances, and fantasies, align with contemporary literary tastes, enabling greater accessibility, relevance, and inclusivity.

Deadline for New Submissions: Friday, September 15, 2023; abstracts must be submitted through the ICMS website for consideration.