CFP Session Sponsored by the International Peal-Poet Society (9/15/2025; Kalamazoo 2026)

Posted on behalf of the International Pearl-Poet Society:

I apologize for the lateness of this email, but as the deadline for paper proposals for ICMS 2026 approaches (Monday September 15), I want to make everyone aware that the International Pearl-Poet Society is sponsoring/co-sponsoring THREE paper sessions. You can view them on ICMS’s official “Call for Papers,” which is open for proposal submission. IPPS sessions can be accessed directly at: https://icms.confex.com/icms/2026/prelim.cgi/Index/SponsorList~International%20Pearl-Poet%20Society.



The titles of the sessions as well as information about delivery modes are as follows.

From Here to Eternity: Perspectives on Time in the Works of the Pearl-Poet [Virtual]

Time as an existential concept flows consistently through the poems of the Pearl-Poet. From the conversations of the Pearl Maiden and the Dreamer contrasting human existence and the bliss of eternal life in Heaven in Pearl to the relentless passing of (liturgical) time in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, these poems audaciously juxtapose time and eternity, life and death, vigor and decline in its various narratives. Our session invites readers to explore some of the many facets of time pertinent to a late-medieval English poet and his audiences.

Geographies of the Pearl-Poet: Spaces and Places in the Corpus [Virtual]

The Pearl poems take place in strategically-chosen geographic locations and visionary landscapes. The biblical poems offer detailed descriptions of ancient world cities like Babylon and Nineveh, and the romance-world poems introduce conventional settings (eg. the court of King Arthur) as well as more esoteric spaces like the Wirral forest in SGGK or the visionary garden in Pearl. This session invites readers of the collected poems to engage the broader literary critical conversations around place, to acknowledge poetic setting as crucial to a deeper understanding of both poem(s) and poet in their medieval context.

Medieval Roots and Modern Branches: Medieval Texts and Tolkien's Works [Virtual]

This session is co-sponsored by the Pearl-Poet Society and Tolkien at Kalamazoo. We have offered virtual sessions together during the past four years. Members are currently working on a special issue of the journal Enarratio on ecological themes in the works of the Pearl-Poet and J.R.R. Tolkien. We would benefit from the opportunity to gather and present new ideas in a paper session. The focus on “Medieval Roots and Modern Branches” is particularly timely in light of the work being done on this special issue and on the reception of the theme represented in the “The Rings of Power” series on Prime and the recent release of the animated film set in Middle-earth, “The Ride of the Rohirrim.”



All paper proposals must be submitted through the ICMS website no later than 15 September 2025. While proposals must be submitted through the website to be considered, please feel free to reach out to me with any questions about sponsored sessions, the proposal submission process, session delivery modes, and so on.


Cordially,

Jonathan Juilfs

Vice President, International Pearl-Poet Society

CFP ISSM Sponsored Sessions List for Kalamazoo 2026 (proposals by 9/15/2025)

ISSM at ICMS 2026

Source: https://medievalisms.org/issm-at-icms-2026/

ISSM will be sponsoring four online sessions during the 61st ICMS (May 14-16, 2026). Submissions for possible inclusion on one of our panels listed below need to be made in ICMS’s Confex System by Friday, September 15. For questions on any of the topics, please email the contact person listed after the session description. And feel free to share widely with anyone who might be interested in these topics!

1: Political Medievalisms 

(Michael Evans: michaelevans@delta.edu )

Medievalism continues to play a significant role in the world of politics. This session seeks to reach beyond the many discussions of the Alt-Right to consider other forms of medievalisms in politics, including modern monarchies, real or imagined; the use of medievalism, new feudalism, and historical claims in labor and worker’s rights movements; the Papal Conclave and election of Pope Leo XIV; medieval imagery, language, or claims in political campaigns; recollections of the medieval past in government’s self-constructions or as justifications for actions, etc.

II: Medievalisms in Space 

(Angela Weisl: angela.weisl@shu.edu for now)

Building on several successful sessions on Science Fiction Medievalisms, this session seeks to consider specifically what happens when the Middle Ages turns up in Outer Space. How is the past created in the future, and to what end? How is the Middle Ages imagined disconnected from the planet on which it took place? How does Medieval space get negotiated in Outer Space?

III: Global Medievalisms 

(Angela Weisl: angela.weisl@shu.edu)

This session seeks to consider medievalisms outside of Europe and North America. We are particularly interested in papers on medievalism in the Global South and how European implanted cultures have left their medieval mark far from home, as well as how these non-European cultures make use of, understand, and imagine their own pasts to contrast, combat, or reject colonial medievalisms. We are also particularly interested in how Catholic medievalisms function and create continuity (or discontinuity) in places where the Church has played an instrumental part of colonial implantation of Western culture, and what about its current function might reflect its medieval past.

IV: Medievalism and Costume 

 (Angela Weisl: angela.weisl@shu.edu )

This session seeks to investigate the medieval in clothing, costume, and ritual. How does the medieval influence fashion? What is the rhetoric of clothing at Renaissance Fairs? In LARPing and Reenactment? In Academic Regalia? Papers might consider popular figures, such as Chappell Roan, who inflect the medieval in their costuming, and what it says about how they understand themselves and their public position.

Final Call for Papers Reminder: Kalamazoo, Leeds, and NeMLA 2026

We are sponsoring a number of sessions for 2026. All are hybrid or remote. Please consider submitting a proposal and/or sharing with your network.

Thanks,

Michael

They are:

NeMLA 2026 (Pittsburgh/Online)

CFP Twainian Regeneration: Adaptations of the Works, Life, and Legacy of Mark Twain (NeMLA Session 21918) (Hybrid) (9/30/2025; Pittsburgh 3/5-8/2026). Sponsored by the Mark Twain Circle of America. Details at https://medievalinpopularculture.blogspot.com/2025/08/cfp-twainian-regeneration-adaptations.html. (PDF version at https://www.academia.edu/143541544/2025_CFP_Twainian_Regeneration_Adaptations_of_the_Works_Life_and_Legacy_of_Mark_Twain_NeMLA_Session_21918_Hybrid_9_30_2025_Pittsburgh_3_5_8_2026_.) 

CFP Uncharted Medievalisms: Medieval Borrowings in Games (NeMLA Session 21633) (Hybrid) (9/30/2025; Pittsburgh 3/5-8/2026). Details at https://medievalinpopularculture.blogspot.com/2025/08/cfp-uncharted-medievalisms-medieval.html. (PDF version at https://www.academia.edu/143541634/2025_CFP_Uncharted_Medievalisms_Medieval_Borrowings_in_Games_NeMLA_Session_21633_Hybrid_9_30_2025_Pittsburgh_3_5_8_2026_.) 

International Congress on Medieval Studies 2026 (Kalamazoo/Online)

CFP Magics, Marvels, Metamorphoses, and Monsters: Horrors of the Medieval Past, Present, and Future (Virtual) (9/15/2025; ICMS Kalamazoo/Online 5/14-16/2026). Co-sponsored by Monsters & the Monstrous Area of the Northeast Popular Culture Association, Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture, International Society for the Study of Medievalism. Details at https://popularpreternaturaliana.blogspot.com/2025/08/cfp-magics-marvels-metamorphoses-and.html. (PDF version at https://www.academia.edu/143540648/2025_CFP_Magics_Marvels_Metamorphoses_and_Monsters_Horrors_of_the_Medieval_Past_Present_and_Future_Virtual_9_15_2025_ICMS_Kalamazoo_Online_5_14_16_2026_.) 

CFP Medieval Classics (Re)Illustrated: A Medieval Comics Project Team-up (Hybrid) (9/15/2025; ICMS Kalamazoo/Online 5/14-16/2026). Co-sponsored by Medieval Comics Project, International Arthurian Society/North American Branch, International Society for the Study of Medievalism. Details at https://medieval-comics-project.blogspot.com/2025/07/cfp-medieval-classics-reillustrated.html. (PDF version at https://www.academia.edu/143540696/2025_CFP_Medieval_Classics_Re_Illustrated_A_Medieval_Comics_Project_Team_up_Hybrid_9_15_2025_ICMS_Kalamazoo_Online_5_14_16_2026_.) 

CFP Remembering the Middle Ages: Memories of the Medieval Across Time and Space (Roundtable) (Hybrid) (9/15/2025; ICMS Kalamazoo/Online 5/14-16/2026). Co-sponsored by Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture, International Arthurian Society-North American Branch, International Association for Robin Hood Studies. Details at https://medievalinpopularculture.blogspot.com/2025/07/cfp-remembering-middle-ages-memories-of.html. (PDF version at https://www.academia.edu/143540764/2025_CFP_Remembering_the_Middle_Ages_Memories_of_the_Medieval_Across_Time_and_Space_Roundtable_Hybrid_9_15_2025_ICMS_Kalamazoo_Online_5_14_16_2026_.) 

CFP (Re)Visiting the Reel/Un-Reel Middle Ages: Pathways to Furthering Research on Medievalisms on Screen (Roundtable) (Virtual) (9/15/2025; ICMS Kalamazoo/Online 5/14-16/2026). Details at https://medievalstudiesonscreen.blogspot.com/2025/09/cfp-revisiting-reelun-reel-middle-ages.html. Co-sponsored by Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture, International Arthurian Society-North American Branch, International Society for the Study of Medievalism. (PDF version at https://www.academia.edu/143834155/2025_CFP_Re_Visiting_the_Reel_Un_Reel_Middle_Ages_Pathways_to_Furthering_Research_on_Medievalisms_on_Screen_Roundtable_Virtual_9_15_2025_ICMS_Kalamazoo_Online_5_14_16_2026_.) 

International Medieval Congress 2026 (Leeds/Online)

CFP Medieval Temporalities and Comics (Hybrid) (9/20/2025; Leeds IMC 7/6-9/2026). Details at https://medieval-comics-project.blogspot.com/2025/08/cfp-medieval-temporalities-and-comics.html. (PDF version as https://www.academia.edu/143540880/2025_CFP_Medieval_Temporalities_and_Comics_Hybrid_9_20_2025_Leeds_IMC_7_6_9_2026_.) 

CFP MMLA 2025 Permanent Session: Old and Middle English Language and Literature (4/21/2025; online 11/14-16/2025)

 

MMLA 2025 Permanent Session: Old and Middle English Language and Literature

deadline for submissions: 

April 21, 2025

full name / name of organization: 

Midwest Modern Language Association

contact email: 

kathleen.burt@mga.edu

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2025/02/25/mmla-2025-permanent-session-old-and-middle-english-language-and-literature.

Note: this conference has a hybrid format  (both virtual and in-person sessions). This session will be virtual.

The general call for this year, inviting “papers that explore the value of the Humanities in relation to a more hopeful future” in areas including but not limited to “languages, literature, pedagogy, writing studies, linguistics, folklore, film studies, the digital humanities, and library studies”, has broad possibilities within the languages, literatures, histories, and cultures related to Old and Middle English. This panel welcomes papers that address the presence, importance, and/or relevance of hope as a concept, mindset, language, and/or practice in Old and Middle English works of any kind, as well as explorations, arguments, or discussions of the relevance or importance or perceptions of these texts and ideas in both the medieval and the modern world.

Such considerations might take the form of (but need not be limited to) exploring any or all of the following: hope in, with, for, by humans and/or humanity; development of humanism as a literary, scientific, or historical or cultural movement; medieval literature/history/culture and medievalism as sources of study of or inspiration for hope; hopes for the field(s) now and in the future, and/or ways to cultivate such hopes.

 

Please send abstracts of approximately 350 words, along with a cv or brief biographical statement, to Dr. Kathleen Burt at kathleen.burt@mga.edu by no later than April 21, 2025.

Last updated March 24, 2025