CFP Star Wars 50 Years: Pasts, Presents, and Futures (11/1/2026; Leicester, UK 5/21-22/2027)

Here's the information on yet another conference set to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Star Wars in 1977. 

Star Wars 50 Years: Pasts, Presents, and Futures

deadline for submissions:
November 1, 2026

full name / name of organization:
University of Leicester

contact email:
sw-conf-50@leicester.ac.uk

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/node/106328

Conference Call for Papers

The Star Wars 50 Years academic conference will be held by the University of Leicester and the Leverhulme Centre for Humanity and Space at Space Park Leicester on 21-22 May 2027 in anticipation of the 50th anniversary of the original release of the film on 25 May 1977 in the U.S. We are now inviting proposals for conference presentations.

Conference Organisers:

Xiyuan Gao, PhD Candidate - Conference Director
Dr David Christopher - Conference Co-Director
Dr James Aitcheson - Leverhulme Centre Partner
Dr Tara Smith - Leverhulme Centre Partner
Helen Bruce, PhD Candidate - Director, Festival of Media Stories



Overview

Star Wars: A New Hope was first released in the United States on 25 May 1977, inaugurating a screen franchise whose cultural, industrial, and imaginative afterlives now span half a century. The Star Wars 50 Years Conference will mark the anniversary by bringing together scholars, researchers, practitioners, archivists, and fans at the Leverhulme Centre for Humanity and Space in Leicester contiguous with The National Space Centre.

The Centre hosts numerous Star Wars-themed public events throughout the year, and we will be excited to follow their developing programme with an eye to connecting their events and screenings to the conference.

Leicester and Leicestershire occupy a distinctive place in the history of Star Wars in the UK. Leicestershire was home to Palitoy, the toy company that held the coveted manufacturing contract in the UK during the original trilogy era.

Palitoy’s Star Wars figures, vehicles, packaging, and playsets remain central to British collecting cultures and to the material memory of the franchise, linking Leicestershire to the commercial and affective history of Star Wars childhoods, fandom, and merchandising. Indeed, Matt Holt’s upcoming documentary In a Landfill Far, Far Away (Spoon Jar Films) seeks to discover the so-called ‘lost toys’ from the Palitoy factory putatively buried somewhere in Leicestershire which is sure to create a scholarly buzz: 'Filmmaker unearths legend of buried Star Wars toys'.

Leicestershire’s connection to the franchise is also embodied in personnel history. The late Jeremy Bulloch, born in Market Harborough, was the first actor to perform Boba Fett in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, helping to create one of the most enduring and enigmatic figures in Star Wars. His association with Boba Fett further situates Leicestershire within the lived and performed history of Star Wars, extending the county’s relevance beyond merchandising and into questions of screen performance, character embodiment, cult stardom, and fan memory. Gareth Edwards, director of Rogue One also calls Nuneaton home.

More broadly, the franchise has launched or fostered the careers of myriad British performers from Sir Alec Guinness and Peter Cushing though to John Boyega, Felicity Jones, and Daisy Ridley. And so much of Lucas’s production efforts were located at various studios and locations across the UK including locations in Leicestershire.

Star Wars 50 Years invites contributors to reflect on the franchise’s pasts, presents, and futures, especially with regard to the participation of UK production inputs or international franchise phenomena, but not necessarily limited by this parameter as such. The conference welcomes papers on Star Wars across film, television, animation, games, publishing, merchandising, fan communities, transmedia storytelling, race, gender, class, politics, technology, nostalgia, and global reception, etc.

By gathering in Leicester, the conference asks not only what Star Wars has meant over the past fifty years, but also how particular places, objects, performances, institutions, and communities have shaped the franchise’s meanings across the UK and beyond.



Topics of Interest

We welcome papers on, but not limited to, the following research topics:

• Star Wars histories, legacies, and cultural memory.
• Directors, writers, producers, showrunners, designers, performers, and other creative workers across the franchise.
• Star Wars and transmedia storytelling across film, television, animation, novels, comics, games, audio, toys, and digital platforms.
• Expanded universes, canon, continuity, retconning, and the relationship between Legends and Disney-era canon.
• Star Wars television and Disney+ distribution.
• Star Wars animation (The Clone Wars, Rebels, and more recent animated projects).
• Star Wars games, interactive storytelling, virtual worlds, and player agency.
• Ethnicity, class, disability, age, and embodiment in Star Wars.
• Feminism, female characters, creators, audiences, and female-led fan practices.
• Masculinity, fatherhood, family, lineage, inheritance, and dynastic storytelling.
• Queer readings, slash fandom, transformative works, and alternative affective attachments.
• Stardom, performance, voice acting, physical performance, puppetry, motion capture, and creature performance.
• Practical effects, digital effects, CGI, sound design, editing, and the aesthetics of technological change.
• John Williams, musical themes, soundscapes, voice, and sonic memory.
• Merchandising, toys, collecting, licensing, branding, and commercial culture.
• Museums, exhibitions, archives, private collections, fan collections, and the preservation of Star Wars objects.
• Global Star Wars: international reception, translation, dubbing, subtitling, censorship, distribution, and localisation.
• Fandom, fanfiction, fan art, cosplay, fan films, podcasts, conventions, online communities, and platform cultures.
• Fan controversy, anti-fandom, canon disputes, toxicity, moderation, inclusion, and community governance.
• Nostalgia, childhood, memory, intergenerational spectatorship, collecting, and affect.
• Science, space travel, astronomy, robotics, artificial intelligence, and the relationship between Star Wars and public science imagination.
• Theme parks, immersive experiences, live events, exhibitions, tourism, and commercialised fan participation.
• Archives, lost materials, production histories, oral histories, memory work, and fan-led preservation.
• The future of Star Wars: franchise fatigue, renewal, legacy, and new audiences.

The conference is scheduled to be on-site and in-person. The submission of remote presentation proposals will be considered only under specific mitigating circumstances.



Submission Details

Individual Papers

The individual proposal shall include the following information, all in the same document:A title.
An abstract (maximum 300 words) for a 15-20-minute presentation.
Speaker’s short biography (maximum 150 words), including affiliation.
Speaker’s email address.

Pre-constituted Panels

The panel proposal shall include the following information, all in the same document:A panel title.
All individual abstracts (maximum 300 words each).
All speakers’ short biographies (maximum 150 words each), including their affiliation and email address.
If you wish to designate a panel chair, please indicate this in the panel proposal. Otherwise, the committee will assign one for you.

To submit, please email your proposal as an attachment (Word file preferred) to sw-conf-50@leicester.ac.uk by 1-November-2026. Please clearly state in the email subject either “Star Wars 50 Years individual proposal” or “Star Wars 50 Years panel proposal”.

Notification of accepted papers and panel proposals will be returned on or before 31st January 2027.



Conference Address

Space Park Leicester
Space City, 92 Corporation Rd, Leicester
Postcode: LE4 5SP



Contact

If you have any queries regarding the conference, please email conference director Xiyuan Gao (xg92@leicester.ac.uk) or co-director Dr David Christopher (dc435@leicester.ac.uk).

General enquiries: sw-conf-50@leicester.ac.uk

CFP “Feel the Force”: The first 50 years of Star Wars (12/31/2026; PopCRN Online 5/4-5/2027)

“Feel the Force”: The first 50 years of Star Wars 4-5 May 2027

deadline for submissions:
December 31, 2026

full name / name of organization:
PopCRN - The Popular Culture Research Network

contact email:
popcrn@une.edu.au

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2026/03/18/%E2%80%9Cfeel-the-force%E2%80%9D-the-first-50-years-of-star-wars-4-5-may-2027


“Feel the Force”: The first 50 years of Star Wars

A PopCRN Conference

Join us for a free virtual conference exploring the Star Wars universe and its enduring cultural impact to be held online from 4th-5th May 2027.

From a surprise blockbuster to a galactic empire of multimedia dominance, Star Wars has fundamentally reshaped popular culture, spawned generations of devoted fans, and continues to spark passionate debates about sequels, prequels, spinoffs, and what George Lucas really meant to say. Is Jar Jar Binks a Sith Lord? Are the Ewoks cute and cuddly? Which is the best trilogy? And what order should you watch them in? We want to hear all the academic debates from across the galaxy!

We welcome both individual papers, panels and round table discussions from researchers across the academic spectrum and encourage papers from academic padawans, postgraduate researchers and early career researchers. Selected papers will have the opportunity to be published in a planned book.

To whet your appetite, we have provided some topics below. We will also accept topics beyond this scope:

• "I find your lack of faith disturbing" – Fandom, canon wars, and the discourse around Disney's sequel trilogy.
• "These are not the droids you're looking for" – The role of robots, androids and AI in Star Wars narratives and our contemporary moment.
• "I am your father" – Paternity, family structures and generational trauma in the Skywalker saga.
• "Do or do not, there is no try" – Yoda, philosophy, and wisdom.
• "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away" – Nostalgia, retrofuturism and the invention of the past.
• "The Force will be with you, always" – Spirituality, religion and mythology.
• "Laugh it up, fuzzball" – Comedy, camp and levity.
• "That's no moon" – Scale, technology and the sublime in science fiction cinema.
• "I love you." "I know." – Romantic narratives and toxic masculinity in space opera.
• "The garbage'll do!" – Consumption, waste and sustainability in Star Wars merchandising.
• "This is the way" – Community, belonging and parasocial relationships in television fandom.
• The Imperial March – Empire, corruption and war in the Star Wars universe.
• "The Resistance will rise" – Class struggle, labour and economic systems in Star Wars worldbuilding.
• "Strike me down, and I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine" – Death, resurrection and immortality narratives.
• "I'm just a simple man trying to make my way in the universe" – Labour, precarity and the gig economy in space.
• "That's no way to treat a lady!" – Manners, civility and social codes across species and cultures.

Please email inquiries to popcrn@une.edu.au

Website: www.popcrn.org

Please submit abstracts (200 words) and author details via our online portal By 31st December 2026.

Notification of abstract acceptance is 31st January 2027.

Registration is free. The conference is welcoming of early career researchers, postgraduates, Indigenous scholars, people with diverse identities and other Star Wars enthusiasts.

You can also submit via the QR code below or through the URLs below

Submit here - https://unesurveys.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8jjzaWnS732QsFE

Register here - https://unesurveys.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_7TGWUYZidtlxVLU

CFP Jane Austen Now Edited Collection (8/31/2026)

Of potential interest:

Jane Austen Now - Edited Collection

deadline for submissions:
August 31, 2026

full name / name of organization:
Robert Morris University

contact email:
pamboukian@rmu.edu

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2026/04/21/jane-austen-now-edited-collection

The year 2025 marked the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth, yet Austen seems to be only increasing in cultural relevance on a global scale. This edited collection explores new Jane Austen-related texts – including films, streaming series, prequel/ sequel novels, graphic adaptations etc. - of the twenty-first century, including…

• Representing Jane Austen and her family ex. Miss Austen, Miss Austen Regrets
• Rebooting Jane Austen’s works in new ways ex. Death Comes to Pemberley, Longbourne, The Other Bennet Sister
• Adapting Jane Austen’s works for a global audience ex. Bride & Prejudice, Aisha
• Exploring Janeites or Jane Austen fandom ex. Lost in Austen, Jane Austen Book Club
• Online fan communities, podcasts, YouTube channels, cookbooks, or fan fiction,
• Traveling to Austen destinations or creating Austen-inspired travel experiences in the UK and globally.

How does this very British author speak to the cultural hybridity of a modern global marketplace? How does the quiet life a Regency countrywoman generate political and cultural commentary regarding modern gender, masculinity, femininity, courtship, and marriage? How does a woman who wrote pen-and-ink manuscripts on a small side table inspire self-sustaining, international communities of readers, fans, and devotees using a variety of media? What is the relevance and appeal of Jane Austen now?

Submit: Abstract: 350-500 word & Bio: 1-2 pages incl. affiliations, publications/ conferences and other qualifications relevant to the topic.



Timeline: Abstracts due August 31, 2026/ Final essays due (if accepted) June 2027

Final essays: approx. 8 000 – 10 000 words using Chicago style with endnotes

Notes: Authors are responsible for obtaining any permissions needed for copyrighted material in the final essays, including licensing costs if any. This collection is in talks with a university press but is not under contract at this time.

Email questions or submit abstracts: Sylvia A. Pamboukian at Pamboukian@rmu.edu



Last updated April 23, 2026

CFP Star Wars at 50: Forces, Forms, Legacies (12/1/2026; Durham University 5/7/2027)

Star Wars at 50: Forces, Forms, Legacies

deadline for submissions:
December 1, 2026

full name / name of organization:
Dr Sam Thomas / Durham University

contact email:
samuel.thomas@durham.ac.uk

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2026/05/01/star-wars-at-50-forces-forms-legacies

2027 marks the 50th anniversary of the film now generally known as Episode IV: A New Hope, the first instalment in the hugely successful Star Wars franchise created by George Lucas. As beloved as it is divisive, Star Wars now straddles multiple decades and generations while proliferating across narrative media (novels, comics, games, animation, TV). It provides a series of compelling case studies in the relationship between creativity and commerce, from the foundation of Lucasfilm during the New Hollywood period to the 21st century Disney-era, and it has developed via a complex interplay between cutting-edge technological innovation, nostalgia, and mythmaking. It is both shaped by and responsive to historical and political contexts ranging from the Vietnam War to 9/11. With Lucas famously drawing on an eclectic range of cinematic and intellectual influences (Kurosawa, the Western, Saturday serials, Joseph Campbell, Buddhism, and more), the influence that Star Wars itself now exerts on contemporary culture is as wide as it is deep. Star Wars, as Obi-Wan says of the Force, “binds us and penetrates us.” At the same time, however, and with some important exceptions, academic discussion of Star Wars has often relied on a rather narrow set of critical frameworks and has tended to neglect the actual texts of the franchise and their place in cultural history. As the blockbuster of blockbusters reaches its half century, it is therefore the ideal moment to reflect anew on Star Wars and its manifold legacies.

When and where?

The conference will take place on Friday May 7th 2027 at Durham University. This will be followed by an exciting series of public events and activities at the Glasshouse concert venue in Gateshead across May 8th and 9th. Details tbc. Speakers and attendees at the conference are welcome (and indeed encouraged) to stay for the weekend! Presenting online will also be an option (although these slots will be limited).

Texts and topics

Presentations are sought on any Star Wars media – from the films of the original trilogy to Knights of the Old Republic to Andor.

Topics covered may include (but are by no means limited to) the following:

• Star Wars in history and Star Wars as history.
• Star Wars and industrial change / allegory / crisis.
• The directors, producers, writers, showrunners, game designers etc who have shaped the franchise.
• Star Wars and genre.
• Star Wars and the nature of transmedial storytelling.
• Star Wars, stardom, and performance.
• Puppets, costumes, masks.
• The distinction between the ‘practical’ and the ‘digital’.
• The significance of race, gender, sexuality, class, disability, and indigeneity in making and interpreting the franchise.
• Star Wars and critical theory (especially Jameson).
• Star Wars geographies (landscapes, locations, frontiers, cities, and so on).
• Star Wars and extractivism.
• Star Wars and neurodiversity.
• The relationship between scholarship and fandom.

Last updated May 7, 2026

CFP Gender in Fantasy (8/31/2026 BFS Journal)

Gender in Fantasy

deadline for submissions:
August 31, 2026

full name / name of organization:
Dr Kevan Manwaring/The British Fantasy Society

contact email:
kmanwaring@aub.ac.uk

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2026/06/05/gender-in-fantasy

Fantasy has long explored lifeworlds and paradigms outside of societal norms. Orlando, Virginia Woolf’s gender-fluid protagonist, declares, ‘I'm sick to death of this particular self. I want another.’ World myths, legends, folk tales, and fairy tales are early promoters of gender-fluidity, populated by the likes of Inanna/Ishtar; Hermaphroditus, the offspring of Hermes and Aphrodite; androgynous Dionysus; Ardhanarishvara; Ometeotl; Guanyin; cross-dressing thunder and trickster gods; heartsick seafaring maidens disguised as sailors; and the mercurial ontologies of the Fae. In this issue we will explore how gender is portrayed and explored in Fantasy. Fantasy plays an important role in enlarging what is possible, and creating refugia for the marginalised and other modalities. In an increasingly intolerant, xenophobic, and close-minded world, where Far Right governments roll back hard-won freedoms and civil rights legislation, and undermine, mock or openly attack important principles of equality, diversity, and inclusivity, this function of Fantasy is never more vital, for as Orlando states, ‘He who robs us of our dreams robs us of our life.’



The BFS Journal is seeking original, unpublished, human-authored articles of between 2000-8000 words (including bibliography). 

Possible approaches include:

• Non-binary identities and challenging binaries.
• Found families and marginalised identities in YA Fantasy
• The portrayal of matriarchies and patriarchies in Fantasy worlds.
• The rise of Romantasy and the female gaze.
• The performance of gender.
• Power and gender roles.
• Queer Fantasy and destabilisations of heteronormativity in Fantasy.
• The divine masculine and feminine in Fantasy.
• Masks, disguises, masquerades and carnivals.
• Friendships and relationships in Fantasy.
• Flirting, courting, and marriage in Fantasy.

Send the Abstract (200 words), including title, keywords, and a 100-word bio to the Editor (Dr Kevan Manwaring) by 31st August. The BFS Journal Winter issue will be published December 2026. Completed articles, if commissioned, will be due in by 30th September, when they will undergo peer-review. Send to: bfsjournal@britishfantasysociety.org



Last updated June 5, 2026

CFP Speculative Fiction (8/15/2026; SAMLA Atlanta 11/5-7/2026)

SAMLA 98: Speculative Fiction

deadline for submissions:
August 15, 2026

full name / name of organization:
Lisa Wenger Bro / Middle Georgia State University

contact email:
lisa.bro@mga.edu

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2026/06/05/samla-98-speculative-fiction

Speculative fiction covers a broad range of narrative styles and genres. The cohesive element that pulls works together under the category is that there is some “unrealistic” element, whether it’s magical, supernatural, or a futuristic/technological development: works that fall into the category stray from conventional realism in some way. For this reason, speculative fiction can be quite broad, including everything from fantasy and magical realism to horror and science fiction—from China Miéville to Margaret Atwood to Philip K. Dick. This panel aims to explore those unrealistic elements and all their varied implications about culture, society, politics, economics, and more.This panel also is open to the examination of works from a variety of mediums, including fiction, graphic novels, television, and film.

The Speculative Fiction panel is a traditional panel. Paper presentations should not exceed 15 minutes.

Please submit a 250-300 word abstract, a brief bio, and any A/V needs by August 15, 2026 to https://samla.ballastacademic.com/Home/S/19591

You can email any questions to Lisa Wenger Bro at lisa.bro@mga.edu

SAMLA’s 98th annual conference, Hospitality, will be held at the Wyndham Atlanta Buckhead Hotel & Conference Center in Atlanta, GA this year from November 5-7. Those accepted must be members of SAMLA to present. You can find more information at: https://southatlanticmla.org/


Last updated June 5, 2026

CfP- Speculative Fiction and Criticism in Precarious Times (8/1/2026; Lancaster University 9/18/2026)

CfP- Speculative Fiction and Criticism in Precarious Times

deadline for submissions:
August 1, 2026

full name / name of organization:
Lancaster University

contact email:
precarioustimesconference@gmail.com

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2026/06/17/cfp-speculative-fiction-and-criticism-in-precarious-times

CfP- Speculative Fiction and Criticism in Precarious Times

‘Speculative Fiction and Criticism in Precarious Times’ is a conference celebrating a rich network of postgraduate research students working with speculative fiction and criticism across the United Kingdom. Taking place on Friday 18th September at Lancaster University, the conference will feature an array of diverse papers along with a plenary lecture (tbc) and a roundtable discussion from world-leading academics including Dr. Anna McFarlane and Dr. Oliver Langmead. This event is proudly funded by the NWCDTP Cohort Development Fund.

Speculation has long been associated with the study of arts and humanities. We invite papers that consider how fiction and criticism can speculate about the precarious times that we live in. Particularly, academics across the world face insecurity and instability within their institutions due to systemic discrediting of the arts and humanities. We ask our speakers to consider how the practice of speculation can respond to experiences of precarity, and what potential it has for finding a way through.

This event is FREE for all to attend, including refreshments in the morning and lunch. Additionally, speakers from NWCDTP institutions can have travel fees reimbursed. Speakers must be a postgraduate researcher or early-career researcher, however we warmly invite other academics and students to attend.

We welcome papers that engage with the following topics, among others:

• Speculative fiction or genre fiction; including, but not limited to, Gothic, horror, fantasy, science fiction and more.
• Speculative criticism, that uses critical and theoretical approaches to respond to precarity.
• Speculations on terminology/specificity of genre and criticism
• Speculative fiction and criticism confronting key sites of precarity; such as housing, employment, poverty, immigration, conflict, education, politics, and environmental concerns.
• Speculative fiction and criticism and its representations of social issues; such as gender, sexuality, race, disability, and physical and mental health.
• Digital speculations; social media, AI, misinformation, and anti-truth politics/fake news.
• Speculation and culture; speculative fiction and criticism’s relationship to fan cultures, music, fashion, and more.
• Discussions of speculation across different forms of media and culture; literature, film, television, theatre, tabletop and video games, and other media.
• Interdisciplinary approaches to speculative fiction and criticism from outside of the Arts and Humanities.
• Creative and/or creative-critical responses.

Please submit an abstract of no more than 250 words for a 15-minute presentation to PrecariousTimesConference@gmail.com. For all submissions, provide a brief bio (50-100 words), any institutional affiliations, and contact details. Please send your submission as an attachment; please do not send your submission within the body of the email or as a link. If you would like to attend without presenting a paper, please get in touch.

The deadline for submissions is August 1st. Send all submissions, or any related questions, to PrecariousTimesConference@gmail.com.


Last updated June 17, 2026

CFP "Live Long and Prosper": 60 Years of Star Trek in Popular Culture (7/10/2026; Online 9/10-11/2026)

"Live Long and Prosper": 60 Years of Star Trek in Popular Culture

deadline for submissions:
September 10, 2026

full name / name of organization:
The Popular Culture Research Network, University of New England, Australia

contact email:
jo.coghlan@une.edu.au

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2026/06/13/live-long-and-prosper-60-years-of-star-trek-in-popular-culture



Call for Conference Papers

"Live Long and Prosper": 60 Years of Star Trek in Popular Culture - 10-11 September 2026

Free and Online

The Popular Culture Research Network, Australia

In September 1966, the first episode of Star Trek aired on American television, introducing audiences to a future shaped by exploration, diplomacy, scientific discovery, and the possibility of social progress beyond the limitations of the present.

Created by Gene Roddenberry during the cultural and political turbulence of the Cold War era, Star Trek emerged at a moment defined by civil rights struggles, decolonisation, nuclear anxiety, the space race, and rapid technological transformation. From its earliest years, the franchise articulated an ambitious vision of humanity organised around diplomacy, scientific cooperation, multiculturalism, and collective progress. Yet Star Trek has also long contained tensions and contradictions of its own, including militarisation, liberal humanism, expansionism, technological paternalism, and the limits of utopian politics

Over six decades, Star Trek has become central not only to science fiction history, but to the development of modern television itself. The franchise helped shape syndication culture, fan conventions, transmedia storytelling, blockbuster franchising, streaming-era television, and participatory fandom. It has inspired generations of scientists, engineers, activists, educators, and audiences, while influencing popular conceptions of artificial intelligence, space exploration, communication technologies, automation, ecology, and posthuman futures.

Since Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek universe has expanded to include nine live action series, three animated series, an anthology miniseries, a telemovie, ten prime-universe feature films, and three ‘rebooted’ movies set in an alternative timeline. Through an interplay of prequels, sequels, and all manner of spin-offs, Star Trek has continually re-invented itself in response to changing political, industrial, and technological conditions. Contemporary Star Trek continues to engage with questions surrounding authoritarianism, climate crisis, refugee politics, surveillance, platform capitalism, artificial intelligence governance, political extremism, and ecological collapse, demonstrating the franchise’s enduring relevance within twenty-first-century popular culture.

Sixty years later, Star Trek remains one of the most influential and enduring franchises in global popular culture. Across television, film, animation, novels, comics, games, conventions, merchandising, tourism, podcasts, streaming platforms, and digital fandoms, the franchise has continually evolved while shaping cultural understandings of race, gender, technology, politics, labour, ecology, empire, and ethics. It has done so through imaginings of primarily utopian futures grounded in examinations of the contemporary social dynamics that threaten to prevent such states of flourishing.

In the decades since audiences first heard the words “Space: the final frontier,” Star Trek remains a vital cultural framework through which societies imagine both the possibilities and contradictions of human progress. As Star Trek enters its seventh decade, this project seeks to explore how the franchise continues to shape cultural understandings of humanity, technology, justice, community, labour, ecology, and our future in space.

This conference invites scholars to examine the cultural, political, industrial, philosophical, technological, and aesthetic significance of Star Trek across its sixty-year history. We welcome interdisciplinary contributions from media studies, cultural studies, sociology, political science, history, science and technology studies, literary studies, fan studies, philosophy, queer studies, Indigenous studies, disability studies, gender studies, environmental humanities, posthumanism, critical race studies, and related fields.

We particularly encourage submissions engaging with intersectional, global, decolonial, and underexplored perspectives on the franchise and its cultural impact.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

• Utopianism, dystopianism, heterotopias, and political imagination in Star Trek

• Race, colonialism, frontier ideology, and the Federation

• Indigenous futurisms and decolonial critiques of exploration narratives

• Gender, sexuality, intimacy, and queer futurities

• Representation, exceptionalism, sentience, and recognition

• Dis/ability, neurodivergence, and embodiment

• The limits and frontiers to humanism(s) and posthumanism(s) in Star Trek

• Conlangs, comparative xenoanthropology, and universe building

• Artificial intelligence, androids, holograms, and synthetic life

• Portrayals of the human condition through process, protocol, and organisational dynamics in Star Trek

• The Federation’s ideals in theory and in practice

• Ecology, planetary crisis, extraction, and environmental futures

• Labour, capitalism, automation, and post-scarcity societies

• Platform capitalism, streaming economies, and franchise management

• Cetacean ops, the Captain’s Yacht, and other (mostly) off-screen ‘characters’

• Examining war, militarism, fascism, diplomacy, and surveillance cultures

• Refugee politics, migration, borders, and interspecies relations

• Tribbles

• Klingons, Vulcans, Borg, Romulans, Cardassians, and constructions of alterity

• Scientific, ethical, medical, and technological imagination

• Religion, spirituality, mythology, secularism, and philosophy

• Fashion, costume, prosthetics, design, and material culture

• Foodways, hospitality, consumption, and everyday life in the Star Trek universe

• Architecture, infrastructure, and speculative urbanism

• Music, sound, language, and sonic worldbuilding

• Seriality, episodic storytelling, and television form

• Opening title sequences, visual effects history, and audiovisual aesthetics

• The Okudas, iconography, and Star Trek aesthetics

• Fan cultures, digital fandom, fan fiction, and cosplay

• Spot

• Convention cultures, tourism, and exhibitions

• Fan labour, material fandom, and participatory media

• Global receptions, Cold War politics, and transnational fandoms

• Star Trek and American identity, diplomacy, and soft power

• Memory, nostalgia, heritage, archives, and franchise longevity

• Merchandising, branding, licensing, and corporate franchising

• The cultural legacy of performers such as William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Nichelle Nichols, George Takei, Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Kate Mulgrew, and others

• Star Trek and contemporary politics, crisis, and social transformation

Please submit abstracts, including a title, of 250 words along with a short biographical note (100 words) to

Submission - https://unesurveys.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8jjzaWnS732QsFE

Registration - https://unesurveys.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_7TGWUYZidtlxVLU

Abstract Deadline: 10 July 2026
Notification of Acceptance: 17 July 2026

Early submissions will receive earlier notification of acceptance.

It is expected that an edited collection with an international publisher will be associated with this Conference. Details will be available at the conference.



Last updated June 13, 2026

CFP Santa Claus, Christmas, and Implicit Religion in SFF (3/25/2026)

"I don't know what Christmas is, but Christmas time is here": Santa Claus, Christmas, and Implicit Religion in SFF

deadline for submissions:
March 25, 2026

full name / name of organization:
Maura Ives and Claire Carly-Miles

contact email:
m-ives@tamu.edu

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2026/03/12/i-dont-know-what-christmas-is-but-christmas-time-is-here-santa-claus-christmas-and.

"I don't know what Christmas is, but Christmas time is here": Santa Claus, Christmas, and Implicit Religion in SFF

Abstracts (250 words) are invited for papers exploring Santa Claus and/or the Christmas holiday in science fiction, speculative fiction and fantasy literature, film, and graphic novels. Considerations of the interrelation of secular and religious themes in SFF Christmas, implicit religion, and contemporary ritual welcome.



Deadline: March 25, 2026

Abstracts to m hyphen ives@tamu.edu and c.carly-miles@tamu.edu; please include SFF Christmas in your subject line.


Last updated March 14, 2026

Coming Soon - It's Dorothy!

This popped up in my feed the other day.

CFP GIFCon 2026 - The Technologies of the Fantastic (1/18/2026; Online 5/13-15/2026)

GIFCon 2026 - The Technologies of the Fantastic

deadline for submissions:
January 18, 2026

full name / name of organization:
Centre for Fantasy and the Fantastic, University of Glasgow

contact email:
GIFCon@glasgow.ac.uk

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2025/12/16/gifcon-2026-the-technologies-of-the-fantastic

The Centre for Fantasy and the Fantastic is excited to announce the call for papers for Glasgow International Fantasy Conversations (GIFCon) 2026, to be held online on 13-15 May, with the theme of ‘The Technologies of the Fantastic’.

Many addendums have been made over the years to Arthur C. Clarke’s famous third law: ‘any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic’ (‘Technology and the Future’), from Professor Barry Gehm’s corollary, ‘any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced’ (Analog) to Terry Pratchett, Ian Stewart, and Jack Cohen’s explanatory statement in The Science of Discworld that ‘Technology works because whoever built it in the first place figured out enough of the rules of the universe to make the technology do what was required of it … With magic, in contrast, things work because people want them to’. Such discourse leaves us asking what, if anything, fundamentally separates the technological from the magical?

Though scholars have attempted to clarify the division between science fiction and fantasy by suggesting that the latter is solely concerned with the impossible whilst the former is concerned only with fact, such binaries disregard the foundations of the fantastic prevalent in science fiction, in which ‘the only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible’ (Arthur C. Clarke Profiles of the Future). Similarly, the fantastic is filled with the technological. We can find technology in carefully constructed runes and magical glyphs that operate as locks and keys; in the textile metaphors of spell weaving; in the taxonomy of the naming of the wind and waves; and in the engineering of biomechanical monsters piloted by traumatized teens to fight angelic horrors.

This year, GIFCon invites the consideration of the technologies of fantasy, emphasizing those things that are too often overlooked both in the real world and in fantasy, whether through hierarchical practices that limit the definition of the scientific or because ‘technology’ has become so ubiquitous in everyday life.

GIFCon is a three-day virtual conference welcoming proposals from researchers and practitioners working in the fields of fantasy and cognate genres/subgenres across all media, whether from within academia or beyond it. We are particularly interested in submissions from postgraduate and early career researchers, and warmly welcome proposals from researchers whose work focuses on marginalized communities and subjects.

Topics for papers may include, but are not limited to:The rules of magic and magic systems.
The Science-Fantasy genre.
Who are these fantasy worlds made for? What does their magic and technology account for, and who do they overlook?
Nonwestern technologies and colonialist constructions of science in Fantasy.
Exploring Fantastic infrastructures: how cities, buildings, modes of transportation, paths, and worlds are shaped by fantastic interventions/inventions.
How the body (whether human, non-human, posthuman, or something in between) is shaped by technology.
Disability and impairment in fantasy literature.
The relationship between technology, time, and fantasy.
Fantasy as escapism from notions of advancement.
The response to technological growth in fantasy.
Echoes of the real world in technological fantasies: responses, adaptations and critique.
Fantasies created by science practitioners: how real-world science and scientists influence the genre.
Technological dystopias and/or utopias.
The relationship between Ecology and Technology in Fantasy.
Punk Practices: Rethinking technological and social practices through subgenres like cyberpunk, steampunk, or solarpunk.
Queer and Trans Theory approaches: how may queer and trans theory offer insights to the concatenation of the magical and technological?
What is left out in normative narratives of the scientific and technological? How does fantasy disrupt these narratives?

We invite proposals for 20-minute papers, which should be submitted using the proposal form. This form includes a 250-word abstract supplemented by a list of 5 keywords describing your paper and a 100-word biographical note.

We also welcome proposals for roundtables and workshops, consisting of 75-minute interactive online sessions which can be run on any aspect of our conference theme by either an individual or group. Generally, workshops have limited capacities and do not set preliminary reading, but participants sign up in advance and flexibility is possible. We encourage creative responses to the workshop call; please select ‘Workshop/Roundtable’ on the proposal form if you intend to lead a workshop or roundtable session.

The call for papers and workshops closes on Sunday, 18th January 2026 (11:59pm GMT). Please submit your proposal by this time to be considered for participation in GIFCon 2026.


categories
english-education
interdisciplinary
online conferences
popular culture
science and culture

Last updated December 18, 2025

CFP Salem Meets the Noir 2026: First Conference on Hispanic Noir Literature, TV and Film (2/8/2026; Salem, MA

Salem Meets the Noir 2026: First Conference on Hispanic Noir Literature, TV and Film

deadline for submissions:
February 8, 2026

full name / name of organization:
Salem State University

contact email:
salemeetsthenoir@gmail.com

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2025/10/19/salem-meets-the-noir-2026first-conference-on-hispanic-noir-literature-tv-and-film



This interdisciplinary conference aims to bring together scholars, writers, filmmakers, and students to share the interest and passion for the fictional criminal genre through their participation in panels, roundtables, workshops, film screenings, and curated cultural events in historic Salem.

Topics of interest include but are not limited to:

• Noir and the Gothic
• The Terrain of Rural Noir
• Motherhood, family and the Noir Domestic
• Noir, colonization, and Post Colonial Crime
• Noir in the Age of Global Neoliberalism
• Gendered Investigations and Female Agency
• Justice Reimagined: Interrogating Law, Order, Worlds
• Queer identities and LGBTQ+ Themes inNoir
• Border Spaces and Transnational Crime
• Adaptation Across Media (Film, TV, Graphic Novels, Podcasts)
• Masculinities in crises and Gender Fluid Reconfigurations
• Noir and Economic Trauma

We welcome proposals for individual submissions, round-table discussions or thematically aligned panels of speakers (20-minute presentations). Abstracts (max. 250 words) and brief biographical note (max. 150 words) should be submitted by no later than February 8, 2026. We will respond to applications no later than February 22, 2026.

Please find the full CFP,

CFP Salem Meets the Noir



Last updated December 7, 2025

CFP In a Conference Far, Far Away…Traversing Forms of the Folkloric (3/1/2026; New York 5/1/2026)

In a Conference Far, Far Away…Traversing Forms of the Folkloric

deadline for submissions:
March 1, 2026

full name / name of organization:
NYU Comparative Literature Graduate Conference

contact email:
nyufolkloreconference@gmail.com

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2025/12/15/in-a-conference-far-far-away%E2%80%A6traversing-forms-of-the-folkloric

In a Conference Far, Far Away…Traversing Forms of the Folkloric (Graduate Student Conference)



New York University: Friday, May 1, 2026



Since its formation in the nineteenth century, Folklore Studies has been seen as an inherently comparative and interdisciplinary field to the point where some are left wondering whether it would be better housed as a subfield of anthropology, ethnography, or literary studies. Part of the reason for this uncertainty may lie in both the breadth of materials categorized as relating to folklore studies (oral or written folk tales, myths, songs, jokes, articles of clothing, etc.) as well as the longstanding difficulty of defining “folklore” itself.



“In a Conference Far, Far Away,” brings together graduate students to present work that engages with and problematizes the category of folklore. We invite graduate students (MA, MFA, and PhD) to submit proposals for 15-20 minute presentations that explore and critically reflect on the myriad dimensions of the folkloric.



Organized by NYU’s Comparative Literature Department, with the aim of fostering interdisciplinary conversations, we welcome submissions from a variety of fields and disciplines. Topics may include, but are not limited to:


Memory

Oral history and embodied history

Speculative fiction (horror, fantasy, science fiction, apocalypse, etc.)

Mythos, magic, and fairy tales

Revolution

Repression of folklore

Adaptation, repetition, and appropriation

Material cultures

Museum studies

Religion

Ritual and performance

Musicology

Nostalgia

Nationalism

Eco-criticism



Please submit an abstract of 250 words and a short bio of 100 words to nyufolkloreconference@gmail.com by March 1, 2026.

Participants will be notified by April 1, 2026. We look forward to reading your proposals.



Last updated December 18, 2025

CFP Entangled Futures: Interstitial Fantasies from the Periphery (1/31/2026; Montreal 6/8-10/2026)

“Entangled Futures: Interstitial Fantasies from the Periphery”

deadline for submissions:
January 31, 2026

full name / name of organization:
Canadian Comparative Literature Association

contact email:
jillplanche@gmail.com

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2025/12/18/%E2%80%9Centangled-futures-interstitial-fantasies-from-the-periphery%E2%80%9D



CCLA – Fantastical Constellation Working Group Call for Proposals

CCLA Annual Conference / Colloque annuel de l’ACLC

The Fantastical Constellation Working Group invites proposals for a panel or round table topic, “Entangled Futures: Interstitial Fantasies from the Periphery,” as part of the Canadian Comparative Literature Association Annual Conference, 8-10 June 2026, hosted by the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at McGill University in Montréal.

The Fantastical Constellation Working Group proposes an all-encompassing engagement with current issues in postmagical realism studies to explore the process of worlding; examine howspeculative modes blend scientific and magical elements to create new forms of expression that move beyond traditional magical realism in our complex post-truth era of developing new technologies and unsettlement of global orders.

“Entangled Futures: Interstitial Fantasies from the Periphery” draws on physicist and feminist theorist Karen Barad’s concept of agential realism, rooted in quantum physics. Barad proposes that entities do not exist as separate, independent beings that later interact, but are mutually constituted through “intra-actions” between human and non-human forces—an approach that reframes how scientific and political practices are intertwined. Building on this sense of dynamic interconnectedness, the panel explores how speculative and fantastical narratives emerging from the peripheries—whether geopolitical, cultural, or aesthetic—reconfigure relations among science, technology, and imagination. Here, the “periphery” extends beyond geography to include cultural and political margins, as well as hybrid artistic formats such as performance, film, and digital art, to name a few, where experimental practices unsettle conventional boundaries between genres and media. “Entangled futures,” then, imagines divergent pathways shaped by dystopian, utopian, and speculative tropes, while the term “interstitial” foregrounds the generative spaces between borders, bodies, and identities where new forms of posthuman and postmagical expression emerge.

Such theorization might look to Mads Rosendahl Thomsen’s contention that posthumanism is an important focus for all forms of artistic expression, going beyond non-human and machinic representations, and Premesh Lalu’s argument for magical realism’s capacity to “eke out a more generous form of life through an affirmation of humanity,” combining “science with the specifically human attributes of memory, judgment, and imagination to withstand the speed of machines.”

We propose, then, a theme with a strong theoretical anchor while remaining broad enough to attract diverse proposals from scholars working across different disciplines and literary traditions. We invite proposals that explore how fantastical literature from the margins—be it geographical, cultural, or aesthetic—challenges traditional boundaries.

Proposals might engage such topics as:

Bodies, Technologies, and PosthumanismPosthumanism and the body: how do texts from marginalized perspectives reimagine the human body and its relationship with technology, particularly as the blurring of boundaries between the biological and the technological raises profound ontological and ethical questions concerning personhood and agency.Cultural and political: subcultures and political margins. (It is known that Silicon Valley tech-moguls read science-fiction, as well as view films like The Matrix, and use them in marketing their technological ideas.) Are there science fiction or broadly fantastical narratives, ideas, or imaginaries (dystopias, utopias, revolutionary and evolutionary ideas) that influence, or are used in the (political) margins?

Translation and Cross-Linguistic EstrangementTranslation through the margins: How does translation, as a practice and concept, figure in rearticulating the fantastic? How is the estrangement function of science fiction and fantasy in overlooked languages kept alive or smoothed out through translation into English?

Decolonial and Queer FuturesPostmagical realism and peripheral decolonized futures: How do contemporary works blend scientific and magical elements to create new forms of expression that move beyond traditional magical realism?Queer and decolonized futures: Histories have been rewritten as herstories, decolonial histories, and queer histories. Can categories of identity constructed within power relations—like temporality and space—subvert linear projects of progress imposed on them by the world and higher powers and, through queer practices, become a space of constant negotiation of difference and resistance; become an antagonist in relation to their own microcosm, critical and judgemental (Mendlesohn).The other: Fantasy of the other; other forms of oppression.

Temporalities and RetrofuturismRetrofuturism: In the field of international politics and strategy, ‘scenario methodology’ has gained traction in recent years — creating hypothetical and alternative models of the future based on an analysis of the current geopolitical situation. Given the tendency to focus on the world’s most liminal geographical areas, how do post-magical realism and science fiction expand our horizons by giving voice to the most marginal geographical realities?Temporality: understandings of time in speculative fiction.

War, Ruins, and ReconstructionWar as subject and the future: War is a common theme or background in science fiction narratives. Most current digital technologies depend, or are generated in, the military context of WWII or Cold War. Benjamin points to Italian Futurism’s aestheticization of war as foundational to the fascist political aesthetic. Is war in science fiction’s visions of the future presented as an aesthetic—such as ruins, postapocalyptic or heroic and action-packed aesthetic—as a way of pushing certain ideologies/agendas, or is war an unavoidable part of interstitial fantasies inevitably entangled with technological/scientific progressive fantasies?

Eco-critical Imaginaries

Eco-criticism: the climate crisis in speculative fiction.

Theatrical and Performative Fantasies

Theatricality and performance: How do ideas of entanglement and alterity manifest in fantastical theatre or performance art, beyond “spectacle and the fantastic . . . to connect to the audience’s imagination, their beliefs, and their hopes in the fantastic for a better world or at least a way to make it better” (Magoffin).

Instructions for proposals:

All sessions will be in hybrid format. For participation in (a) Paper Panel (papers of 20 minutes); or (b) Roundtable (5-minute introductions to be followed by discussion).

Please submit a proposal of no more than 250 words.

Include a brief bio (max 100 words) with contact information.

Also, please indicate:

- whether you will present in person or online.

- any technical requirements for your presentation.

- the forum in which you wish to participate

Deadline for submissions: January 31, 2026.

Please submit your proposal to:

Jill Planche – Email: jillplanche@gmail.com

Agata Mergler – Email: agatamer@yorku.ca

Elisa Leonzio – Email: elisa.leonzio@gmail.com



References

Barad, Karen. Meeting the Universe Halfway. Quantum Physics and the Entanglement of Matter and Meaning. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. 2007.

Collins, John. “Interweaving with Premesh Lalu: The Long Global Shadow of Apartheid. Interview with Premesh Lalu. Voices, 28 Feb 2025. https://www.weavenews.org/stories/2025/2/28/interweaving-with-premesh-lalu-the-long-global-shadow-of-apartheid

Magoffin, Ashley. “Magical Realism: From Concept to Stage. Part 2.” Struggling Artist. Blog. 29 Jan 2021. https://thestrugglingartist1996.wordpress.com/2021/01/29/magical-realism-concept-to-stage-part-2/

Mendlesohn, Farah. Rhetorics of Fantasy, Wesleyan University Press, Middletown 2008.

Thomsen, Mads Rosendahl. “TheNonhuman, the Posthuman, and the Universal,” Part IX – The Worldly and the Planetary, The Cambridge History of World Literature, edited by Debjani Ganguly. 17 August 2021.



Last updated December 18, 2025

CFP Science Fiction and Fantasy - Tennessee Philological Association Annual Conference (1/23/2026; Henderson, TN 2/26-28/2026)

CFP: Science Fiction and Fantasy - Tennessee Philological Association Annual Conference

deadline for submissions:
January 23, 2026

full name / name of organization:
Tennessee Philological Association

contact email:
nich.krause@auburn.edu

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2026/01/09/cfp-science-fiction-and-fantasy-tennessee-philological-association-annual-conference

February, 26-28, 2026 at Freed-Hardeman University

The Tennessee Philological Association (TPA) is now accepting submissions for the 2026 Conference to be held at Freed-Hardeman University February 26-28, 2026.

TPA welcomes submissions on any subject in literature, creative writing, English pedagogy, and diverse media. Abstracts for papers dealing with any aspect of literature, creative writing, language, and linguistics (including foreign languages) should be no more than 250 words. Papers must be kept to a twenty-minute reading time not to exceed ten pages. Papers should be read in English. Panel proposals (three to five members) should be no more than two pages. Panels are for one-hour sessions, should be on theme, and should not merely consist of multiple papers pre-grouped. Panels which do not follow these guidelines will be broken up. Graduate and Undergraduate submissions should email their completed papers to Official.TPA.Secretary@outlook.com at the time of their submission. All participants whether reading a paper, taking part in a panel discussion, or attending as a guest must complete a registration. Those who do no will not be allowed to participate.

Themed Call: Science Fiction and Fantasy

*Papers addressing this year's theme are eligible for consideration for publicatior in the TPA Bulletin.*

The Tennessee Philological Association invites proposals for papers, panels, workshops, and roundtables for our upcoming annual conference. This year's theme: "Science Fiction & Fantasy." We welcome submissions that investigate how science fiction and fantasy texts--across eras, cultures, and media-shape--challenge, and expand our understanding of language, narrative, and the human experience. We hope to see your insights on "the fiction of ideas" (Bradbury) and the "heightening of reality" (Le Guin) and to help us to explore the worlds we can never visit and the ones we never want to leave. From Tolkien to Dinniman, from Butler to Garber, take us on an adventure we will not soon forget.

Deadline for Consideration: January 23, 2026

You may use this link for registering and submitting your abstract: https://forms.gle/k27QFhB324XRHAyX6.



Last updated January 9, 2026