CFP: W.D. Howells Society at ALA 2025 in Boston, MA (May 21-24, 2025)

The W.D. Howells Society will host two panels at the American Literature Association’s 36th annual conference, which will meet at the Westin Copley Place in Boston, May 21-24, 2025 (Wednesday through Saturday of Memorial Day weekend).

PANEL 1: HOWELLS & OTHERS

The panel organizers invite proposals concerning Howells and his professional and/or personal intersections with the careers and works of his contemporary writers. Topics might include Howells’s work as editor or literary mentor in relation to other writers and their works, his role as public intellectual and/or cultural arbiter, or considerations of any of his works as intertextual responses to other writers and their texts. Proposals fitting the titular theme in other ways than those suggested here are also welcome.

PANEL 2: OPEN TOPIC

The panel organizers invite proposals concerning any and all approaches to Howells and his works, including but not limited to the following:

  • New approaches to Howells’ life, career, and writings;
  • Reassessments of frequently studied and taught works;
  • Lesser-known works;
  • Howells’ public and/or academic standing;
  • Howells and democracy;
  • Howells and his influence;
  • Howells and the humanities;
  • Howells in the classroom.
W.D. Howells
Please send 250-500 word proposals for either panel to Paul R. Petrie petriep1@southernct.edu no later than January 15, 2025. (Earlier submissions are welcome!) Please designate the panel for which your proposal is intended.

For further information or specific questions about the conference, please consult the ALA website at www.americanliteratureassociation.org.