* Some deadlines, e.g. for CFPs, are very close!
Sea Changes conference videos
The videos of the online day of our September 2025 conference, Sea Changes: The fairytale Gothic of mermaids, selkies, and enchanted hybrids of ocean and river are now available on line along with the conference pack, which is full of supplementary material including PDFs of the specially designed brochure and poster. It is now visible on the drop-down menu for the conference. There is also a great Resources and Bibliography page for scholars, students and general researchers, which we will be updating when we can (we are very open to suggestions!).
Vampiric origins and Gothic afterlives: John Polidori and St Pancras Old Church
24 January 2026, 14:30 – 15:30 GMT; on line
Sam George, Open Graves, Open Minds
Booking is open for the talk and virtual tour by OGOM’s Dr Sam George on John Polidori, author of The Vampyre, and the Gothic associations of St Pancras Old Church.
Vampire expert, Associate Professor Sam George, delves into the origins of the first vampire tale in English, John Polidori’s The Vampyre (1816) and takes you on a virtual tour of his unsettled resting place in St Pancras Old Church. Attendees will learn the untold story of his gothic afterlife and share in research for the accompanying book: The Legacy of John Polidori: The Romantic Vampire and its Progeny
On Social Life and Stories: Traditional Tale-telling in 1970s Rural Iceland
1 December 2025, 7pm to 8:30pm GMT; on line.
Rosemary Power, The Folkore Society
The talk covers some of the aspects of life in an Icelandic valley in the period in question, with knowledge of folklife and practice, farming changes, songs, singing-style, oral anecdotes and folktales.
A One Day Symposium on Frances Hardinge
King’s College London, UK. 11 July 2026, 9:30am to 5pm GMT+1
Politics, Ethics and the Material World: the Interrogative Fiction of Frances Hardinge.
A one day symposium on the work of Frances Hardinge. We have talks, interviews, and workshops.
Guest: Frances Hardinge
Keynote Speaker; Ali Baker Brooks, University of East London
PictCon2: A Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention
Salutation Hotel, 30-34 South Street, Perth, Scotland. 17 October 2026, 10am to 9pm GMT+1
A Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention for everyone who reads, writes and watches. We are delighted to welcome as our Guest of Honour, Neil Williamson.
Dracula Lunchtime Bites
Future events from The Derby Dracula.
The Dracula Lunchtime Bites are a series of short online talks delivered by specialists in Dracula, the Gothic and vampires. They will last about half an hour and are open to anyone who is interested. The perfect thing to watch while you’re eating your sandwiches!
These events are organised by The Derby Dracula, an organisation committed to raising the profile of Dracula’s connections with the city of Derby.
CFP: Fantasy’s Present Pasts
The inaugural European Conference on the Fantastic, Centre for Fantasy and the Fantastic, University of Glasgow. 23–25 June 2026.
Deadline: 12 December 2025.
‘Fantasy’s Present Pasts’ invites innovative papers that explore works of Fantasy or consider genre culture more broadly. However, it focuses particularly on the ways in which speculative genres engage with the interplay of past and present. It hopes to explore the kinds of history on which works of Fantasy currently draw; the ways in which pasts present themselves in genre texts; and the manners in which we currently model the diverse pasts of genres across different cultures and traditions.
CFP: British Association for Victorian Studies, 2026 Conference
Liverpool John Moores University, UK. 27–29 July 2026.
Deadline: 12 december 2026.
There will be no specific theme for the conference. Papers on any aspect of long-nineteenth-century studies from across Art History, Music, Maritime History, Theatre History, the History of Science, Literature and History, to name a few, are welcome.
CFP: 2026 John Keats Conference
The Keats Foundation, 5–7 June 2026
Deadline: 21 February 2026
We invite proposals for 20-minute papers for presentation at the 2026 John Keats Conference. Our conference theme, The Keats Circle, has been broadly conceived to ensure that papers reflecting the full range of current Keats studies can be accommodated.
CFP: 21st Annual Conference, British Society for Literature and Science
University of Strathclyde, 9–11 April 2026 (in person)
Deadline: 12 December 2025
The BSLS invites proposals for twenty-minute papers, or panels of three papers, or roundtables, on any subjects within the field of literature (broadly defined to include theatre, film, and television) and science (including medicine and technology). The BSLS remains committed to supporting and showcasing work on all aspects of literature and science, including (but not limited to) animal studies, disability studies, the medical humanities, eco-criticism and the environmental humanities, science fiction studies, the blue humanities, and more.
CFP: More Terrors than her Reason Could Justify: A 200th Anniversary Celebration of Ann Radcliffe’s Posthumous Publications
Romancing the Gothic.
Deadline: 30 April 2026
2026 marks the 200th anniversary of the publication of Ann Radcliffe’s final posthumous works. Often paid scant attention in critical writing on Radcliffe, they challenge a number of common assumptions about Radcliffean form. In doing so, they force us to confront and question the prescriptive and often rigid conceptions of the ‘female Gothic’ so often rooted in her work.
2025-26 Keats-Shelley and Young Romantics Prizes
Deadline: 2 February 2026
The theme of this year’s Poetry Prize has been chosen to mark the 200th anniversary of Mary Shelley’s The Last Man. Entrants are invited to submit poems on the subject of either “Dystopia” or “Utopia”.
Keats-Shelley essayists are invited to write on any aspect of the work and/or lives of the Romantics and their circles. Young Romantics can respond to one of two questions set by the judges.
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