Annual Conference

Each year we hold an Annual Conference in a major city of North America, with plenary panels and seminars covering a wide range of literary topics, and, often, presentations in film, music, and theatre. From our first conference (held in Minneapolis in 1995) to our most recent, we have celebrated the art of literature and encouraged the work of scholars, critics, and writers.

ALSCW annual conferences differ from many literary organizations’ in significant ways. Participants are urged to keep their presentations jargon free and accessible to those not working in their fields. People attending but not giving formal presentations are encouraged to actively participate in discussions. Our annual conferences are, in fact, designed to promote an ongoing conversation about literature and the arts. We try to make sure nothing is rushed. Plenary panels and seminars each run for two hours and offer ample opportunity for discussion. Participants move back and forth from seminars (four at a time) to plenary sessions (one at a time) to social gatherings, performances, and readings in the evening. The goal is to provide space for a constant cross pollination of materials, ideas, and personalities. We feel there’s great benefit to exchanges between well informed people who may not share a specialization. We are proud to have a very distinguished membership and part of our tradition involves mentoring younger members.

Scholars and critics who have presented include Sharon Achinstein, Mark Bauerlein, Russell Berman, Marie Borroff, David Bromwich, Jenny Clay, Stephen Cushman, James Engell, Philip Gould, Justina Gregory, Amy Hungerford, Frank Kermode, Bernard Knox, John Leonard, Herbert Marks, Giuseppe Mazzotta, Ferdinand Mount, Deborah Epstein Nord, Stephen Orgel, James Wood, and Ruth Bernard Yeazzell.

Writers who have spoken at our conferences include Margaret Atwood, John Barth, Michael Collier, Stuart Dybek, Robert Fagles, Dana Gioia, Anthony Hecht, John Hollander, Jhumpa Lahiri, Brad Leithauser, Norman Mailer, Dow Mossman, Paul Muldoon, Sigrid Nunez, Joyce Carol Oates, Tim Parks, Francine Prose, Carl Phillips, Robert Pinsky, A.E. Stallings, Rosanna Warren, C.K. Williams, and Tom Wolfe.

Learn More About Our Upcoming Conference >

View photos from past conferences below

Jesse McCarthy, Justin Mitchell, and Giulia Ricco at the 2022 ALSCW conference, Yale University

Sebestyén Czakó-Kuraly presenting in the second session of Diana Senechal’s “Setting Poetry to Music” seminar, 2022 ALSCW conference, Yale University

Ishion Hutchinson reads his poetry at the 2022 ALSCW conference, Yale University

Lisa Russ Sparr’s seminar on Emily Dickinson, Gwendolyn Brooks, and Elizabeth Bishop–Vanderbilt University 2018

TR Hummer speaks at the banquet, 2018 ALSCW conference at Vanderbilt University

Sonia Velázquez, Edward H. Friedman, and Michael Armstrong-Roche’s plenary session on Spanish Golden Age Literature, 2018 ALSCW conference at Vanderbilt University

Meringoff Writing Award winners, 2018 ALSCW conference at Vanderbilt University

Mark Jarman plenary reading, 2018 ALSCW conference at Vanderbilt University

Lindsay Lawley Rerecich speaks at the seminar “On Rereading,” 2018 ALSCW conference at Vanderbilt University

Lila Quintero Weaver’s presentation “Place In Between: Before the South’s Latinx Wave,” 2018 ALSCW conference at Vanderbilt University

Garrett Hongo gives the keynote address, 2018 ALSCW conference at Vanderbilt University

Deborah Cohn, Derrick Spires, and Susan Hegeman, plenary panel on “Humanities Centers and the Future of Literary Studies,” 2018 ALSCW conference at Vanderbilt University

Daniel Cross Turner at the Robert Penn Warren Center, 2018 ALSCW conference at Vanderbilt University

ALSCW VP Kate Daniels speaks at the banquet during the 2018 ALSCW conference at Vanderbilt University

ALSCW Executive Director Ernest Suarez addressing the membership, 2018 ALSCW conference at Vanderbilt University

2018 ALSCW President Richard Russell, 2018 ALSCW conference at Vanderbilt University

Kwame Dawes gives plenary reading, 2017 ALSCW Conference at the University of Dallas

Mike Mattison and Ernest Suarez moderate seminar on “Poetic Song Verse,” 2017 ALSCW Conference at the University of Dallas