IASIL 2026 Conference : Translating Ireland.
Location and dates: Pázmány Péter Catholic University (PPCU), Budapest. 6-10 July 2026.
Deadline for proposal submission: Friday, 28 November 2025.
Event presentation
Translation is a central feature of Irish writing. The matter concerns not only the transition from one language or dialect to another, but also acts of cultural interpretation. Works such as Maria Edgeworth’s Castle Rackrent, the Oriental pseudo-translations of James Clarence Mangan or Brian Friel’s Translations make explicit the political, hermeneutic and aesthetic vulnerabilities of translation processes. Acts of translation or interpretation disclose the contested history and politics of language and culture in Ireland from medieval times to the present. One way of reading translation-as-transformation in James Joyce, for example, is an apotheosis of Irish linguistic or cultural doubling, apparent in such works as Edmund Spenser’s A View of Ireland and Douglas Hyde’s Love Songs of Connacht. Poets like Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, Medbh McGuckian and Sinéad Morrissey further globalize Irish translation in the light of modern and contemporary female experience. Melata Uche Okorie’s stories highlight the struggles with cultural and political miscommunication in contemporary African-Irish migrant experience.
The cultural and linguistic translation of Irish stories, legends, poems, plays, novels and films appears across a global spectrum. The languages include British-English, American-English, Canadian English and French, Latin, Italian, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Hungarian, Scandinavian languages, Central/East-European languages, Balkan languages, Russian, Turkish, ancient and modern Greek, Arabic, Persian, Hebrew, Mandarin, Japanese, Korean, Hindi, Urdu, Yoruba and Swahili. The matter is not exclusively one of language, but also of cultural positioning and political identification. In such instances, cultural and political agents transform Ireland through languages, environments or histories removed from the island of Ireland itself. Certain impressions of Ireland sometimes shape these engagements: a country that was subject historically to the power of a politically stronger neighbour; a land with a vibrant spiritual sense of topographical supernaturalism or trans-dimensionality; a society transformed into one of technological advancement and ethnic diversity in the twenty-first century; a country of distinctive literary, vocal and thespian talent.
Ireland translating is of equal significance to translating Ireland. The vast panoply of words, phrases and passages in Irish literature taken from continental European, Hispanic, Asian and African languages, raise literary-aesthetic, performative, and politico-ideological questions of contextual significance, internal translation, assimilation, appropriation, domestication and distancing. Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver – dreamed up in County Tyrone – learning Lilliputian, Oscar Wilde’s Salomé in French, Yeats transforming pagan Irish mythology through medieval Japanese and Elizabethan English styles, Samuel Beckett translating himself from French back to English; Ciaran Carson’s Dante and Rimbaud: each instance involves imaginative Irish acts of translation with a global reach. Irish writing is famed for regional dialect translation. Examples abound, from Lady Gregory’s Galway Kiltartanese to Marina Carr’s Midlands guttural. What is happening – hermeneutically, syntactically, stylistically and politically – in these and other renderings of speech or behavioural patterns associated with different Irish regions and contexts?
This conference will address these issues, developing discussion of Ireland translated/translating beyond a legitimate but limiting concern with translational linguistic accuracy or error. Peter Sloterdijk’s theory of the spherical offers one way of conceptualizing the blend of Irish and non-Irish spheres, Irish writing a process of forming and bursting linguistic, topographic and cultural bubbles. This perpetual dialectic arises through writing and visual culture that moves between different languages, dialects and constellations. The conference also offers the opportunity to explore the Irish Revival movement of the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century as a collective exercise in the mass cultural translation of a vast body of antique or medieval Irish texts and oral tales.
We invite abstracts for 20-minute conference paper presentations relating to questions of translating or interpreting Ireland under any of the following thematic headings:
- The politics and aesthetics of Irish translation and interpretation
- Translation and Irish multicultural/multi-ethnic experience
- Translating Irish literature and culture into British, continental European, Asian, African, Australasian, South American, North American languages and/or cultural contexts
- Irish translation/interpretation of British, continental European, Asian, North or South American, African literatures, languages and/or cultures
- Translation and antiquarianism
- Translating/interpreting Irish spaces and localities
- Irish translation/interpretation of non-Irish spaces and localities
- Anti-translation
- Translating/interpreting Ireland in the digital world
- Irish-language translation
- Dialect in Irish literature, drama, film, television
- Translation in Irish modernism and postmodernism
- Translation/interpretation in Irish Revival writing
- Translation/interpretation of Irish myth, legend and folklore in modern English
- Translating Greek mythology in Irish poetry, drama, film
- Translation and Orientalism
- Medieval Irish and Hiberno-Latin translation
- Translation and the nonsensical
We are also open to receiving abstracts on Irish topics not directly related to the conference theme.
Keynote Speakers
- Prof. Brian Ó Conchubhair, University of Notre Dame
- Dr. Sonja Lawrenson, Manchester Metropolitan University
- Dr. Eglantina Remport, ELTE, Budapest
- Dr. Sorcha De Brún, University of Limerick
- Dr. Aidan O’Malley, University of Rijeka
Abstracts
Please submit your abstract to the following email address, using the description ‘Budapest IASIL 2026’ followed by your family name:
We welcome proposals for three-paper panels. Please indicate the panel title when submitting your abstract as part of a panel.The deadline for receipt of abstracts is Friday, November 28, 2025.
CFP
For further details, please check the event original call inserted below.
CFP Budapest IASIL 2026(Posted 13 September 2025)
Conference and workshops: History up for Debate: Literature, Storytelling and the Imagined Past.
Location and dates: University of Salzburg. 12 July 2026.
Deadline for proposal submissions: 2nd February 2026.
Venue details: University of Salzburg, Department of English and American Studies, Unipark Nonntal.
Event organised by Dorothea Flothow, Julia Hartinger, Sarah Herbe, Christopher Herzog, EvaMaria Kubin, Markus Oppolzer, and Elisabeth Schober.
Event presentation
Conference within the Framework of the Salzburg Conferences on English Literature and Culture (SEC).
While it has long been a truism that ‘all history is contemporary history’ (Benedetto Croce), i.e., shaped by contemporary concerns and values, recent and presentday politics have moved this insight very much to the forefront. History – in both public and popular forms – is (currently) highly topical, publicly contested and used for partisan aims. In the UK, for instance, the memory of the Second World War, which for decades has been an important aspect of British identity constructions, was used extensively in the Brexit debates with the promise that Britain would stand once more proudly ‘alone’, thus reexperiencing some of its former greatness (see Noakes 2023; Henneböhl 2023). In the US, the current administration is taking active influence on the way history is presented in public museums and institutions, reinterpreting the significance of historic events like the Civil War to serve its own political agenda. Conversely, in British crime fiction series such as The Sister Boniface Mysteries, the 1950s and early 1960s have been rediscovered as a period characterised by colourful, stylish clothes, extraordinary wall papers and strangely quirky technology, while omitting the undoubtedly rampant racism and homophobia of these years. Instead, the past is made to look liberal and enlightened, confirming the audience in its current moral values and attitudes – a purpose which popular history formats have served since at least the nineteenth century (see Jordanova 2010: Ch 6).
Given that the past, and the narratives and stories we shape of it, seem thus particularly contested and controversial at the present moment, this conference aims to explore the literary and filmic narratives (in the form of historical novels, costume drama, documentaries, life writing, biofiction, biopics, etc.) in which we shape history for the wider public and the ends to which these are used. Based on the assumption that storytelling is not only a fundamental way in which humans orient themselves in the world but also a potent means of shaping reality, these narratives’ role as a means of creating a desirable present and future will also be examined.
The conference thus aims to examine various aspects of storytelling and the past. We want to look at specific examples of how the past is shaped to fit the present, for instance, to shape and confirm (national) identities, to support liberal or conservative gender roles, or to substantiate political claims and agendas. In addition, we would also like to explore the specific attractions and advantages that different genres may offer to this end, for instance, by seemingly suggesting greater ‘truth effects’ (cf. Frow 2005: 2) or, as studies on the flourishing genre of biofiction highlight, by offering a more imaginative access by speculating on historic characters’ thoughts and feelings (see e.g. the articles in Boldrini et al. 2025).
As it is organised by the Department of English and American Studies at the University of Salzburg, the conference focuses particularly on Englishlanguage novels, drama, performance, films, TV series and various forms of lifewriting, but we also welcome examples from other countries, languages and historical cultural traditions with the end of exploring the manifold popular uses of the past. Equally, we are interested in both contemporary and historical examples of politicised uses of the past in popular historical forms.
Part of the conference is dedicated to workshops for teachers focusing on how accounts and narratives of the past shape our understanding of history that examine strategies to help students question representations of the past, reflect on different perspectives, and connect historical themes to contemporary issues.
Topics may include, but are not limited to:
- (national) myths and nationbuilding in historical literatures
- resurrecting marginalised voices
- present and historical uses of (identity) politics in historical novels, period drama, biography, biofiction, etc.
- retelling / staging past resistance (literary and theatrical renderings of significant protests, political movements, etc.)
- historical imaginings as a means of resistance and subversion
- historical storytelling and genre
- processes of remembering and forgetting / literary dementia studies and memory
- historical storytelling and memory
- the ethical dimensions of fictionalizing the past: invention vs. accuracy
- documentary theatre and verbatim theatre: staging the ‘true’ past
- intersections of myth, folklore, and historical accounts
- genre boundaries: historical fiction, autofiction, speculative and alternative histories
- the role of desire in shaping representations of the past
- embodied past in performance
- the role of paratext in historical fiction (afterwords, author’s note, inclusion of archival material, …)
- historical storytelling and the archive
- the use of the past (e.g. documentary, mockumentary, historical fiction, television, and film) in the (language) classroom
Timeline
- Proposals (max. 250 words) for 20minute papers or 90minute teacher workshops with a short bio note (max. 150 words) are due 2nd February 2026. Papers and workshops must be presented in English. Please submit proposals in our online form: https://secsrv.sbg.ac.at/sec26/
- Acceptances will go out by late February.
- In case of questions, please contact: salzburgenglishconferences@plus.ac.at
Website
https://www.plus.ac.at/anglistik/newseventssocialmedia/salzburgenglishconferences/?lang=en 
Workshops for Teachers / PHFortbildung
As part of the conference History up for Debate: Literature, Storytelling and the Imagined Past, we invite EFL teachers to join a series of workshops that will explore how accounts of the past (e.g. documentary, mockumentary, historical fiction, television, and film) can be a powerful tool in the language classroom – not only to engage students with authentic language, but also to encourage critical thinking about the past and, by extension, about the present and the future.
Participants can choose from a range of workshops focusing on how accounts and narratives of the past shape our understanding of history. Together, we will examine strategies to help students question representations of the past, reflect on different perspectives, and connect historical themes to contemporary issues.
Whether you’re new to the topic or looking to deepen your approach, you’ll find practical ideas and fresh inspiration in these workshops.
Date: Thursday, 2nd July, 14:00-17:30 hours.
Target Group: Teachers of English, AHS+BHS Oberstufe
The Workshops will take place in English.
CFP
For further details, please check the event original call inserted below.
(Posted 8 October 2025)
21st International Hemingway Conference: Hemingway in Toronto.
Location and dates: Toronto, Canada. 20-25 July 2026.
Deadline for proposal submission: 31 October 2025.
Venue details: Toronto, Canada, at the Chelsea Hotel.
Event organised by Toronto Metropolitan University, the Modern Literature and Culture Research Centre, and the Hemingway Society.
Event presentation
The Hemingway Society invites proposals for the 21st International Hemingway Conference, exploring Hemingway’s ties to Toronto and his broader literary legacy.
Toronto was a pivotal stop in Hemingway’s early career—a place where he honed his craft as a journalist, earned his first bylines at The Toronto Star, and briefly settled to welcome his first child in 1923. The 2026 conference offers an opportunity to revisit these formative years and discuss Hemingway’s impact from multiple perspectives.
We welcome innovative perspectives on any aspect of Hemingway studies, including literary, cultural, and theoretical approaches. Proposals exploring Hemingway’s early career, Toronto connections, and new angles on his work are especially encouraged:
- The impact of Hemingway’s journalistic training on his literary style
- Hemingway’s Toronto years in a global and transnational context
- Reconsidering Hemingway’s mentorship networks (e.g., Morley Callaghan)
- Hemingway and civic responsibility
- The role of sports, competition, and masculinity in Hemingway’s early work
- Rethinking Hemingway’s relationship with modernist movements in Canada and beyond
In addition to individual 15-minute papers, we invite panel proposals (up to 4 presenters + respondent), roundtables (5-6 participants + moderator), pedagogy sessions, and multimedia/creative arts presentations.
Submission Deadline: October 31, 2025. Early submission by August 15 is strongly encouraged.
- Proposals (300 words) should outline the topic and approach and include a Works Cited.
- Include a brief bio and A/V requirements.
- For panels/roundtables, provide bios for all participants.
- For multimedia/creative submissions, include a sample of work.
- Graduate students applying for a Hinkle travel grant should note their status, institution, degree sought, and expected completion date.
For details on the conference, accommodations, and to submit your abstract, visit hemingwaytoronto2026.com or email hemingway2026@torontomu.ca.
Submission Form
Accepted presenters will be notified by December 31, 2025.
CFP
For further details, please check the original call inserted below.
(Posted 14 August 2025)