CFP for American Literature Association Conference
Call for Papers: The Louisa May Alcott Society is sponsoring two panels at the American Literature Association Conference May 20-23, 2026 Chicago, Illinois. I. Alcott and Europe While the work of Louisa May Alcott makes an important contribution to nineteenth-century conversations about nation-building, democracy, and citizenship in America, Alcott also represents varied and complex ideas about international identities and perspectives. For this panel, we invite papers that consider Alcott and Alcott studies in a transatlantic rather than purely national context. The focus of this panel is Alcott and Europe, conceived broadly. In Shawl-Straps, the lightly fictionalized account of her European travels with May Alcott and Alice Barton, Louisa May Alcott offered an enticing invitation to would-be travelers, encouraging them to try the Grand Tour for themselves: “Bring home empty trunks if you will, but heads full of new and larger ideas, hearts r...