Call for Papers
By 2026, all nine volumes of The Collected Works of Gerard Manley Hopkins will be published, including the much-anticipated final volume in the series, Poetry. The 2026 international Hopkins conference will focus on the new research possibilities and provocations afforded by the texts. Hopkins 2026 will be held in historic Salem, Massachusetts (USA), at Salem State University, and will feature a Hopkins display and reception at the Burns Library, Boston College. Topics could include:
- How to reassess Hopkins’ texts because of newly available materials.
- Hopkins the collector (of inscapes; of sensations; the writings of others).
- How to rethink Hopkins’s position in the “collectivity” of Victorian writers.
- Working across genres in Hopkins’s canon: the interdisciplinary possibilities (for example, classical studies; diaries and autobiografiction; philosophy; music; poetry; spiritual writings; sermons; theology; visual art).
- How can we locate Hopkins in the Victorian practice of keeping commonplace books, albums, and the collection of ephemera?
- Revisiting his sketches: was he really a Pre-Raphaelite artist?
- “To collect” also means to form a conclusion, draw an inference, or conclude. What new inferences emerge in your Hopkins work based on new research priorities, or changes in the field of Victorian studies?
- Archiving Hopkins.
(While we would prefer some engagement with the new volumes, you are not obliged to do so.)
We welcome proposals from faculty, independent scholars, and doctoral candidates for 20-minute presentations.
Proposal details
Please submit an abstract (300-words) and a brief biographical note (100 words) to Lesley Higgins no later than 27 October 2025. Please email us if you have any questions.
Final notes
We are planning to pursue publication of the proceedings in two possible journals.
Boston’s Logan Airport is an easy and excellent hub for US and international travel.
Organizers
Jude V. Nixon, Lesley Higgins, Amanda Paxton