2026 CALL FOR PROPOSALS
Deadline for submissions: November 20, 2026
Sessions at this one-day event do not consist of traditional conference papers. Instead, panels feature scholarly conversations that spring from Williams’s work and its many contexts and futures. We invite brief proposals for topics related to Tennessee Williams writ large.
Topics might include, but are not limited to:
non-US-based productions, films, and contexts
Williams’s place in US modernism
production history and 21st-century dramaturgy
connections between Williams and the work of other artists and creative professionals, including playwrights, poets, novelists, actors, and directors
adaptations of Williams’s plays, poems, and short stories
directing Williams in the 21st century
conceptual casting in productions of the plays
how Williams fits into LGBTQ+ history and the present
BIPOC representation in text and productions
the role of Williams’s works in cinema history
Williams’s works and persona in pop culture
All sessions will be held in person in New Orleans; there are no virtual or hybrid sessions.
Proposals should include your name, affiliation (if applicable), contact information (including phone number and email), an abstract of 250 words about a proposed topic, and a 100-word bio. Submissions should specify any A/V needs.
Because the special hotel rate offered to Tennessee Williams / New Orleans Literary Festival attendees sells out quickly, those interested in staying at the Festival hotel are encouraged to make their reservation as early as possible: visit the Festival website.Opens in new tab
Deadline: Please email proposals to Margit LongbrakeOpens in new tabby Friday, November 20, 2026.
Stipends of $200 will be offered to panelists who participate in person. Panelists interested in submitting an essay on their topic to the Tennessee Williams Annual Review will be invited to schedule a virtual meeting with the managing editor of the Review, to discuss possibilities.
The conference organizers and the Tennessee Williams Annual Review are committed to reflecting a wide range of experience of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and physical ability. Scholars of the global majority are especially encouraged to submit proposals.