Call for Papers: The Thirteenth International Conference for Literary Journalism Studies (IALJS-13)

“Literary Journalism: Theory, Practice, Pedagogy”

Austrian Academy of Sciences Institute for Comparative Media and Communication Studies Vienna, Austria 17-19 May 2018

The International Association for Literary Journalism Studies invites submissions of original research papers, abstracts for research in progress and proposals for panels on Literary Journalism for the IALJS annual convention on 17-19 May 2018. The conference will be held at the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, Austria.

The conference hopes to be a forum for scholarly work of both breadth and depth in the field of literary journalism, and all research methodologies are welcome, as are research on all aspects of literary journalism and/or literary reportage. For the purpose of scholarly delineation, our definition of literary journalism is "journalism as literature" rather than "journalism about literature." The association especially hopes to receive papers related to the general conference theme, “Literary Journalism: Theory, Practice, Pedagogy." All submissions must be in English.

The International Association for Literary Journalism Studies is a multi-disciplinary learned society whose essential purpose is the encouragement and improvement of scholarly research and education in Literary Journalism. As an association in a relatively recently defined field of academic study, it is our agreed intent to be both explicitly inclusive and warmly supportive of a variety of scholarly approaches.

Details of the programs of previous annual meetings can be found here.

I. Guidelines for Research Papers

Submitted research papers should not exceed 7,500 words, or about 25 double-spaced pages, plus endnotes. Please regard this as an upper limit; shorter papers are certainly welcome. Endnotes and bibliographic citations should follow the Chicago Manual of Style. Papers may not be simultaneously submitted to any other conferences. Papers previously published, presented, accepted or under review are ineligible. Only one paper per author will be accepted for presentation in the conference’s research sessions, and at least one author for each paper must be at the convention in order to present the paper. If accepted, each paper presenter at a conference Research Session may be allotted no more than 15 minutes. To be considered, please observe the following guidelines:

  1. Submission by e-mail attachment in MS Word is required. No other format or faxes or postal mail submissions will be accepted.
  2. Include one separate title page containing title, author/s, affiliation/s, and the address, phone, fax, and e-mail of the lead author.
  3. Also include a second title page containing only the paper’s title and the paper’s abstract. The abstract should be approximately 250 words in length.
  4. Your name and affiliation should /not/ appear anywhere in the paper [this information will only appear on the first title page; see (b) above].

II. Guidelines for Work-in-Progress Presentations (Abstracts)

Submitted abstracts for Work-in-Progress Sessions should not exceed 250 words. If accepted, each presenter at a conference Work-in-Progress session may be allotted no more than 10 minutes. To be considered, please observe the following guidelines:

  1. Submission by e-mail attachment using MS Word is required. No other format or faxes or postal mail submissions will be accepted.
  2. Include one separate title page containing title, author/s, affiliation/s, and the address, phone, fax and e-mail of the lead author.
  3. Also include a second page containing only the work’s title and the actual abstract of the work-in-progress. The abstract should be approximately 250 words in length.

III. Guidelines for Proposals for Panels

  1. Submission by e-mail attachment in MS Word is required. No other format or faxes or postal mail submissions will be accepted.
  2. Panel proposals should contain the panel title, possible participants and their affiliation and e-mail addresses, and a description of the panel’s subject. The description should be approximately 250 words in length.
  3. Panels are encouraged on any topic related to the study, teaching or practice of literary journalism. See http://www.ialjs.org/?page_id=21 

IV. Evaluation Criteria, Deadlines and Contact Information

All research paper submissions will be evaluated on originality and importance of topic; literature review; clarity of research purpose; focus; use of original and primary sources and how they support the paper’s purpose and conclusions; writing quality and organization; and the degree to which the paper contributes to the study of literary journalism. Similarly, abstracts of works-in-progress and panel proposals will be evaluated on the degree to which they contribute to the study of literary journalism. All submissions will be blind-juried, and submissions from students as well as faculty are encouraged.

Please submit research papers or abstracts of works-in-progress presentations to:

Prof. Tobias Eberwein, Austrian Academy of Sciences (Austria) IALJS Research Chair; e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

Please submit proposals for panels to:

Prof. Rob Alexander, Brock University (Canada) IALJS Program Co-Chair; e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

Deadline for all submissions: No later than 1 December 2017

For more information regarding the conference or the association, please go to http://www.ialjs.org or contact:

Prof. Isabel Soares, Universidade de Lisboa (Portugal) IALJS President; e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

Prof. Thomas Connery, University of St. Thomas (U.S.A.) IALJS First Vice President; e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>

Prof. Bill Reynolds, Ryerson University (Canada) IALJS Treasurer; e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

Prof. David Abrahamson, Northwestern University (U.S.A.) IALJS Secretary;e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

Prof. John S. Bak, Université de Lorraine (France) Founding IALJS President; e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

NOTE: Submissions from students are encouraged, and a competitive Student Travel Fund has been established to assist in funding student travel. Applications will be available upon acceptance of submission.