ACLA 2027 FAQs

The 2027 ACLA Conference will be held in person at the University of Houston, May 20-23, 2027, and online via our virtual conference platform, May 15 & 16, 2027.
 

At ACLA, we use “organizer” to refer to someone who is organizing or chairing a seminar. A “presenter” is a paper author. “Participant” is someone who is either organizing a seminar or presenting a paper (or both!) and an “attendee” is someone who is attending events but not organizing or presenting.
 

We want to make our conference as accessible as possible. Weekend 1 is fully virtual to allow global participation and to minimize travel barriers. Weekend 2 will look exactly like the annual meeting you already know — pre-conference workshops and events, three days of in-person seminars, plenary sessions, and a book exhibit.
 

Yes! We encourage members to attend both weekends if schedules and travel budgets allow. If you plan to participate by organizing a seminar or presenting a paper, you’ll need to submit your proposal either to the virtual track or to the in-person track, but not both.
 

ACLA has a unique conference model. Read about it here, or check out our infographic! 

1. ACLA puts out a call for seminar proposals. At this stage, we ask for a title and an abstract (maximum 3,000 characters including spaces) submitted via the online portal. 

2. ACLA opens the paper proposal portal. Anyone can submit a paper to any seminar (though you can only submit one paper for the conference). If you’re organizing a seminar and you’d like to present, don’t forget to submit a paper to your own seminar! 

3. Seminar organizers review the papers submitted to their seminars. Accept the papers that are the best fit for your proposed seminar, keeping in mind ACLA guidelines on seminar makeup & size. Once you’ve accepted or declined every paper submitted to you, your seminar is automatically sent to the ACLA Program Committee for review. 

4. The Program Committee reviews all proposed seminars and selects those that best fit this year’s Annual Meeting. Rarely, the Program Committee will suggest that seminars split or merge. 

5. After Program Committee review, the ACLA Secretariat sends out notices to everyone who submitted paper and seminar proposals.
 

The portal for seminar proposals is open through July 31. To submit a paper proposal to a seminar, check back on August 4, when the paper portal opens -- you’ll be able to submit paper proposals to proposed seminars through September 22.
 

No, you’ll need to submit your proposal either to the virtual track or to the in-person track, but not both.
 

Please choose the format that best fits your travel availability.
 

You do not need to be an active member to submit a proposal through the portal. However, if your proposal is accepted, you will need to join ACLA or renew your membership for the year at the time of registration.
 

To ensure the fullest possible participation, we have a strict one-paper policy. You may only present one paper during the entire 2027 Annual Meeting (across both virtual and in-person components). However, you may present a paper and serve as a seminar organizer, so long as you are presenting a paper in the seminar you are organizing.
 

No. We have hundreds of seminars, thousands of presenters, and only four streams in which to schedule everyone. Allowing for anyone to participate in more than one seminar would make scheduling almost impossible. If you are organizing a seminar and you would like to present a paper, you should present in the seminar you are organizing. Please note that you will need to submit a paper to your own seminar through the paper proposal portal if you choose to present (to allow your paper to be considered by the Program Committee).
 

The 2027 Annual Meeting does not have a theme. We welcome proposals on all topics and areas in comparative literature broadly construed, and we especially welcome seminars in areas historically underrepresented in the humanities. To propose a paper, browse through the list of submitted seminars to find a topic that fits your interests, then propose your paper to that seminar.
 

Each seminar can have up to two organizers. If you have an idea for a seminar with 3+ organizers, consider splitting up and proposing two related seminars.
 

Make sure your login on the ACLA website matches the email address submitted for yourself on the seminar proposal. If you have verified that these match and still can’t access paper proposals online, contact [email protected].
 
PLEASE NOTE: a purchased ACLA membership is NOT the same as your login on the ACLA website.  If you have not already done so, you will need to create a login/unique User ID on the ACLA website, such that you can create/access your seminar proposal and any papers submitted to your seminar.
 

That depends. Seminars can run for either two or three days, depending on how many strong papers you get. The target is 4 papers for a one-day seminar, 8 papers for a two-day seminar, and 12 for a three-day seminar. We realize that sometimes you get a different number of strong submissions, and need to adjust the numbers slightly, so we have some flexibility on those numbers. Aim to allow for 15-20 minute presentations (shorter if you have 5 papers a day, the maximum we allow) with plenty of time for discussion. No matter how many papers you accept, scheduling is ultimately the decision of the Program Committee and Secretariat.
 

Don’t panic: more than half of all papers will arrive on the final day. It happens every year. The number of papers you have early in the process does not necessarily reflect the final total. If you ARE worried about having a low number of submissions, here are some things you can do:
 

• Promote your seminar. Social media is a great way to get people interested in your seminar. Post your seminar description and a link to the paper proposal portal.
• Invite scholars.  Most successful ACLA seminars are a mix of invited papers and blind submissions, so if you know of scholars whose work you’d like to see as part of your seminar, write to them directly.
• Consider merging. If you do not have a minimum of 5 papers submitted to your seminar, you may want to consider a merger with another seminar (keeping in mind that over ½ of submissions that the ACLA receives come in on the final day of submissions).  To review a list of other seminars submitted, take a look at our master seminar list. If you find a seminar with overlapping interests, write the organizers of that seminar and propose a merger. If they agree, get in touch with us at [email protected].
• And one thing not to do: Don’t accept papers you’re not happy with. Accepting paper proposals of poor quality tends to lead to unsatisfying seminars. Keep working on the first three steps and you will most likely find some great papers.
  
    

Well-crafted seminar proposals on topics that are currently popular can easily attract 40, 50, 60 proposals, sometimes even more. If you’re getting more than enough papers for one full seminar, you can accept the papers you feel align with your seminar, and the ACLA's selections committee will consider splitting the seminar. Bear in mind that there is no guarantee that the seminar will be accepted or split by the selections committee for the Annual Meeting. Think carefully about the strength and coherence of the papers in any seminar you create.
 

They’ll need to submit their own papers themselves by the regular paper submission deadline. This actually saves you work and reduces the chance of error. We ask that you do not email [email protected] with paper submissions or seminar proposals. Only materials submitted directly through the website will be recorded and reviewed.
 

Yes! You don’t have to, if you don’t want to, though. If you do plan to present a paper in your own seminar, remember that you must submit a paper proposal through the system just like everyone else.
 

The paper approval process is designed to be as simple as possible — you’ll just need to click a button on the page for each paper submitted to your seminar. The button will not be enabled until the call for papers deadline to ensure that every paper has a fair chance at selection for your proposed seminar. This year, you’ll have September 24 through October 9 to review the papers submitted to your seminar. Don’t worry, we’ll send out detailed instructions to everyone who’s proposed a seminar ahead of September 24.
 

No. Seminar submissions are final, but you will have the opportunity to submit your proposal to next year's Annual Meeting, and you are welcome to attend the 2027 conference.
 

Not after the deadline for submission of your seminar slate. Once ACLA’s committee has reviewed each seminar application and the papers contained in it, there will no longer be any possibility to add other papers to your seminar.
 

No seminar may have more than two participants from the same institution ("participants" includes both presenters and organizers). All seminars should aim at a balance of scholars at different stages of the profession, including having up to, but no more than, 50% participation by graduate students. The ACLA’s selection committee will review both of these factors when deciding on whether a seminar will be included or not. If you have a paper submission from two authors from the same institution, you can consider it as one submission from the institution. That is, no seminar may have more than two presentations from the same institution.
 

Seminar organizers are expected to keep in touch with ACLA and their presenters. This means checking and responding to emails regularly — sometimes, ACLA will contact you with logistical questions, and paper presenters often have thematic questions for their organizers as they write their conference papers. Organizers are expected to register for the conference on time and ensure their membership is current at the time of the conference. Organizers are expected to attend all sessions of their seminars and to moderate discussion and keep track of time.
 

No. When you register for the 2027 Annual Meeting, you’ll have access to the full conference, including both the virtual and in-person sessions.
 

All in-person events (May 20-23, 2027) will be hosted on the campus of the University of Houston.
 

Yes. We are finalizing discounted hotel blocks near campus and will share detailed booking information soon.
 

All seminar organizers and presenters must be current in their ACLA memberships at the time of the conference. Attendees who are not presenting in the conference or chairing a seminar are not required to be members, though they do need to be registered for the conference.
 

Yes, all Annual Meeting participants (seminar organizers and presenters) must be ACLA members.
 

To ensure the best possible experience for everyone, we are keeping the formats distinct. Weekend 1 is strictly virtual, and weekend 2 is strictly in person. In-person seminars will not have a virtual streaming component, and virtual seminars will not be broadcast in physical classrooms. In-person plenary sessions and special events will be live-streamed or recorded whenever technically possible.
 

We will use ACLA’s own virtual conference platform to host all virtual sessions. Links and login details will be sent to all registered attendees ahead of Weekend 1.
 

Yes! Seminars held in person at the University of Houston can use AV equipment to share slides, videos, sound, etc. Details on accessing AV equipment will be sent to organizers ahead of the conference.
 

Yes. We offer travel grants to help offset the costs of attending in-person at the University of Houston. These grants are specifically designed to support graduate students, contingent faculty, and scholars traveling from underfunded institutions.
 

The travel grant application will open on December 1 when paper acceptances are announced. Grant applicants must be presenting a paper at the 2027 Annual Meeting.