International Steinbeck Conference
Call For Papers
2026 Steinbeck Conference: “Steinbeck in Times of Crisis”
March 11-13th, 2026
Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ
The International Society of Steinbeck Scholars invites proposals related to the ways in which John Steinbeck’s work offers insights into human experience during moments of crisis—including personal, social, cultural, political, or ecological. We seek contributions that broaden understanding of how Steinbeck's writing addresses such themes as conflict, collaboration, resolution, resilience, and survival, and how these resonate in today's world.
We welcome submissions from various disciplines, including literary studies, film and media, history, philosophy, environmental studies, public humanities, gender and ethnic studies, and political science, as well as interdisciplinary approaches and others that explore Steinbeck’s work more generally.
Potential themes:
● Steinbeck on thinking and perspective taking
● Borderlands, frontiers, and contested spaces
● Steinbeck and writing as craft
● Steinbeck’s relevance to understanding our past/history and the future
● Steinbeck in times of war/conflict (past and present)
● Steinbeck on ecological crises
● Steinbeck and identity
Submission Guidelines:
For traditional presentations, please email your abstract of up to 300 words, as well as a short bio (up to 200 words) to Steinbeck@sjsu.edu with the subject line “Steinbeck Conference 2026 Submission, [last name].” If you are interested in submitting a pre-constituted panel, workshop, or roundtable session, please note your panel title, format, and the names of your co-presenters in your submission.
If you are interested in soliciting participants for a pre-constituted panel, workshop, or roundtable session, please send your topic and request to the Martha Heasley Cox Center for Steinbeck Studies @ Steinbeck@sjsu.edu, with the subject line “Panel CFP Steinbeck Conference 2026”. We will then share your topic and call for participants with the Center’s mailing list.
To ensure an accessible conference experience, this event will accommodate a limited number of remote presentations and will livestream its plenary talks for access by registered attendees. Please note in your submission if you plan to attend in person or present remotely.
Notices of acceptance to the conference will be sent out on a rolling basis in order to support scholars who are seeking funding from their home institution. And the final deadline for proposals is 11:59PM (midnight) on December 1, 2025.
Previous Conferences
2023 Conference -- John Steinbeck in the 21st Century: Reading, Teaching, Translating
2019 Conference – Steinbeck and the Twenty-First Century: Identity, Influence, and Impact [pdf]
2016 Conference – Steinbeck as an International Writer [pdf]
2013 Conference – Steinbeck and the Politics of Crisis [pdf]
