Conference

 

LFA 2026: ADAPTATION/NATION

LITERATURE / FILM ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE

Elon University, Elon, NC

October 1st – 3rd 2026

Conference Schedule to come!

Conference Theme:

As famously recognized by Benedict Anderson in his work Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism, “Nation, nationality, nationalism—all have proved notoriously difficult to define, let alone to analyze.” Nevertheless, Anderson argues that nations are established by their imagined social bonds as well as conceived by their fraternity as a perceived community (3, 6-7). Regardless of actual connection, he asserts that the concept of “nation-ness is virtually inseparable from political consciousness,” and the reality of “attachment that peoples feel for the inventions of their imaginations” ignite their dedication to their nations (135, 141). As vehicles for creating and sustaining these imagined communities through storytelling, adaptations—artifacts which are similarly mired in questions of imagined borders, contested identities, and emotional fidelity—provide unique ways to track the ever-changing notion of nation as it travels through time, space, and ideology. Here, in a year which marks the 250th anniversary of the formation of the United States and which also bears witness to ongoing global conflicts, the need to examine the formation, alteration, and interaction of (inter)national communities through their art could not be more urgent. While we welcome papers on any aspect of film and media studies, we are especially interested in papers that explore the following topics concerning notions of nation, national identity, and/or community:

  • Adaptations or appropriations of “national” myths (literary or otherwise)
  • Adaptations that explore nationhood beyond territorial sovereignty through twenty-first century discourses such as globalization, cosmopolitanism, and planetarity
  • Adaptations that examine the relationship between race, place, and legal subjectivity
  • Reading adaptations as nations (or vice-versa)
  • Adaptations that act as a bridge between nations, communities, generations, etc.
  • Transnational adaptations, or texts that move beyond the boundaries of nation states
  • Repurposed propaganda or propagandized narratives of resistance
  • Texts which emphasize resilience and survivance of indigenous and diasporic nations
  • Adaptations which theorize or problematize the notion of “nation”
  • Political or social science methodologies applied to adaptation studies (or vice-versa)
  • The polities, policies, and policing of fandoms as imagined communities

As a multidisciplinary conference, we welcome studies of American and international cinema, film and technology, television, new media, and other cultural or political issues connected to the moving image as well as studies of “texts” broadly conceived, including artworks, history, music, and dramatic performances. In addition to academic papers and pre-constituted panels, presentation proposals about pedagogy or from creative writers, artists, video essayists, and filmmakers are also welcome.

Conference Registration:

The conference registration fee is $230 ($190 for students and retirees) before September 1, 2025 and $255 ($215 for students and retirees) thereafter. All conference attendees must also be current members of the Literature/Film Association. Annual dues are $50. To register for the conference and pay dues following acceptance of your proposal, select your registration and click on the PayPal “Register Here” button below that will take you to where you can sign in to your PayPal account and complete the transaction. If you aren’t registering for the conference but want to join or renew as a member, you may just pay membership dues ($50).

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Conference Location and Schedule

The 2026 LFA Conference will take place Thursday, October 1 to Saturday, October 3 at Elon University in Elon, NC. Elon’s address is 100 Campus Drive, Elon, NC 27244. Conference activities will take place on the Main Campus, in the Moseley Center, Sankey Building, and the LaRose Digital Theatre in the Koury Business Center (KOBC).

A campus map can be found at: https://www.elon.edu/assets/projects/map/

Campus parking will be available for conference attendees. Panels will be scheduled on Thursday, October 1, Friday, October 2, and Saturday, October 3, with a special film screening event to be held Thursday evening in the LaRose Theater on campus, sponsored by Elon’s Global Neighborhood Film Series. Our business meeting luncheon, which all attendees are encouraged to attend, will be held on Friday afternoon, and a keynote speaker event with catered reception will follow on Friday evening.

Travel:

Flying: The two closest airports to Elon are the Piedmont Triad International Airport (GSO) and the Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU). GSO is approximately 30 minutes driving time from Elon; RDU is approximately 51 minutes driving time from Elon. Both airports are served by a number of air carriers and rental car agencies (see their websites at https://flyfrompti.com/ and https://www.rdu.com/ for options).

NOTE: Although RDU is farther away from Elon than GSO, flights into RDU are typically more plentiful, less expensive, and more direct than flights into GSO. The most direct driving route between RDU and Elon includes a short leg on I-40W.

Driving: Elon is located in the central Piedmont region of North Carolina, approximately 30 minutes by car from Greensboro, 45 minutes from Chapel Hill and Durham, 1 hour from Raleigh, 1 hour and 45 minutes from Charlotte, and 4.5 hours from Washington D.C.

Lodging:

Hotel rooms have been reserved at a discounted rate at the following locations:

a.     The Inn at Elon ($199-319 per night, depending on day of the week), on the campus of Elon University and a short walking distance to the conference spaces.

b.     The Drury Inn ($123/night), a more reasonably priced choice only a short drive from campus; three shifts of shuttle service (morning, afternoon, evening) will be provided between campus/Sankey Building and The Drury Inn each full day.

Please note that rooms at each hotel are available Wednesday through Saturday nights, and must be booked by August 30th (The Drury Inn) or September 1st (The Inn at Elon) to receive the special group discounted rate.

Information for Presenters:

Regular panel presentations should be prepared to take 15-18 minutes, and not exceed 18 minutes total, so as to allow for Q&A time at the end of presentations. Audiovisual access for presentations will be provided through university provided computers, screens, and projectors, and personal laptops can be used as well. Further details on particular A/V necessities for presenters will be forthcoming.

TRAVEL GRANTS

Limited travel grant support will be available for select graduate students, non-tenure-track faculty, and/or independent scholars and artists. Please note that we cannot fund every applicant, and preference will be given to those who have not received an award before. If you have previously received an award, please note the year you received it.

If you are interested in applying for a travel grant, please document your need in a brief statement (no more than 1 page), which includes your name and presentation title. Please send statements, which will be evaluated by a selection committee, directly to LFA Council member John Alberti (alberti@nku.edu) by August 1, 2026.

Decisions about awards will be based on both (a) financial need to attend and (b) scholarly promise of the paper, as demonstrated by the proposal already submitted. Award recipients will be informed of decisions by mid-August. *Please note that previous recipients of this award are ineligible to apply.

GRADUATE STUDENT PAPER AWARD

The Outstanding Graduate Student Paper prize recognizes exceptional work produced by a student currently in a masters or doctoral program. Since it is not possible to assess all graduate student papers delivered at the event due to concurrent sessions, the selection committee requests that those interested in being considered for the prize submit their completed papers in advance of the conference. Papers should be presentation length, which usually means under 10 pages double-spaced. The deadline for submission of completed papers (and ancillary visual items, if desired) is Monday, September 21, 2026.

Papers should be sent to litfilmconference@gmail.com; a selection committee will review applications and the winner of the prize will be announced at the business meeting luncheon at the conference Friday afternoon. *Please note that previous recipients of this award are ineligible to apply.

JIM WELSH PRIZE FOR EXCELLENCE IN ADAPTATION STUDIES

The Jim Welsh Prize for Excellence in Adaptation Studies recognizes superb scholarly work in film and/or televisual adaptations of literature, drama, and history. Named in honor of the founder of the LFA, the Jim Welsh Prize is awarded for cumulative, career achievement in adaptation studies rather than a single year’s effort. Previous winners include Thomas Leitch, Linda Hutcheon, Robert Stam, Julie Grossman, Walter Metz, and most recently, Lissette Lopez Szwydky.

Any nominations for this year’s Jim Welsh Prize should be sent directly to LFA Council members Kyle Meikle (kmeikle@ubalt.edu) and Katie McClain (kmcclain@coloradomesa.edu) by July 1st. Full rules and information for the Prize can be found here.