The Louisville Conference on Literature and Culture
Fifty Years of Literature. One Conference. Countless Conversations.
Calling all literature and culture enthusiasts
The Louisville Conference on Literature & Culture invites critical and creative papers and full panel discussions about literature from the 20th and 21st centuries. Applicants may submit papers that connect to other art forms and academic fields.
The conference also welcomes creative submissions, such as literary compositions, videos, or hybrid genres, as well as critical-creative submissions exploring poetics, crafts, or writing practices. We encourage proposals that bring together people from different universities or organizations, with varying levels of experience in academia and various fields of study.
Submissions are accepted in English, Spanish, French and occasionally other languages. Panels involving global literature and culture in other languages are encouraged.
A Conference Like No Other
More than five decades of uninterrupted international scholarly conversation.
Participants, including scholars, writers and practitioners from universities across the globe, every year.
One of the few major conferences that welcomes all three modes of practice, including hybrid.
Join the Conversation
Voices That Have Shaped the Field
Over more than fifty conferences, LCLC has welcomed some of the most celebrated and influential voices in contemporary literature, criticism, and cultural studies. Past keynote speakers include:
- Jennifer Egan
- Colson Whitehead
- Fred Moten
- Juliana Spahr
- Sianne Ngai
- Jack Halberstam
- Douglas Kearney
- M. NourbeSe Philip
- Forrest Gander
- Johanna Drucker
- Rodrigo Toscano
- Mat Johnson
- Lauren Berlant
- Merve Emre
- Coral Bracho
- Marisa Parham
- Jean-Michel Rabaté
- Stephanie Burt
- Jed Rasula
- Dominic Pettman
- Anna Kornbluh
- ...and many more
Invest in the Future of Literature and Culture
Support the Louisville Conference on Literature and Culture and help sustain a vital space for literary and cultural exchange. Your gift funds keynote speakers, interdisciplinary programming and keeping the LCLC thriving in Louisville and beyond.