The Catharine Maria Sedgwick Society solicits proposals for two sessions to be presented at the 2026 American Literature Association Conference. The conference will take place May 20-23 at the Palmer House Hilton in Chicago, Illinois.
1. Writing the American Revolution: Literary Representations from Sedgwick to the Present
Marking the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, the Catharine Maria Sedgwick Society invites proposals that explore how American writers have represented the Revolutionary War across time, genres, and perspectives. Sedgwick’s The Linwoods (1835) is among the earliest works of American fiction to take the Revolutionary War as its central subject. Appearing at a moment when the cultural memory of the Revolution was still actively forming, the novel helped establish narrative ideological framework that would shape subsequent literary representations of the nation’s founding conflict. Yet the American Revolution has never been a static subject in American literature. How have writers have continually reimagined the war in response to shifting historical moments, political pressures, and cultural needs?
Possible topics include, but are not limited to:
- Early fictionalizations of the Revolution and the emergence of national historical narrative
- Shifting emphases on military campaigns, battlefield heroism, and martial sacrifice
- Representations centered on singular historical figures versus collective or communal experience
- Literary depictions of the war’s impact on everyday life, including women, families, children, enslaved people, Indigenous communities, and Loyalists
- Narratives focused on the causes of the Revolution, political ideology, and revolutionary sentiment
- The Revolution in international, Atlantic, or transnational contexts
- Genre-specific treatments of the war (historical romance, domestic fiction, children’s literature, popular fiction, drama, poetry)
While proposals engaging directly with Sedgwick’s The Linwoods are encouraged, we also welcome comparative and longitudinal studies that consider other American writers—from the early republic to the present—who have reimagined the Revolutionary War for new audiences and historical moments.
2. Genre Mobility: Women Writers, Literary Markets, and Career Strategy
Catharine Maria Sedgwick stands among the earliest professional women writers in the United States, and her long career offers a particularly revealing case study in literary versatility. Over several decades, Sedgwick moved among historical novels, domestic fiction, travel writing, moral tales, short fiction, and children’s literature, adapting her literary production to shifting personal interests, publishing opportunities, and market demands. Her career raises enduring questions about how and why women writers have navigated multiple genres across the arc of their professional lives.
The Catharine Maria Sedgwick Society invites proposals that examine genre mobility in the careers of American women writers, using Sedgwick as a touchpoint. To what extent did women writers choose genres out of artistic inclination, and to what extent were those choices shaped or constrained by what could be sold, to whom, and when? How did gendered assumptions about readership influence these decisions?
Possible questions include, but are not limited to:
- How and why have women writers moved among genres at different stages of their careers?
- What role does financial stability, reputation, or market saturation play in prompting generic shifts?
- How does genre affect literary authority, visibility, and critical reception for women writers?
- In what ways does Sedgwick’s career anticipate patterns seen in later nineteenth-, twentieth-, or twenty-first-century American women writers?
While Sedgwick remains a focal point for the Society, we welcome proposals that place her in dialogue with women writers beyond her era, including but not limited to writers of the nineteenth century, modernist and postwar authors, and contemporary figures.
Submission Guidelines:
Please submit a 250-word proposal to Maureen.Tuthill@liu.edu by January 26, 2026. Proposals for both individual papers and fully constituted panels are welcome.