AAALS

Conferences

Pathways

AAALS hosts an annual conference where members present their scholarly work on the subject of Australian and New Zealand literature and culture. The conference affords an opportunity for intellectual and social engagement with likeminded individuals from around the globe. In addition to the presentation of scholarly work, the conference features a keynote speaker and a reading by an Australian or New Zealand writer. Some particularly notable Australasian writers who have read at the AAALS conference include Alexis Wright, Kim Scott, Peter Carey, Thomas Keneally, Kate Grenville, David Malouf, Nicholas Jose, Frank Moorhouse, Janette Turner Hospital, Mudrooroo, John Tranter, Lily Brett, John Kinsella, Geoffrey Dutton, Jeanine Leane, Fay Zwicky, Philip Hodgins, Alf Taylor, and Kevin Hart.

The AAALS 2024 annual conference will be held online via Zoom from April 17 to 19, 2024. The tentative schedule is 7:00–10:00 p.m. EST (US), which is 9:00 a.m. – noon EST (Aust) the following day. The Call for Papers (CFP) is now available. Papers addressing any aspect of the literature, film, and/or culture of Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand are welcome. Please submit a paper title and 250-word proposal by February 29, 2024, using this form. Registration is included with 2024 AAALS membership, and there will be an option for a $15 daily rate. AAALS is also thrilled to announce the Featured Creative Writer at the upcoming AAALS conference: poet Sarah Holland-Batt, 2023 Stella Prize winner for her book The Jaguar.

The following is a list of past conference locations, with links to the relevant conference programs:

Modern Language Association (MLA) convention

The 2025 Modern Language Association (MLA) convention (#mla25) will take place in New Orleans, Louisiana, from 9 to 12 January. The AAALS session title is “Australasian Literature at the Crossroads,” which fits with the presidential theme for the convention. This is a guaranteed session as AAALS is an allied organization of MLA. The session will feature rigorous consideration of any aspect of the literature, film, and/or culture of Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, including Indigenous writing, particularly changes to the field, content, and milieu of literary studies. Submit 250-word abstracts by February 12, 2024, to aaals.antipodes@gmail.com with the subject line MLA 2025 Proposal. Please read the full CFP for the AAALS session for additional details.

The Wertheim Prize

The Wertheim Prize is awarded each year at the AAALS conference for the best paper by a graduate student. Al Wertheim was the first AAALS member to bring his graduate students to an AAALS conference. The following is a list of recent winners:

  • 2022 – Bowen Du, University of California, Davis
  • 2021 – Rachel Fetherston, Deakin University, and J. E. Steinberg, University of Cambridge
  • 2020 – Naish Gawen, Monash University
  • 2019 – Hemopereki Hoani Simon, University of Wollongong
  • 2018 – Matilda Grogan, Monash University
  • 2017 – Barbara Hoffmann, University of Miami
  • 2016 – Lydia Saleh Rofail, University of Sydney, and Lydia Marie Heberling, University of Washington
  • 2015 – Belinda Burns, University of Queensland
  • 2014 – Matthew Israel Byrge, Middle Tennessee State University
  • 2013 – Shinjini Chattopadhyay, Jadavpur University
  • 2012 – Marcia van Zeller, Curtin University
  • 2011 – Megan Terry, The University of Texas at Tyler
  • 2010 – Sarah Otto Marxhausen, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Michael R. Griffiths, Rice University
  • 2009 – Esther Prokopienko, College of Saint Rose
  • 2008 – Terra Walston, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  • 2007 – Hilary Emmett, Cornell University
  • 2006 – Sean Scarisbrick, University of Buffalo
  • 2005 – Kevin Birmingham, Harvard University, and Nathanael O’Reilly, Western Michigan University
  • 2004 – Per Henningsgaard, Vassar College