Medieval + Monsters Conference
Medieval + Monsters:
MAM, MAMA, and IMA Joint Conference with The Newberry Library
October 17 & 18, 2025
Hosted @ Dominican University & the Newberry Library
Call for Papers
Individual abstracts of 250 words should be submitted to: Monsterconference2025@gmail.com by April 18, 2025. If you would like to be considered for graduate funding please note that on your application.
If you are graduate student, and/or would like to participate in an on-line session please note that in your proposal. Proposed panels are also accepted for consideration. Workshops panels will also be considered. Questions: Mickey Sweeney
Abstracts focused on medieval, or medievalism monstrous themes are welcome; this topic is broadly conceived to encourage colleagues from all relevant disciplines, such as art historians, linguists, literature, theologians, historians, history of science, and forms of medievalism etc., to apply. We also have an active group of graduate students & emerging scholars who are interested in developing online sessions, as well as in-person workshops in teaching the medieval through medievalism, gaming, etc. Please note on your abstract if you are interested in an in-person session or an online session and if you are proposing a graduate session/roundtable/traditional paper/session.
Keynote Speaker
Maria Dahvana Headley will be our keynote speaker on Friday October 17, 2025.
With the new addition to our Conference, we are hoping to engage even more of our medieval and medievalism colleagues as the creative and the academic merge in Headely's works, most especially Beowulf and The Mere Wyf. We already have some wonderful abstracts, but we hope to engage an even more diverse number of fields to participate. Please share this call for papers and panels with your grad students and colleagues as we seek to build a supportive network for all.
New York Times Bestselling Author
Academy of American Poets Harold Morton Landon Translation Award
Joyce Carol Oates Prize Finalist
NPR Book of the Year
Maria Dahvana Headley is the New York Times-bestselling, World Fantasy and Hugo Award-winning author of eight books, most recently Beowulf: A New Translation (FSG, 2020), which won the Harold Morton Landon Translation Prize from the Academy of American Poets, and The Mere Wife (FSG, 2018), a contemporary novel adaptation of Beowulf. Her full cast musical adaptation of The Aeneid, titled Vergil: a Mythological Musical, came out from Audible in 2023. She delivered the Tolkien Lecture on Fantasy Literature at Oxford in 2023, and has taught writing at Sarah Lawrence and Bennington, among many others.
When asked by Slate about her use of contemporary slang in her Beowulf translation, Headley responded, “My whole career has been grabbing bits of folklore and repurposing them, and testing out different meters and repurposing them. That’s the writer I am. But in terms of using some of the more recent slang, I was really just interested in how much of the English language has been constructed out of slang always. That’s just the nature of the language. It’s a language that grabs culturally, jumps class."
The Jim Falls Paper Prize
The Jim Falls Paper Prize will be awarded to the best paper by a graduate student delivered at the 2025 joint meeting of (MAM), (MAMA), and the (IMA). The prize includes a monetary award of $100.
Deadline: 15 September 2025.
Graduate students are encouraged to send a completed copy of the accepted paper (no more than 10 pages not including notes) along with their name, university institution, and graduate status to blantonv@umkc.edu. Please include in the subject line: Jim Falls Graduate Prize. The paper you submit should be the paper you intend to present at the conference. Please do not submit an entry if you have previously received this award.
See the previous winners of the Jim Falls Paper Prize.
Additional Information
Cost to register for the conference:
- $100.00 for faculty & working professionals (includes membership to MAM for 2025)
- $75.00 retired/independent scholar (includes 2025 MAM Membership)
- Students: no charge
- Payment options coming
Conference Sessions will be at Dominican University (River Forest, IL), the Newberry Library (Chicago, IL), and online. More to follow.
The Tom Shippey and CARA Graduate Student Travel Grants are available for up to $300 each. Please give a brief description of the costs for travel for consideration. We will support as many graduate students as we can, so distributed as needed on a first-come, first-serve basis. Registration fees for graduate students are waived.
Dominican University & the Newberry Library are within reach of both O'Hare International airport and Midway National airport. There are hotels at every price-point available in downtown Chicago and in River Forest/Oak Park near Dominican University (Dominican is closer to O'Hare airport for traveling convenience, Newberry Library is downtown). Ubers are possible from O'Hare airport or Midway airport to Dominican and downtown but count on 30 minutes; the "L" is recommended for the more economy-minded from O'Hare/Midway to downtown Chicago. More information to follow.
Members of MAM and MAMA are encouraged to submit a version of your conference presentation to Enarratio, the peer-reviewed journal of the Medieval Association of the Midwest. To learn more, please visit https://mmaotm.wildapricot.org/Enarratio. You can also reach out to its current editor, Alex Kaufman, with any questions: alkaufman@bsu.edu.
Members of the IMA are encouraged to submit a version of your conference presentation to Essays in Medieval Studies, the peer-reviewed journal of the Illinois Medieval Association. To learn more, please visit https://ima.wildapricot.org/EMS/. You can also reach out to the IMA's Executive Director, Michael W. Hollis-George, with any questions: mwgeorge.51@gmail.com.
For questions, please contact
Mickey Sweeney
Professor of English, Dominican University
Honors; Medieval & Renaissance Minor
President of the Medieval Association of the Midwest
Strength in Collaboration: Learn more about our publications and partnerships
This conference is all about the strength in collaboration and partnerships, we are looking to support all our colleagues in the future of their professions and research. Enarratio, MAM's journal & Essays in Medieval Studies, the journal for IMA, will be sharing the submissions for our mutual publications. Be sure to see our 2024 collections now available online.
Newberry Library Center for Renaissance Studies
We are delighted to partner with the Center for Renaissance Studies and the Newberry, which is a public research library located in Chicago that houses a strong collection of medieval manuscripts, printed books, and other objects. We are looking forward to a session, a workshop, and a tour of the library's Medieval and Renaissance collections.
We are also grateful for the CARA grant that will support graduate attendance at this conference.