The Samuel Beckett Society is pleased to announce calls for papers for the 2027 Annual Convention of the Modern Language Association which will take place in Los Angeles in January. One panel is guaranteed to be accepted by the organising committee while two will be submitted for consideration by the selection process. In the spirit of the society’s stated policy of inclusivity, the guaranteed panel will be held online allowing scholars who are unable to travel to the United States for whatever reason the opportunity to take part. The other panels will be in-person sessions.
PANEL ONE: Global Beckett (online)
Samuel Beckett was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1969, cementing a global reputation that has only continued to expand. Despite Beckett resisting such interpretations in his lifetime, Waiting for Godot quickly became a potent metaphor for political futures slow in arriving or political shackles seemingly impossible to shake off–as provocative productions in apartheid South Africa, besieged Sarajevo and post-Tiananmen Beijing attest.
Beckett’s global influence also extends far beyond productions of Godot. The recent volume Translating Beckett around the World has brought to light Beckett’s own involvement in translations of his work on several continents, as well as the recent prominence of translated work in China, India, and Turkey. The potential of his work to speak to global precarity and climate crisis has also been widely demonstrated in scholarship, theatre, art and activism.
In line with the Samuel Beckett Society’s mission to acknowledge and extend Beckett’s global reputation, we invite submissions of no more than 250 words for an online panel on Global Beckett, allowing maximum access to international scholars. Proposals might consider the following topics, though need not be restricted to these:
- Political Beckett in global and transnational contexts
- Studies of Beckett in translation
- Beckett in global criticism and theory
- Teaching Beckett in international contexts
- Beckett in relation to migration and displacement
- Productions engaging with specific locations
- Beckett and digital or virtual media
- Beckett in relation to global ecological crisis
Due: 8th March 2026
Contact: Liz Barry here
PANEL 2: The Origins of Samuel Beckett’s Creativity: The School and University Years (in person)
2027 will mark the 100th anniversary of Samuel Beckett’s graduation from Trinity College Dublin. From that point onward, he embarked on a literary career that would span sixty years and radically transform the parameters of Western literature. This panel aims to explore the years of his education in order to understand the cultural and personal forces that shaped his imagination, the foundations of his intellectual formation, and the influences that guided his trajectory. What were the fundamental readings that marked him as a child and adolescent? Which literary genres did he like most? Who within his family circle contributed most to his early inclination toward the humanities? Which relationships—friends, teachers, mentors—proved instrumental in the development of his literary education? These and other questions will be examined in a forum intended to shed light on this important yet somewhat neglected area of Beckett Studies.
The Samuel Beckett Society invites 200-250 word abstracts for an in-person panel, not a guaranteed session, on Beckett and the educational, personal and cultural influences that shaped his imagination and intellectual development.
Due: 8th March 2026
Contact: José Francisco Fernández here
PANEL 3: Roundtable: Teaching Samuel Beckett / Samuel Beckett Teaching (in person)
In 1931 Samuel Beckett made the bold decision to resign from his teaching post at Trinity College Dublin. He was helplessly uncomfortable in the classroom. Ironically, his presence in educational settings has become ever more present. His novels and plays are taught in high schools, universities, and in prison education programs, among other spaces. His work is taught in classrooms dedicated to the single author as well as broader subjects, such as theatre and literature survey courses as well as drama therapy sessions.
The Samuel Beckett Society seeks to explore the rich diversity of the pedagogical approaches used to teach Beckett. The aim of the roundtable is to bring forth the how, where, and to whom Beckett is taught. The Society invites abstract submissions of no more than 250 words to participate in a roundtable discussion in person centered on teaching Beckett.
This is not a guaranteed session.
Due: 15th March 2026
Contact: Katherine Weiss here
Masthead: Union Station Los Angeles [Image: F Ó Faoláin]
The Samuel Beckett Society 