NonfictioNOW 2025 Call for Panel Proposals
CFP: due November 1, 2024
The NonfictioNOW Conference is now seeking panel proposals for its 2025 conference, which takes place June 11-13 2025 in South Bend, Indiana. Proudly hosted by the University of Notre Dame, this NonfictionNOW’s confirmed keynotes are Mary Cappello, Camille Dungy, and Kiese Laymon.
We invite you to join us in South Bend Indiana at the University of Notre Dame in 2025 to celebrate the return of NonfictioNOW. As an institution we consider how poverty, injustice and oppression burdens so many lives and aim to create a concern for the common good. We acknowledge our presence on the traditional homelands of the Pokagon Potawatomi who have been using land in Northern Indiana for thousands of years and continue to do so. We recognize our own place in the history and practices of colonialism and understand that our responsibilities extend beyond a gesture of land acknowledgment. As writers, artists, and scholars we reflect on the University of Notre Dame’s past, present, and future relationships with the original stewards of this land and actively pursue ways to amend this troubled relationship. We warmly welcome participants and audiences from all over the globe to engage with and bring new ideas.
This celebrated international event is unique: this isn’t a conventional academic conference nor a writers’ festival, but a lively conversation among peers. NonfictioNOW brings together well-established writers and those just starting out. We are especially interested in proposals for sessions that defy the expectations and/or subvert the format of the traditional conference or festival panel, as well as those that include a diverse group of participants, reflecting the inclusive and international nature of this gathering.
Many NonfictioNOW panels are lively, discursive, playful, and interactive events, as opposed to the reading of a succession of individual papers. We are enthusiastic about the great energy and range present in all of nonfiction's many forms, including literary and political essays; memoir and journalism; digital media, graphic memoirs, and hybrid essays; performance-based work; ecological writing; podcasts and other areas of the field. We hope to receive great proposals exploring the many different shapes of nonfiction, with variety and diversity serving to enlarge both the conversation and community present at the conference.
Panel proposals
Submissions are due November 1, 2024. All submissions must include:
· a panel description (150 words or fewer, written as it should appear in the program, if accepted).
· a statement of merit (150 words or fewer) The statement of merit might cover the significance of the panel, the credentials of the panelists, relevance to the forum, etc.
· the complete contact information for 3-5 participants, including a program-ready bio of 50 words or fewer for each person. These participants must have been contacted and confirmed as a part of the panel before the proposal is submitted.
· We also ask that proposals provide information about any technical needs (not all of which we can promise to meet).
After panel acceptances are announced, we then encourage further meetups on our Facebook page so that panels with vacancies can fill their open spots.
The NonfictioNOW Board is a rotating group of writers and academics from around the world. Panel submissions will be assessed in a timely fashion by the Board, with every effort made to have final panels confirmed by mid-December.
Indicative Topics/Formats:
The following list is a starting place for brainstorming and conversation, not an exclusive expression of the conference's interests. We hope and expect that many proposals will go far beyond the topics and formats listed here, offering to bring new areas of inquiry and exploration to this year's NonfictioNOW:
● nonfiction genres and their boundaries and tensions, including but not limited to: essay (personal, narrative, lyric, collage, interdisciplinary, etc.); memoir; immersion writing; history; biography; long-form journalism; curatorial writing, travel writing; food writing; nonfiction poetry; environmental and science writing; sports writing; hybrids of fiction and nonfiction
● presentation of/discussions about non-traditional and/or supra-literary forms of nonfiction, including but not limited to: performance, documentary, radio, video, hypertext, programmable media, exhibitions, AI, and graphic forms
● The intersections of social justice and approaches to writing form, genre & content
● explorations of self and other, genders, race, indigeneity, and sexualities in nonfiction
● regional, national, and/or international characteristics and issues that are expressed through nonfiction genres
● threads of influence, style, and discourse, with a focus on important authors or on historical/cultural/theoretical trends
● the climate crisis and ecological impact, writing the Anthropocene, and the legacies of colonialism, war, and mass human displacements
Additional Notes:
● Individuals may appear on up to three panel proposals and may ultimately present on two panels. If all three proposals are accepted, they will have to drop off one of them.
● We encourage meetups and calls for expressions of interest on Facebook’s NonfictioNOW (facebook.com/nonfictionow) page so that people without a panel can find one and potential like-minded fellow panelists with whom to develop a proposal.
● To help facilitate international diversity, we will give preference to panels with 3-4 participants that indicate their willingness to include additional panelists.
● After panel acceptances are announced, we then encourage further meetups on our Facebook page so that panels with vacancies can fill their open spots.
● As indicated, the idea of a “panel” is broadly conceived of. However, final panels will usually work within the following parameters: be assigned a 75 minute timeslot, have 5 participants, be able to be presented/staged within a regular conference room (though we’re always happy to consider an exception for an exciting panel).
● It is the role of each panel chair to finalize, confirm, and coordinate their panel, as well as provide any necessary additional information for the conference program.
● After panel acceptances go out, we will open a second call for proposals to formally participate in the conference outside of panels. In Wellington, this took the form of roundtable presentations (“hui” in Māori). The 2025 conference will host multiple hui sessions, creating another avenue for participation and conversation among participants and potential presenters.
● The conference cannot fund presenters, but we will provide travel tips to make the trip more affordable. Please refer to the website, which will have information about location, itineraries etc.
● Your proposed panel should not have been presented at AWP or at a previous NonfictioNOW.
We hope you will consider joining us.
Proposal Submission:
Panels should be submitted using the form that will be posted to our website at the end of September. The deadline for submitting proposals is November 1st 2024.