Call for Papers

2025 will be a milestone year celebrating the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth. Through this Call for Papers, the JASNA Maryland Region invites submission of proposals for breakout sessions at the 2025 Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Jane Austen Society of North America (JASNA) and applications for the New Voices Breakout Speaker Grant.

The AGM theme is: Austen at 250: "No check to my Genius from beginning to end"

While commemorations of this anniversary will begin in 2024, the 2025 AGM will be the culminating event focusing on Jane Austen and her writing, which she once characterized as the "little bit (two inches wide) of ivory on which I work with so fine a brush," but which has endured for centuries. The 2024 Cleveland AGM leads off with her origin story and a focus on the literary, political, and cultural influences while the Baltimore conference will conclude with an examination of her life and her novels, juvenilia, and surviving letters.

Our theme, drawn from Austen’s own words in a letter to her sister Cassandra, highlights her innovation, wit, realism, and irony. Proposals on all aspects of Jane Austen—her life, times, and writing—are welcome. We will focus primarily on the essence of Austen—the milestones of her life, interactions with family and friends, writing development, and the revelations in her letters. Specific areas to explore include, but are not limited to:

This multifaceted and unique celebration will offer opportunities to explore Austen’s enduring genius. A successful proposal will convey the speaker's ability to engage and educate conference audiences in a 30- to 40-minute presentation.

General Guidelines and Expectations

Every year, JASNA selects intriguing speakers from academia and a wide variety of other backgrounds. As the AGM is JASNA's premier event, we seek speakers who not only have demonstrated expertise in their subject areas, but have experience presenting their findings in a lively and engaging manner. All breakout speakers must be members of JASNA in good standing at the time of AGM registration, but JASNA membership is not required to submit a proposal.

An audiovisual setup (microphone, projector, and screen; additional equipment may be available upon request) will be available, and we strongly encourage presenters to use visuals and to prepare notes or a script designed specifically for delivery to a live audience.

Breakout presentations are typically 30 to 40 minutes long, followed by a short question-and-answer period. We are open to a variety of formats: traditional presentations, panel sessions, debates, moderated discussions, and others may be proposed. Regardless of format, breakout sessions must be related to the conference theme.

With rare exceptions, speakers shall prepare an essay version of their presentation for consideration for publication in JASNA's journals, Persuasions and Persuasions Online.

More information about expectations, as well as presentation tips and sample proposals are available from the JASNA Breakout Sessions Advisor, Lynda Hall, at lhall@chapman.edu.

Submission Instructions

For the 2025 AGM, breakout proposals will be collected by means of an easy-to-use Google Form. You will be asked to provide your contact information and other background on the form (no cover letter is necessary), and you may either type in your abstract and brief biographical statement or upload files with these elements.

The most important criterion for selection is a top-notch proposal on a fresh topic that aligns with the conference theme (Austen at 250: "No check to my Genius from beginning to end").

Use this JASNA AGM 2025 Call for Papers form preview as a guide to prepare your submission.

Click here to submit your Breakout Session Proposal Form.

The deadline for submissions is November 30, 2024. Selections will be announced in early 2025.

New Voices Breakout Speaker Grant

JASNA AGM planners have always sought to include new voices and fresh perspectives in our programs. To support this goal, one first-time AGM speaker will be recognized as the 2025 JASNA New Voices Breakout Speaker. Applicants may have attended past AGMs but must not have served as an AGM speaker previously. Selection will be based on the strength of the breakout session proposal, with additional consideration given to a short personal statement. The selected speaker will receive complimentary conference registration, a $300 travel grant, and recognition in the conference program and on the website.

New Voices Breakout Speaker Application Instructions

Anyone who has not spoken previously at an AGM may apply. If you would like to be considered, you must:

  1. submit your breakout session proposal through the Google Form
  2. apply for the new voices grant by clicking ‘Yes’ on Page 1 of the Form and filling out Page 2 with a brief personal statement (100-word maximum) describing how your participation, or your topic, would support JASNA’s commitment to diversity and inclusion at its conferences.

For this purpose, we are using a broad, multidimensional definition of diversity and inclusion and are encouraging applicants to frame their personal statements in any way they wish. Age, race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, socioeconomic status, disability, language, and other factors may be included; applicants who have occupations or hobbies that provide a distinctive insight into Austen’s work may discuss them; or, in cases where the topic of a presentation addresses diversity and inclusion directly, that may be highlighted. (Any one of these factors is sufficient; applicants do not need to try to address them all.) The most important criterion for selection is a top-notch proposal on a fresh topic that aligns with the conference theme (Austen at 250: "No check to my Genius from beginning to end"), as selection committees will evaluate abstracts in a blind process before personal statements are reviewed.

Only one New Voices Grant is awarded each year but all proposals are evaluated for inclusion in the conference program.

Use this JASNA AGM 2025 Call for Papers form preview as a guide to prepare your submission.

Click here to submit your Breakout Speaker Proposal Form and New Voices Grant Application.

The deadline for submissions is November 30, 2024. Selections will be announced in early 2025.