In Different Shapes: The Short Story and its Modes of Circulation in Magazines and Newspapers. 8th annual ENSFR Conference (Arras)
8th annual ENSFR Conference: In Different Shapes: The Short Story and its Modes of Circulation in Magazines and Newspapers
Université d’Artois, June 10-12, 2026
Maison de la Recherche - Salle des colloques
9 Rue du Temple, 62000 Arras, France
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Programme
Wednesday
13:30—14:00: Conference Opening
14:00—15:00: Opening Plenary: Paul Delaney, Trinity College Dublin, “Short Fiction, Modes of Circulation, and the Fluidity of Form”
Moderated by Gerald Preher
Break
15:15—16:45: Experiments in/with Short Forms (Moderator: Suzanne Bray)
· 15:15—15:45: Ana García-Soriano, Universidad de Alicante, “Networks of Feminist Care in Bernardine Evaristo’s Short Stories”
· 15:45—16:15: Aida Bengoa, Université d’Artois, “Louisa May Alcott, the Rise of Short Stories and Children’s Periodicals”
· 16:15—16:45: Amândio Reis, University of Lisbon, “Uncollected, Recollected: The (In)Complete Short Stories of Machado de Assis”
Break
17:00—18:00: Transformations 1 (Moderator: Frédérique Spill)
· 17:00—17:30: Suzanne Bray, Université Catholique de Lille, “The Transformation of Trent: E. C. Bentley’s First Three Short Stories Published in The Strand”
· 17:30—18:00: Marcel Arbeit, Metropolitan University, Prague & Palacký University Olomouc, Czech Republic, “From Alfred Hitchcock around the World: The Horrors of ‘Abridged and Edited’ Strategy”
18:00—19:00: Readings
Reading Session organized by Sonya Moor, featuring readings by Elizabeth Baines, Vicky Grut, Michelle Ryan, and Sonya Moor
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Thursday
9:00—9:45: ENSFR General Meeting
10:00—11:30: The New Yorker Short Story (Moderator: Gerald Preher)
· 10:00—10:30: Alsahira Alkhayer, Deutsche Welle Academy and Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg for Applied Sciences, “From a Bottleneck to a Distorted Moon-Image: Donald Barthelme Reframing the Short Story in The New Yorker”
· 10:30—11:00: Elke D’hoker, KU Leuven, “Dialogue in The New Yorker: Kevin Barry’s ‘The Coast of Leitrim’ and Claire Keegan’s ‘So Late in the Day’”
· 11:00—11:30: Colette Colligan, Université d’Angers, “Mavis Gallant, the Afterlife of a New Yorker Author”
Break
11:45—12:45: Transposing Real Life in the New Yorker (Moderator: Colette Colligan)
· 11:45—12:15: Stéphanie Maerten, independent scholar, “On the Edge of Abjection: Scavenging the Real in Joyce Carol Oates’s ‘Landfill’”
· 12:15—12:45: Andrea Marzocchi, University of Surrey, “Shouts and Murmurs: Humorous Flash Fiction and the Pandemic”
[LUNCH]
14:00—15:30: Transformations 2 (Moderator: Caroline Lyvet)
· 14:00—14:30: Sergio López-Sande, University of Santiago de Compostela, “On Transformation, imitatio, and the Intertextual Poetics of McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern ‘Cover Stories”
· 14:30—15:00: Mineo Takamura, School of International Studies, Kwansei Gakuin University, Hyogo, Japan, “Listening to the Untranslatable: Translation, Sound, and the Short Story in J. D. Salinger”
· 15:00—15:30: Emilie Heude, Université de Picardie Jules Verne/ Université Bordeaux Montaigne, “Media Framing and Narrative Frame in Joyce Carol Oates’s ‘Parole Hearing’”
Break
15:45—16:45: The Dark Side(s) of Short Forms (Moderator: Paul Delaney)
· 15:45—16:15: Sarah Whitehead, Independent scholar, “Dipping into Muddy Waters: Edith Wharton’s Muckraking Stories”
· 16:15—16:45: Phyllis Boumans, Radboud University Nijmegen, “‘[A] representative selection’? Short Fiction in The Kilkenny Magazine (1960-1970)”
Break
17:00-18:00: Plenary Lecture, Elizabeth Baines, “Pushing the Possibilities: The Freedoms and Challenges for Writers in Journal and Magazine Publication”
Moderated by Michelle Ryan
[BANQUET]
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Friday
9:30—11:00: Reflections on Craft and Creative Work (Moderator: Elizabeth Baines)
· 9:30—10:00: Sonya Moor, Writer, “Live Happening: A Short Story Takes its Shape in one Reader’s Hands”
· 10:00—10:30: Vicky Grut, Writer, “Short Fiction in the Digital World”
Break
11:00—12:00: Plenary Lecture, Laura Gallon, University of Sussex, “Migrant Women, Short Stories, and Western Periodical Culture”
Moderated by Elke D’hoker
[LUNCH]
14:00—15:00: Short Forms in the Press (Moderator: Bruno Monfort)
· 14:00—14:30: Joana Passos, CEHUM – Center for Humanistic Studies at the University of Minho, “The Contemporary Short Story in South African and Mozambican Press: A Politically Committed Genre of the 1960s/1970s”
· 14:30—15:00: Alix Rogé, Université Catholique de Lille, “The Ballad of the Urban Cowboy”: Analysis of the Complex Myth of the (Modern) Cowboy”
Break
15:15—16:45: Editing Short Forms (Moderator: Sigolène Vivier)
· 15:15—15:45: Bruno Monfort, Université Paris Nanterre, “Magic Wipe and Strange Tales: The Translation, Publication and Circulation of Hawthorne’s “Tales” in 19th and Early 20th Century France (with an itemized list chronologically arranged)”
· 15:45—16:15: Rhiannon Marks, School of Welsh, Cardiff University, “Tales from Pre-Devolution Wales: The Short Stories of tu chwith”
16:30: Closing Remarks.