29th, 30th of June and 1st of July, 2027
Universidad de Oviedo, Spain
Here's the Call for Papers:
The theme for IASPR 27 is Choosing Love, which marks our decision to turn toward hope in a world that is increasingly shaped by the lingering trauma of a global pandemic, ongoing wars, and deepening economic precarity. Popular romance narratives insist, quietly and defiantly, that better futures are not only imaginable but worth fighting for. We are keen to explore what it means to choose love as romance readers and scholars. As bell hooks reminds us: “The will to extend one’s self for the purpose of nurturing one’s own or another’s spiritual growth… Love is as love does. Love is an act of will — namely, both an intention and an action. Will also implies choice. We do not have to love. We choose to love.” Popular romance is a literature of will as it imagines characters who choose connection over isolation, commitment over cynicism, and care over cruelty, often against considerable odds.
We invite submissions that engage with the theme of Choosing Love broadly and creatively. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:
- Hope as resistance
- Care, ethics and romantic love
- Love in contexts of war, displacement, illness, and precarity
- HEA (happily ever after) and HFN (happy for now) as ideological stances
- Post pandemic romance
- Choosing love and identity
- Decolonial and global romance
- Love and civic power
- Love as world-building [speculative/ paranormal/ historical romance]
- Adaptation / romance across genres
- Finding and discovering love IRL and online
- Publishing romance
- Why readers choose romance
While our theme focuses on love, we are also open to papers that take different approaches to romance. In short, if it is about romance, we’re interested!
More details can be found here. Abstracts should be submitted by November 30, 2026.
