Affiliated / The Mark Twain Circle of America

American Studies / Interdisciplinary Studies

Kristopher Mecholsky (Savannah College of Art and Design)
kmec@****.com (Log-in to reveal)

This Mark Twain Circle panel takes up SAMLA 2026's theme of hospitality through the life, work, and legacy of Mark Twain. Twain wrote about welcome and its withholding—the guest, the stranger, the interloper, the host who profits—across fiction, travel writing, and public performance. Papers may treat Twain directly or approach him through writers and artists who echo, extend, or contest him. Send 250-word abstracts to Kristopher Mecholsky (kmechols@scad.edu) by Sept. 1, 2026.

The Mark Twain Circle invites abstracts for a panel at the 2026 South Atlantic Modern Language Association (SAMLA) conference in Atlanta, Nov. 5–7. This year's theme is hospitality; a full description is available at https://southatlanticmla.org/.

Papers should engage the conference theme with the life, work, or legacy of Mark Twain as a focal point, touchstone, or pivot. Possible angles include hospitality and its withholding in Twain's fiction and travel writing; the guest, the stranger, and the interloper; Twain as host, guest, and touring celebrity; and the hospitality (or inhospitality) of the archive and the classroom to Twain today. Panelists may focus solely on Twain, but proposals are equally welcome on other writers and artists who respond to, echo, extend, or challenge him.

Please send 250-word abstracts or inquiries to Kristopher Mecholsky: kmechols@scad.edu.

DUE: Sept. 1, 2026