conference-queer-journeys.html - conference-queer-journeys.html

International Conference

QUEER JOURNEYS IN NORTH AMERICAN LITERATURE AND CULTURE

Claudiana, University of Innsbruck, 14–15 November 2025

Keynote speakers:

Marlon M. Bailey (Washington University in St. Louis) & Lena Mattheis (University of Surrey)

Image: Fabio Jock (Unsplash)  

Conference program

The preliminary conference program is available here.

This two-day conference will consider the diverse ways in which journeys undertaken by queer people have been represented in North American literature and culture, as well as how queer journeys interact with and impact social structures, transnational relations, and cultural forms. LGBTQ+ people in North America and beyond continue to experience forms of mobility characterized by complex and often fraught economic, cultural, and affective dynamics. Queer journeys may contain forms of movement that are voluntary or involuntary, joyful or exploitative, expansive or inhibiting, normative or deviant. This conference will consider such queer mobilities through an interdisciplinary lens that includes literary and cultural studies, media studies, gender and queer studies, history, and the social sciences. 

Please note that the program is currently being finalized and some items may still be subject to change. You can also download the full CfP here. A selection of essays based on the conference papers will be published in an edited volume.  

• Keynote speakers
• Guest author
• Organizing team and information
• Registration for non-speakers
• Venues
• Travelling to Innsbruck
• Accommodation

Keynote speakers

Marlon M. Bailey (Washington University in St. Louis, USA)

Marlon M. Bailey is Professor of African and African American Studies and Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Washington University in St. Louis. He is a Black queer theorist and critical/performance ethnographer who studies Black LGBTQ cultural formations, sexual health, and HIV/AIDS prevention. Marlon’s book, Butch Queens Up in Pumps: Gender, Performance, and Ballroom Culture in Detroit, was published by the University of Michigan Press in 2013. In 2014, Butch Queens Up in Pumps won the Alan Bray Memorial Book Prize awarded by the GL/Q Caucus of the Modern Language Association and was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Book Award in LGBT Studies. Marlon’s current book manuscript in progress, Black Gay Sex, is an ethnographic examination of the impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic on Black gay men’s sexuality. His manuscript is under contract with the University of California Press.

 

 

Lena Mattheis (University of Surrey, UK)

Dr Lena Mattheis (they/she) is a lecturer in contemporary literature at the University of Surrey. Lena specialises in queer and trans literature, narrative studies and literary geography and has recently completed a monograph titled Queer Forms and Pronouns: Gender Non-conformity in Anglophone Literature, which is forthcoming with Oxford University Press. Since April 2021, Lena has been hosting the Queer Lit podcast and has recorded conversations with Sara Ahmed, Susan Stryker, Sue Lanser, Jack Halberstam, Lee Edelman, Meg-John Barker and many other inspiring scholars. In addition to another monograph, Translocality in Contemporary City Novels (Palgrave, 2021), Lena’s work has been published in journals such as Narrative, Transnational Literature, Literary Geographies, or WSQ.

 

 

Guest author for reading

Lauren J. Joseph is a writer and performer. She is the author of the novel At Certain Points We Touch (Bloomsbury), the experimental prose volume, Everything Must Go (ITNA), and the plays Boy in a Dress and A Generous Lover (Oberon). Lauren regularly reviews for the Guardian and the Observer with recent non-fiction writing also appearing in Granta, Refinery, The Erotic Review and Tate Etc. Lauren’s second novel, Lean Cat, Savage Cat is due Jan 2026. Lauren has presented performance work at the Royal Opera House; Deutsche Oper; Bristol Old Vic; Barbican; Schaubühne; Art Basel Hong Kong; SF MoMA; Dixon Place, NY; Martin-Gropius Bau; Fancy Him (Tokyo); La Java (Paris); and Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Niterói (Rio). 

https://www.literaturhaus-am-inn.at/lauren-j-joseph/

  

 

Organizing team and information

The conference is organized by Ben Robbins, Devon Anderson, and Matthias Klestil, with the Department of American Studies at the University of Innsbruck, Austria. It will take place from 14 to 15 November 2025 as an in-person event. There is no admission fee.

For further information about the event, please contact queerjourneys2025@uibk.ac.at

Registration for non-speakers

Due to limited room capacity, please register for the conference as an attendee by emailing Amerikastudien@uibk.ac.at

The registration deadline is 30 October 2025. There is no registration fee. 

 

Venues

Claudiana 

Herzog-Friedrich-Straße 3, 6020 Innsbruck

The keynotes and panel sessions will take place in the historic rooms of the Palais Claudiana in the old town of Innsbruck. The Claudiana is wheelchair accessible. 

Literaturhaus am Inn

Josef-Hirn-Straße 5, 6020 Innsbruck

The guest author reading and reception will take place in the Literaturhaus am Inn on the University of Innsbruck's Innrain campus. The Literaturhaus am Inn is wheelchair accessible. 

If you have any questions regarding the accessibility of the conference venues, please send an email to queerjourneys2025@uibk.ac.at

Travelling to Innsbruck

Innsbruck is a popular destination in the winter months. We recommend booking plane and train tickets as soon as possible.

Our closest major airport is Munich International Airport (MUC) in Germany. From Munich, you can take a train directly to Innsbruck’s main station or arrange a shuttle through the Four Seasons taxi service.

The central train station (Innsbruck Hauptbahnhof) has direct connections to Munich, Vienna, and many other European cities. For more information, visit www.oebb.at/en/.

Within the city, the conference venues are easily reachable by bus. For more information, visit the City of Innsbruck’s Public Transport page.

 

Accommodation

Please note that Innsbruck is a very popular destination in November and hotels get fully booked quickly – we therefore suggest you book your room as soon as possible!

For conference presenters, some rooms have been blocked from 13-16 November in the following centrally located hotels, which offer a discounted university rate:

Hotel Mondschein ****

6 rooms available from 13 – 16 November 2025 (3 nights).

Please visit the following link for hotel contact details:

https://www.mondschein.at 

Booking deadline for special rate: 13 September 2025

Nala individuellhotel

7 rooms available from 13 – 16 November 2025 (3 nights).

Please visit the following link for hotel contact details: https://www.nala-hotel.at

Booking deadline for special rate: 1 October 2025

Hotel Restaurant Goldener Adler ****

7 rooms available from 13 – 16 November 2025 (3 nights).

Please visit the following link for hotel contact details:

https://www.goldeneradler.com/hotel/

Booking deadline for special rate: 17 October 2025

Please contact the hotels directly and quote “Queer Journeys in North American Literature” when making the booking to secure the discounted rate. You are responsible for your own booking and payment; the University of Innsbruck is not liable and the respective hotel’s cancellation policies apply.

Additional accommodation options in Innsbruck located near the conference venue include:

Hotel Engl ***

Hotel Innsbruck ****

Gartenhotel Pension Garni **

Hotel Neue Post ****

Basic Hotel Innsbruck ***

Meininger Hotel Innsbruck Zentrum

You can find more information about hotels and visiting Innsbruck in general here: http://www.innsbruck.info/en/   

 

Networked Narratives

Department of American Studies

University of Innsbruck

Innrain 52

6020 Innsbruck, Austria

Tel: +43 (0)512 507 41601 (Secretary’s Office)

www.uibk.ac.at/amerikastudien/

This conference is supported by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) , Land Tirol, Land Vorarlberg, and the University of Innsbruck's Faculty of Language, Literature and Culture, International Relations Office, Office of the Vice-Rector for Research, the Research Area “Cultural Encounters – Cultural Conflicts,” and the Research Platform Center Interdisciplinary Gender Studies Innsbruck (CGI).