The 18th International Conference on the Short Story in English
A Resounding Bell: The Call of the Short Story
June 15-20, 2027
Sponsored by the Hendrix-Murphy Foundation
Hendrix College, Conway, Arkansas, United States
Full program details and speaker information coming soon.
The ICSSE is a five-day conference comprising pre-conference workshops, plenaries, author readings, public reading sessions, panels, and paper presentations, as well as social events such as a pre-conference reception, a closing banquet and, sightseeing activities.
The conference will focus on the craft of writing both short stories and creative non-fiction in its various forms and designs as well as its accompanying criticism and scholarship. Special panels include teaching creative writing in schools and tertiary institutions, children’s literature, young adult fiction, and translated works into English from Chinese, Tamil, Portuguese, Korean, Spanish, and many other languages. All readings and papers will be given in English.
Like a resounding bell, the short story calls us together for the 18th International Conference on the Short Story in English. The ringing of a bell—like the writing and reading of a short story—calls us into wonder, sometimes into disturbance, and always deepens our understanding of the human condition. The short story, as Frank O’Connor states, lifts up the perspectives and voices of “submerged populations” and those who have otherwise been silenced. The ICSSE celebrates the lonely voice from across the globe by creating a space for short story writers and scholars to share their passion for the genre.
We gather to honor the short story, its history, its many forms, its continuing evolution in the contemporary moment. We present this theme not as a creative restraint for the conference but rather so that writers of fiction in English and writers whose work has been translated into English, might ring the bell of the short story, loudly and clearly.