International David Foster Wallace Conference 2026
June 4–6, 2026
INTERNATIONAL DAVID FOSTER WALLACE CONFERENCE IN AUSTIN
June 4–6, 2026
University of Texas, Austin
The 2026 International David Foster Wallace Conference in Austin will begin on the morning of Thursday, June 4, at the Glickman Conference Center in Patton Hall on the University of Texas campus.
The registration form for attendees and presenters will open soon.
Featured Speaker: Bret Anthony Johnston
A writer with “a virtuosic gift” (The New York Times Book Review), Bret Anthony Johnston is the internationally bestselling and award-winning author of Encounters with Unexpected Animals: Stories, the novels We Burn Daylight and Remember Me Like This, and Corpus Christi: Stories. According to The San Francisco Chronicle, “Johnston’s genius lies in weaving a web of optimism around a series of difficult topics,” and Italy’s il manifesto hailed Remember Me Like This as “one of the most intense and engaging [novels] of the new millennium.” He edited Naming the World and Other Exercises for the Creative Writer and wrote the documentary film Waiting for Lightning, which was released in theaters around the world by Samuel Goldwyn Films. Among his many honors are a National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship, the Glasgow Prize, the Jesse H. Jones Award, and the Sunday Times Short Story Award, “the world’s richest and most prestigious prize for a single short story.” His work has been widely translated and appears in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Esquire, The Paris Review, The New York Times Magazine, Virginia Quarterly Review, The Best American Short Stories, and elsewhere.
After selling his television to buy his first board over 40 years ago, Bret has yet to outgrow skateboarding. After directing the creative writing program at Harvard University for over a decade, he is now the Director of the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas at Austin where he holds the Mari Sabusawa Regents Chair in Writing.
We do not have a hotel room block this year. Our recommended hotels near the campus are:
The DoubleTree at 303 W. 15th St, Austin TX 78701
Hampton Inn at 1701 Lavaca St, Austin, TX 78701
Hilton Garden Inn at 301 W 17th St, Austin, TX 78701.
You are welcome to stay at any hotel or Airbnb, etc. in Austin, but reach out to us ([email protected]) for further recommendations on accommodations.
INTERNATIONAL DAVID FOSTER WALLACE CONFERENCE IN AUSTIN
June 4–6, 2026
University of Texas, Austin
CALL FOR PAPERS
#DFW26
To mark the 30th anniversary of the publication of Infinite Jest, the 2026 David Foster Wallace Conference invites papers examining Wallace’s masterwork.
This conference is the showcase of serious work devoted to Wallace’s writing and presents a valuable opportunity to meet others in the field. For the 2026 conference in Austin—home of the Harry Ransom Center and Wallace’s archive—we invite papers commenting on Infinite Jest or any aspect of Wallace’s work, thought, influence, or context. Although the primary focus of the conference will be the 30th anniversary of Infinite Jest, we welcome papers and proposals across the broad range of Wallace’s fiction and nonfiction.
Potential topics include but are not limited to:
Infinite Jest and/or related works in relation to race and/or socioeconomic class
Infinite Jest and/or related works in relation to gender, masculinity, misogyny, and sexualities
Infinite Jest and/or related works in relation to politics, philosophy, and/or religion
Issues involving translation and international reception
The role and influence of contemporary film and television in relation to Wallace’s writing
Approaches to teaching Infinite Jest, Wallace’s short stories, or his nonfiction
New close readings of any of Wallace’s works, especially those that might challenge prevailing wisdom or established readings
The International David Foster Wallace Society is committed to promoting and fostering a greater inclusion of women scholars, scholars of color, and otherwise historically underrepresented scholars in Wallace Studies, and we welcome proposals that specifically engage these issues.
We encourage submissions from established scholars as well as postdoctoral researchers, unaffiliated scholars, contingent faculty, faculty in settings other than higher education, graduate and undergraduate students, and non-academics invested in Wallace’s work. Full panel proposals and roundtable proposals are welcome as well. We encourage panels that span a variety of faculty ranks and institutions.
Submit an abstract of 300 words (for a max. 20-minute presentation) and brief biographical info to [email protected] by February 27, 2026. Submissions should include your name, affiliation (if any), and email address. Please specify any special AV or scheduling needs when submitting your proposal.
Further details about the conference, including keynotes and accommodations, will be posted at https://dfwsociety.org/dfw26/.
We intend to communicate decisions on paper selection before April 1, 2026.