CFP Roth Updike Conference--Proposals Due April 15th
CALL FOR PAPERS
ROTH — UPDIKE
A joint conference of the
Philip Roth and John Updike Societies
New York City, Oct. 19-22, 2025
Celebrating a literary friendship-rivalry
and publication anniversaries
Keynote Speakers: Taffy Brodesser-Akner & Adam Gopnik
Conference Directors: Aimee Pozorski & Adam Reid Sexton
Planning Committee: Andy Connolly, James Plath,
Aimee Pozorski, Adam Reid Sexton & Matthew Shipe
Conference Venue: Center for Jewish History
Conference Hotel: Walker Hotel Greenwich Village
The Philip Roth Society and The John Updike Society are now accepting proposals for papers to be presented at a joint conference in New York City, October 19-22, 2025. The conference, to take place at the Center for Jewish History, will coincide with the centennial of The New Yorker magazine, to which both writers contributed.
Important: Because of venue and hotel limitations, the conference will be capped at 100 participants, including audience and significant others. Paper proposals and registrations will be on a first-come, first-served basis. Proposal decisions will therefore be rolling.
We welcome one-page proposals for 15-20 minute papers on all aspects of Roth’s or Updike’s life and work, but particularly seek proposals on the following:
—Works by either writer about, or set in, New York City
—Works celebrating a milestone anniversary in 2025:
Roth’s The Prague Orgy (40th), Sabbath’s Theater (30th), and The Human Stain (25th)
Updike's first “Talk of the Town” column (70th), Of the Farm (60th), A Month of Sundays (50th), Rabbit Angstrom (30th), Gertrude and Claudius (25th), and Still Looking (20th)
—and especially comparative essays on connections and correspondences between the work of the two writers, or between the writers themselves
Scholars who have recently published a book or are in the process of writing a book on Roth or Updike are especially encouraged to submit proposals for panel discussions.
Send your proposal and a brief one- or two-paragraph bio in a single document by APRIL 15, 2025 to conference co-directors Aimee Pozorski and Adam Reid Sexton at rothupdike@gmail.com
To present a paper or moderate a panel at the conference, participants must be members of either the Philip Roth Society or the John Updike Society and register for the conference. For membership information, see the respective Societies’ websites at www.philiprothsociety.org/ or blogs.iwu.edu/johnupdikesociety/join. Those who have papers accepted can join when they register for the conference.
REMEMBER: The conference is capped at 100 participants—including registrants and significant others.
Registration and hotel information will follow shortly.
Keynote: Taffy Brodesser-Akner
Taffy Brodesser-Akner Taffy Brodesser-Akner is a staff writer at The New York Times Magazine and the author of two novels: Fleishman Is in Trouble (2019, Random House), which she adapted into an Emmy-nominated limited series for FX in 2022; and Long Island Compromise (2024, also Random House). She lives in New York City.
Keynote: Adam Gopnik
Adam Gopnik has been writing for The New Yorker since 1986. During his five decades at the magazine, he has published more than a million words, in hundreds of essays, from personal memoirs to reviews and profiles, along with much reporting from abroad as well as fiction, humor and art criticism. His books, ranging from essay collections about Paris and food to children's novels, include Paris to the Moon, The King in the Window, A Thousand Small Sanities: The Moral Adventure of Liberalism and, most recently, The Real Work. He has written essays on and introductions to new editions of works by Moliere, Balzac, Maupassant, Proust and Victor Hugo, and is the editor of both the Richard Wilbur/Moliere and S.J. Perelman volumes in the Library of America. His work in the musical theater includes the libretto and lyrics for the musical comedy "Our Table" with David Shire, and for the oratorio "Sentences" with Nico Muhly.
Gopnik has won the National Magazine Award for Essays and for Criticism three times, as well as the George Polk Award for Magazine Reporting. In January of 2021, he was created an officer of the Legion d'honneur, France's highest civilian or military decoration. He had previously, in March 2013, been named a Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters. He has also received a honoris causa from his Alma mater, McGill University, and an honorary doctorate from the Rhode Island School of Design. He lives in New York with his wife, Martha Parker, and their two children, varyingly present, Luke Auden and Olivia Esme Claire. Gopnik knew Updike as "a long-distance mentor" and Roth as "a constant presence at our table."
Venue: Center for Jewish History, 15 West 16th Street
Hotel: Walker Hotel Greenwich Village, 52 West 13th Street
Both located near Union Square Station in a highly walkable area
