Call for Papers

Posted on 19 April 2026 by hopkinssocietyuk

Collecting, Collected, Collective:

Working With Hopkins

June 10 to 12, 2027

Proposals due: 26 October 2026

By 2027, all nine volumes of The Collected Works of Gerard Manley Hopkins will be published, including the much-anticipated final volume in the series, Poetry. The 2027 international Hopkins conference will focus on the new research possibilities and provocations afforded by the texts. Hopkins 2027 will be held at Università degli Studi “G. d’Annunzio” Chieti-Pescara, Italy. Chieti-Pescara is on the Adriatic coast of Italy, about a two-hour drive through the Apennines from Rome.

Topics could include:

How to reassess Hopkins’ texts because of newly available materials.
Hopkins the collector (of inscapes; of sensations; the writings of others).
Collecting in Victorian poetry and fiction (Hopkins and other authors)
How to rethink Hopkins’s position in the “collectivity” of Victorian writers.
Working across genres in Hopkins’s canon: the interdisciplinary possibilities (for example, classical studies; diaries and autobiografiction; philosophy; music; poetry; spiritual writings; sermons; theology; visual art).
How can we locate Hopkins in the Victorian practice of keeping commonplace books, albums, and the collection of ephemera?
Revisiting his sketches: was he really a Pre-Raphaelite artist?
“To collect” also means to form a conclusion, draw an inference, or conclude. What new inferences emerge in your Hopkins work based on new research priorities, or changes in the field of Victorian studies?
Changing research directions in the study of Victorian poets (Hopkins and others)
Archiving Hopkins.

(While we would prefer some engagement with the new volumes, you are not obliged to do so.)

We welcome proposals from faculty, independent scholars, and doctoral candidates for 20-minute presentations.

☙ Proposal details

Submit an abstract (300 words) and a brief biographical note (100 words) to Lesley Higgins (19higgins55@gmail.com) no later than 26 October 2026. For those who submitted an abstract earlier, please email us to say whether you’d like the same abstract considered for this new date and location.

☙ Final notes

We are planning to pursue publication of the proceedings in at least three possible journals.

More information will be forthcoming on the conference website.

Please e-mail us if you have any questions.

☙ Organizers:

Mariaconcetta Costantini, Jude V. Nixon, Lesley Higgins, Amanda Paxton

Hopkins Society Study Day at the Birmingham Oratory

Posted on 19 April 2026 by hopkinssocietyuk

Saturday 3 October 2026 – Hopkins Society Study Day at the Birmingham Oratory: 10:00 – 4:30pm

Our guest lecturer will be Dr Andrew Hodgson, Senior Lecturer in Poetry at the University of Birmingham.

Further details to follow soon.

Saturday 4 October 2025 – Study Day at Malling Abbey, Kent

Posted on 15 August 2025 by hopkinssocietyuk

Malling Abbey/St Benedict’s Centre,
52 Swan Street, West Malling, Kent, ME19 6JX

10:00am – 4:00pm

Programme of events

10:00am: Arrival and tea/coffee in the St Eanswythe Room, Malling Abbey

10:30am: Welcome by Michael Burgess, President of the Hopkins Society UK

10:40am: Grace in the works of Christina Rossetti and Gerard Manley Hopkins
Professor Emma Mason (Warwick University)

11:40am: Tea/coffee break

12:00pm: Milicent Hopkins and Anglican Sisterhoods
Michael Burgess (Hopkins Society UK)

1:00pm: Lunch

2:00pm: Tour of Malling Abbey and grounds (a community of Anglican Benedictine Nuns)

3:00pm: Hopkins: Medieval Architecture and Monasticism
Jill Robson (Hopkins Society UK)

4:00pm: Tea/coffee and departure

COST: £40 per person inclusive of lunch and tea/coffee, and £20 for students (full-time education or theological training).

CLOSING DATE FOR REGISTRATION: 25 September 2025.

REGISTRATION AND PAYMENT: Please complete the booking form here Booking Form and return to Philip Healy, Treasurer: hopsoctreasurer@gmail.com

Thursday, 16 November 2023 Online Event

Posted on 6 November 2023 by hopkinssocietyuk

5.00 pm: Zoom Poetry Reading. The theme of the session is Soldiers and Buglers. Members select and read poems by Hopkins and other poets on the theme. The session will last approximately one hour. Joining instructions will be circulated to members beforehand.

Saturday, 30 September 2023 Birmingham Oratory

Posted on 6 November 2022 by hopkinssocietyuk

To commemorate Hopkins’ time teaching at the Oratory School (September 1867 – April 1868), the Hopkins Society is holding a day-event with lectures, visits to the Oratory Church and its Museum, together with lunch at a nearby cafe.

We shall be meeting at Birmingham Oratory, 141 Hagley Rd, Edgbaston B16 8UE.

Programme

10:00am: Arrival and tea/coffee.

10:30am: Revisiting ‘Inscape’ and ‘Instress’: an exploration of their origins,
Lecture by Dr Jill Robson, Hopkins Society UK.

12:00pm: Lunch at Café Rumi, 205 Hagley Road, Birmingham.

1:30pm: Visit to the Museum of Saint John Henry Cardinal Newman and the Oratory Church.

2:30pm: Gerard Manley Hopkins and the Idea of a University
Lecture by Philip Healy, Hopkins Society UK.

3:45pm: Tea/coffee and departure.

The cost for the day, inclusive of tea and coffee, is £40 per person, and £20 for students (full time education or theological training). At lunchtime we will go to Café Rumi for pre-ordered food; this is not included in the cost for the day. Please note, the closing date for registration is 18 September 2023.

To register and pay for the event, please download, complete and return this registration form:

Birmingham Registration Form Download

On receipt of your registration form, you will be sent the Café Rumi menu to pre-order your lunch. You will be able to pay for your lunch on arrival at Café Rumi.