We are now inviting submissions for the eleventh International Association for the Study of Popular Romance Conference, taking place June 29-July 1 2027, at Universidad de Oviedo in Spain. We welcome submissions for papers, panels, or workshops delivered in English or Spanish.

The theme for IASPR 27 is Choosing Love, which marks our decision to turn toward hope in a world that is increasingly shaped by the lingering trauma of a global pandemic, ongoing wars, and deepening economic precarity. Popular romance narratives insist, quietly and defiantly, that better futures are not only imaginable but worth fighting for. We are keen to explore what it means to choose love as romance readers and scholars. As bell hooks reminds us: “The will to extend one’s self for the purpose of nurturing one’s own or another’s spiritual growth… Love is as love does. Love is an act of will — namely, both an intention and an action. Will also implies choice. We do not have to love. We choose to love.” Popular romance is a literature of will as it imagines characters who choose connection over isolation, commitment over cynicism, and care over cruelty, often against considerable odds.

We invite submissions that engage with the theme of Choosing Love broadly and creatively. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

• Hope as resistance
• Care, ethics and romantic love
• Love in contexts of war, displacement, illness, and precarity
• HEA (happily ever after) and HFN (happy for now) as ideological stances
• Post pandemic romance
• Choosing love and identity
• Decolonial and global romance
• Love and civic power
• Love as world-building [speculative/ paranormal/ historical romance]
• Adaptation / romance across genres
• Finding and discovering love IRL and online
• Publishing romance
• Why readers choose romance

While our theme focuses on love, we are also open to papers that take different approaches to romance. In short, if it is about romance, we’re interested!

Popular Romance Studies is an interdisciplinary field, including (but not limited to) scholars from literary studies; film, television, and media studies; communication and the social sciences; critical race, feminist, queer and disability studies; audience & fan studies, etc. All theoretical and empirical approaches are welcome. So too are all types of contributions, including talks, panels, and workshops on professional development, international collaboration, and pedagogy. Content creators, writers, and professionals from various romance industries are invited to submit proposals as well.

Submit abstracts of 250 words, along with a brief biography of 100 words, by November 30, 2026, through the following Google form: https://forms.gle/3DfN6j5sdWKM9s3x9

Panel submissions of 3-4 related papers are welcome (please provide 250-word abstracts for all papers, along with 100-word biographies of each speaker). If you are proposing a workshop, please fill this form out as if you were submitting a paper, and note that it is a workshop in the title. IASPR membership is mandatory for abstract submission (https://www.iaspr.org/membership/). This is an in-person-only conference, with no hybrid option. However, in 2028, IASPR will hold a fully online conference, so if you cannot travel to Spain, you will still have opportunities to participate in IASPR conferences in the future.

If you do not have a permanent academic job at a university (eg. PhD students, contingently employed staff, independent scholars), you may be eligible for the Kathleen Seidel Travel Grant. Please note when you submit your abstract if you wish to receive more information about this opportunity, which will be available in the coming months. If you have any questions or are having difficulty submitting, please contact us at conferences@iaspr.org.