With a heavy heart, IASPR is announcing that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Eighth International Conference on Popular Romance Studies will not take place this summer. Given the uncertainty of international travel in the short term and the exigencies of academic schedules in the fall and winter, our plan is to postpone the conference until the summer of 2021, with the University of La Palmas Gran Canaria (ULPGC) remaining our host.

All papers and posters accepted for the 2020 conference will remain accepted for 2021. We hope you will be able to join us. We will also reopen the CFP in order to accommodate participants whose research evolves in the interim, rendering their original proposals out of date, and to reach out to scholars who were unable to participate this year. We will be in touch later in the year so there is no need to let us know your intentions at this stage.

If you are in receipt of a travel grant this will be honored for the 2021 conference, providing: 1) you attend IASPR-21 and; 2) your paper proposal remains substantially similar or, if changed, still fits the conference theme.  

Although we cannot meet in person this summer, it is possible that IASPR / JPRS could host some kind of digital showcase this summer or fall: not an online conference, but perhaps some kind of webinar or twitter session, an online presentation of posters at the IASPR website, or some other way to circulate research and exchange ideas.

Our decision about whether to pursue this option will depend on several variables, including how many of the planned 2020 conference attendees want to participate and how many have the time and expertise to help with the planning and execution. We are currently polling the 2020 conference participants, and will announce any decisions on this when the results are in.