Call for Papers: "We Love Monsters: Reception of Ancient Monsters" International Conference

• Dates: May 26–28, 2027
• Location: CHS Greece, Nafplio

Submissions are invited for "We Love Monsters: Reception of Ancient Monsters," an international conference taking place in Nafplio on May 26–28, 2027, co-organized by the Autonomous University of Barcelona and the University of Liverpool, and hosted and supported by the Center for Hellenic Studies in Greece, Harvard University.

Ancient monsters are never far away, or, as Liz Gloyn finds in her 2020 monograph Tracking Classical Monsters in Popular Culture, they are "everywhere" (p. 2). Over time our heroes fight them, like Odysseus with his unnecessary parting shot of an arrow aimed at the blinded Polyphemus in Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey (2026), or try to understand and live in harmony with them, as the young heroine Princess Nausicaä does in Hayao Miyazaki's Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984). We love the monsters as much as (and perhaps even more than) we fear them, from the Labubu doll that hangs from our handbag, its wide grin and pointed teeth perhaps reminiscent of the Gorgoneion, to the mind-controlling Sirens who turn out to be helpful allies in the Netflix series Wednesday (2022–). According to Cohen's seven theses, the monster is "born again" across different times and cultures and will "always return," helping us to question who we are and what our place is in the world (pp. 5, 20).

In this international conference, we would like to build on the work of Gloyn, in tracking ancient monsters as they are received across media, from late antiquity to the present day. We invite proposals from students and scholars at all stages of their careers, covering aspects of the reception of ancient monsters. Suggested topics are below:

• Ancient monsters and monster theory
• Feminist and queer readings of ancient monsters
• Ancient monsters as they appear across different cultures
• Depictions of ancient monsters in the late antique and early modern periods
• Ancient monsters in film, TV, video games, comics, manga, and anime

An abstract of 300 words for a 20-minute paper, or 150 words for a 5-minute lightning talk, together with a short biography, should be emailed to the conference organizers, Guen Taietti (gtaietti@liverpool.ac.uk) and Amanda Potter (amandapotter@caramanda.co.uk), by Sunday, November 15, 2026. This is an in-person event in Nafplio, Greece.