CFP: North American Nietzsche Society

The North American Nietzsche Society will hold its sixth international conference on November 12-14, 2026 at Boston University. 

The conference will feature two keynote speakers, Lanier Anderson (Stanford) and Sandra Shapshay (CUNY), and approximately eight papers selected on the basis of abstract submissions.

Sessions will be 90 minutes, with approximately 40 minutes for presentation and 50 minutes for discussion. The conference program may also include invited panels.

In addition the conference will include a junior scholar workshop featuring work from graduate students and commentaries on that work from senior scholars.

Schedule: 

November 12: junior scholar workshop; three papers with commentators

November 13-14: main program; approximately four papers per day, with commentators

Submission of abstracts:

Detailed abstracts on any aspect of Nietzsche’s philosophy should be prepared for anonymous review and sent by April 30, 2026.

Send 700-12000 word abstracts as a PDF file to:  

[email protected]

 In the body of your email, include your (i) paper title, (ii) name, (iii) institutional affiliation, (iv) contact information, and answers to the following two questions: (v) are you are a graduate student?, and (vi) if your paper is not selected, would you like to attend as a commentator or a session chair? 

The abstract itself should contain no identifying information, including in the file’s meta-data.

Abstracts from graduate students will be considered both for the main program and for the junior scholar workshop.  

The program committee will evaluate submissions and prepare a program of roughly eight presentations. The initial review of abstracts will be anonymous, although at the final stage the program committee may take into consideration the overall diversity of the program and its presenters. We will aim to make program decisions by the end of May 2026. Papers presented on the main program will presumptively be published in a special issue of The Journal of Nietzsche Studies.

Graduate student prize: We will reserve one spot for the best abstract submitted by a graduate student (though additional graduate student abstracts may be chosen via blind review). We will cover all travel expenses for the winner of this prize. 

Panel presentations: There may be space on the program for one or two panel sessions of approximately 90 minutes, featuring multiple speakers discussing some aspect of Nietzsche’s philosophical thought. We welcome proposals for panels, including but not limited to author-meets-critics sessions, sets of brief papers on a common theme, and structured roundtable discussions on a particular topic. When submitting a panel proposal, please include a brief description of the topic and a list of participants. Indicate whether these participants are confirmed or merely suggested. The program committee may also propose panels or suggest amendments to proposed panels in consultation with the proposer.

http://www.northamericannietzschesociety.com/