Call for Papers
Sponsored Conference Sessions
AVISTA sponsors annual sessions at the International Congress for Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo (MI), and periodically sponsors sessions at the International Medieval Congress in Leeds (UK), Medieval Academy of America (USA), among other medieval studies conferences.
We welcome paper sessions and paper proposals for each of these. Below you will find the most recent Calls for Papers (CFP), and links to prior CFP and Sessions separated by conference.
2025 International Congress on Medieval Studies
When: May 8th–10th, 2025
Where: Western Michigan University | Kalamazoo, MI, USA
All submissions must be made through the ICMS Confex System. If you wish to submit a proposal you can submit to the specific sessions here.
Abstract Deadline: The call for papers for these sessions has closed.
*Please be aware that submissions emailed or not submitted via the online conference portal will NOT be accepted.
AVISTA is very excited to offer two in-person sessions at ICMS Kalamazoo 2025 centered around the topic of: From Trees to Truss
From Tree to Truss (1): Wood in Medieval Building(s)
The 2019 Notre-Dame fire laid bare vast quantities of a building material ubiquitous throughout the medieval world, yet sometimes concealed from view: wood. Despite their practical, structural, and even symbolic importance, the wooden elements of medieval buildings often go unheralded in scholarship or are treated in isolation from building materials like earth, brick, and stone rather than in concert with them. This session welcomes papers that take a range of approaches to the use of wood in medieval construction (e.g. as formwork or scaffolding) and/or in the finished structures themselves (e.g. as roof trusses or vaults).
From Tree to Truss (2): Woodcarving in Medieval Architecture
The 2019 Notre-Dame fire laid bare vast quantities of a building material ubiquitous throughout the medieval world, yet sometimes hidden in plain sight: wood. As a pendant to our session about the place of heavy timber in medieval building(s), this session will focus on the works of woodcarvers, woodturners, and joiners within medieval architectural spaces. To that end, we welcome papers that take material, technical, or intermedial approaches to more intricate forms of woodwork, including but not limited to wooden altarpieces, bemas, canopies, ciboria, iconostases, lecterns, maqsuras, minbars, screens, stalls, templons, Torah arks, and beyond.
Prior Call for Papers & Sessions
International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI
58th ICMS Kalamazoo 2023 | CFP | Sessions
57th ICMS Kalamazoo 2022 | CFP | Sessions
56th ICMS Kalamazoo 2021 | CFP* | Sessions
55th ICMS Kalamazoo 2020 | CANCELED
54th ICMS Kalamazoo 2019 | CFP | Sessions
53rd ICMS Kalamazoo 2018 | CFP | Sessions
52nd ICMS Kalamazoo 2017 | CFP | Sessions
51st ICMS Kalamazoo 2016 | CFP | Sessions
50th ICMS Kalamazoo 2015 | CFP | Sessions
49th ICMS Kalamazoo 2014 | CFP | Sessions
48th ICMS Kalamazoo 2013 | CFP | Sessions
47th ICMS Kalamazoo 2012 | CFP | Sessions
46th ICMS Kalamazoo 2011 | CFP | Sessions
45th ICMS Kalamazoo 2010 | CFP | Sessions
44th ICMS Kalamazoo 2009 | CFP | Sessions
43rd ICMS Kalamazoo 2008 | CFP | Sessions
42nd ICMS Kalamazoo 2007 | CFP | Sessions
41st ICMS Kalamazoo 2006 | CFP | Sessions
40th ICMS Kalamazoo 2005 | CFP | Sessions
39th ICMS Kalamazoo 2004 | CFP | Sessions
38th ICMS Kalamazoo 2003 | CFP | Sessions
37th ICMS Kalamazoo 2002 | CFP | Sessions
36th ICMS Kalamazoo 2001 | CFP | Sessions
35th ICMS Kalamazoo 2000 | CFP | Sessions
34th ICMS Kalamazoo 1999 | CFP | Sessions
* The 55th ICMS was canceled due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Sessions proposed for the 55th Congress were presented at the 56th Congress.
Internation Medieval Congress, Leeds, UK
IMC Leeds 2016: Food, Feast & Famine | Sessions
IMC Leeds 2013: Sessions
IMC Leeds 2012: Sessions
IMC Leeds 2011: Sessions