MAM Updates

We warmly welcome our new co-editor of Enarratio!

Dr. Emilee Howland is Teaching Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin – Superior where she teaches medieval and early modern British literature. She is originally from northern Missouri but believes she has found her home on the shores of Lake Superior, though she remains a loyal Kansas City sports fan. Her academic research includes the representation of magic in medieval and early modern literature, women’s literature, Arthurian romances, and the cultural history and implications of book challenging/banning. Her reading interests include horror, urban fantasy, and speculative fiction. 

Many thanks for electing me MAM President for another term.

I appreciate the trust and am delighted to report that we are making progress on our agreed goals for MAM.  It was a lively social meeting at ICMS (2025) which was great to see, but even more importantly our sessions were full and the conversation (as well as  debate) was lively!  That is the best news we can offer - our sessions were well attended and those that we submitted for next year are looking promising, so please consider submitting a paper!

Our Medieval Monsters + conference is also looking good!  We have had over 90 submissions, many of which are graduate students, so, such great news to report.  At every meeting since I have been president,  we have focussed on what our "reason for being" has become and supporting our junior colleagues and graduate students to thrive has been our main goal.  Finding ways to help them publish with our incredible editors, Alex and Emiliee is one branch of our endeavors, partnering with like-minded organizations as IMA and MAMA, CARA, The Newberry Library, International Pearl Poets, and more is a second priority, and those collaborations have been thriving.  If you are a member in a fellow organization and would like to discuss collaborations - get in touch!

Hope to see you at our Medieval Monsters + conference in October, if you can't come in person consider being an online audience participant or helping to support a graduate student attend.  We have developed the Tom Shippey Graduate fund and the more students we can help to build support communities, the more sustainable our field in these difficult days.

Sessions for ICMS 2026!

• Apocryphilia: Biblical Apocrypha in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages Amity Reading, DePauw Univ. and Brandon W. Hawk, Rhode Island College

• Embodying the Medieval in Speculative Fiction Eyan Birt, Univ. of Birmingham

• Literary Rap Battles: Performative Language in Conflictive Contexts, ca. 449–1485 Alexander Vaughan Ames, Univ. of South Carolina–Columbia

• Monsters and the Monstrous in Medieval Literature Michael S. Nagy, South Dakota State Univ.

• Mysticism, Transcendence, and Cosmologies: Medieval Pathways to the Twenty-First Century (A Roundtable) Tory Schendel-Vyvoda, Evansville African American Museum / Univ. of Evansville

• Reengaged Learning: Pedagogy and Teaching the Medieval Emily E. Redman, Grace College and Seminary

• The Natural World in Medieval Thought Ann M. Martinez, Kent State Univ.–Stark

• Viking Morality: Bloodthirsty Thugs or Misunderstood Entrepreneurs? Eric Shane Bryan, Missouri Univ. of Science and Technology and Prof. Mickey M. Sweeney, Ph.D., Dominican Univ.

- For more information email: Tory Schendel-Vyvoda or search MAM on the ICMS Conference system

Strength in Collaboration:

Learn more about our publications and partnerships

MAM is all about the strength in collaboration and partnerships,

we are looking to support all our colleagues in the future of their professions

and research. Enarratio, MAM's journal & Essays in Medieval Studies, the journal

for IMA, will be sharing the submissions for our mutual publications.

See our 2024/2025 collections now available online. 

Newberry Library Center for Renaissance Studies

We are delighted to partner with the Center for Renaissance Studies and the

Newberry, which is a public research library located in Chicago that houses a

strong collection of medieval manuscripts, printed books, and other objects.  

We are looking forward to a session, a workshop, and a tour of the library's

Medieval and Renaissance collections. 

We are also grateful for the CARA grant that supported graduate

attendance at our Medieval Monsters + conference.