•  
  •  
 

Up-to-Date Features

Call For Chapter Contributions

Our Song: Critical Essays on Intertextuality and Taylor Swift, Edited by: Exquisite Williams, Transylvania University

This edited collection, under contract with Vernon Press, invites chapter proposals that explore the intertextual landscape surrounding one of the world’s last remaining monocultures: Taylor Swift. Across five sections, this volume addresses how Taylor Swift’s work engages with mythology, memory, place, and spectacle, and how these elements construct meaning. Rather than treating Taylor Swift as an isolated cultural phenomenon, contributors are invited to trace the many networks of texts, images, performances, and cultural narratives in dialogue with her work. We seek contributions that align with the themes of the volume and offer original approaches to Swift’s music, visual media and public persona. Early-career scholars are especially encouraged to submit. Please submit a 300-word abstract and a brief biographical statement October 15th 2026, to the editor Exquisite Williams: [email protected] Accepted contributors will be invited to submit a 5,000-6,000-word chapter (including notes and references) by January 13th, 2027.

PAMLA special session announcement: Taylor Swift: Showgirl, Tortured Poet, Lover, The Man, Pop Icon.

Abstracts/proposals are due (priority deadline) May 25th and June 30th (regular deadline), and the Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association conference will take place in person in Seattle from November 12-15th, 2026. Submission link: https://pamla.ballastacademic.com/Home/S/19951

Special Edition CFP open now through August 30th 2026.

JOTSS is launching something special by accepting your less-than-academic popular work for our non-scholarly special edition, Colloquially Speaking! Ruminations on the Possibilities of the Field. We encourage submissions that celebrate, interrogate, speculate, formulate, and ruminate on the intersection of academic insight and creative expression regarding the advancing, interdisciplinary possibilities of Taylor Swift Studies. What is possible? Where should we focus our attention? What perspectives haven't been considered? This unique issue welcomes diverse voices and varied formats (while maintaining academic integrity where appropriate).

This special non-scholarly edition welcomes:

  • Creative non-fiction
  • Poetry and prose
  • Popular essays
  • Methodological reflections
  • Cultural commentary
  • Experimental writing

    • While this edition embraces creativity, submissions should:

  • Follow MLA citation style where appropriate
  • Engage meaningfully with cultural connections and original insights
  • Demonstrate thoughtful analysis
  • Maintain professional standards
  • Be 2,000-4,000 words (creative works may be briefer)
  • Abstracts of no more than 250 words words

    • Note from the Editor for students and emerging scholars: JOTSS is committed to fostering accessible pathways into academic publishing. Please consider that this special issue is not peer-reviewed, and therefore, may not carry the same academic "weight" on your CV. While we permit our authors to retain rights to their own work, many publishers will not accept previously published materials. If publishing in a peer-reviewed journal is important for your professional journey, consider submitting for JOTSS' annual edition when our next CFP goes live in May as it is peer-reviewed and indexed.

    See our CFP on UPenn or contact Associate Editors, Danielle Ball at [email protected] or Madison Harmon [email protected] with inquiries.