Call for Papers
The 2026 EWR will feature a special cluster dedicated to “Eudora Welty and Other Writers.”
Throughout her life, Eudora Welty cultivated relationships with other artists, especially writers, although she was never categorized as part of a particular group. Instead, Welty preferred to take part in an ongoing conversation about art and its place in the world through travel, friendships, and university classes/lectures. For this issue, we hope to explore writers who influenced Welty and writers Welty influenced. Consider the following possible topics (but other topics are encouraged):
- Welty and Friendship (the Norton anthology) and writers who were close friends
- Welty and important influences such as Wolfe, Cather, Forster, Porter, Bowen
- Welty and canonical writers such as Homer and Shakespeare
- Welty’s youthful group of writer/friends from Jackson
- Welty’s “students” (Elizabeth Spencer, Reynolds Price, others)
- Welty and living authors such as Jesmyn Ward and Alice Munro
- Welty and the creative writing classroom
Preliminary proposals or inquiries may be directed to Mae Miller Claxton at mclaxton@wcu.edu..
The Eudora Welty Review also invites essays (6,500 to 10,000 words) and notes of general interest (1,500 to 3,500 words) to Welty studies for the Spring 2026 issue. In addition, we introduce a new category of submissions called “provocations.” Provocations are original, non-refereed essays (5000 words max) that are argumentative in nature but do not have the development of a full-length refereed scholarly article. They take a more specific focus or scope and propose an innovative view on a subject, such as challenging the consensus reading of a character or work, voicing a new question, or suggesting an unexpected pairing. In sum, they should provoke new ways of seeing and engaging with Welty’s work.
The deadline for all submissions is September 1, 2025. Open call essays and notes should be sent to EWR co-editor Sarah Ford at sarah_ford@baylor.edu.