Pennsylvania College English Association

10/02/2025

Pennsylvania English strives to present the best work in all areas of English studies including poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, and critical essays. We welcome submissions from writers anywhere in the world. If you are a writer and have an interest in English studies, this may be the place for you. Submission Deadline is November 30!
The current team working to bring you Pennsylvania English includes:
Critical Essay Editor:
Dr. Kristina Fennelly—Kutztown University of Pennsylvania ([email protected])
Poetry Editor:
Dr. Robert Fillman—Kutztown University of Pennsylvania ([email protected])
Creative Prose Editor:
Dr. Cassandra O'Sullivan Sachar—Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania—Bloomsburg ([email protected])

For all submissions, please visit this page: https://paenglish.submittable.com/submit.

05/15/2025

Please see details on the upcoming Fall 2025 Conference below at Alfred State College!

In a time when the idea of “work” continues to be redefined by automation, Artificial Intelligence, the Great Resignation, the Great Gloom, and the gig economy, we invite proposals from faculty, graduate and undergraduate students, and independent scholars from all areas of English and Language ...

02/15/2022

PCEA has extended the submission deadline for our 2022 conference to March 1st. If you're thinking about submitting, check out the details in the previous post and on our website.

https://www.pcea.online/2020-conference

01/21/2022

The Pennsylvania College English Association (PCEA) invites proposals from faculty members, graduate students, and independent scholars for its 2022 Annual Conference on the theme of recovering lost writers and lost texts. We are especially interested in recovering marginalized voices, finding reasons for their disappearance, and charting a path to bring their writing and lives back into the light of current scholarship. Lost or forgotten work by canonical authors would also be welcome subjects of literary inquiry as part of this call, as would be papers that trace the evolution of a literary text from manuscript to magazine publication to book form if the changes are radical. Papers should account for the “loss” of the text or writer, and the critical context or shift in reception that allows for their recovery.

We also invite proposals from faculty members, graduate students, and independent scholars from all areas of English Studies for individual presentations, panel proposals, or roundtables. In addition, we welcome the reading of original, not yet published (at the time of submission) poetry, fiction, or creative nonfiction. Faculty members are also welcome to propose and chair a session of three to five of their best undergraduate scholars or writers. Each presenter will be allowed up to 15 minutes of time to present.

Proposal Deadline and Submissions: Please submit a 250-300 word abstract and a brief biographical statement by March 1, 2022. Fees for those whose abstracts have been accepted will include membership, conference, and lunch (optional).

Submission Link:

07/25/2020

We've recently updated our website to include PCEA's Statement of Solidarity. Watch that space for news of our 2021 conference plans! Stay well!

PCEA STATEMENT OF SOLIDARITY

The board members of the Pennsylvania College English Association (PCEA) wish to express our support for the victims of violence and hatred in the recent past, including but certainly not limited to: George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and the countless others who have been disenfranchised, oppressed, targeted, and killed. This statement serves to publicly condemn and reject the social injustices that people of color systematically suffer from and live with on a daily basis. This statement also signals PCEA’s support for the Black Lives Matter movement and our commitment to do better in recognizing and redressing social injustice, particularly as it impacts our role as educators.

We believe that literature and pedagogy have the power to open people’s eyes to new and different perspectives, as well as to build empathy with others. We remain committed to enacting social justice on our campuses and in our communities, and we support those who are working to achieve justice by addressing systemic inequalities. Further, we recognize that words without actions are often empty gestures, and to that end, we commit to the following acts:

The 2022 Conference will focus on centralizing the scholarship of Black, Indiginous, and people of color (BIPOC) scholars and critical race theory.

An upcoming edition of our publication, Pennsylvania English, will be dedicated to celebrating the voices and work of BIPOC scholars.

We will continue to support our students and colleagues who strive to create more equitable learning environments and opportunities.

We invite you to stand in solidarity with us and we urge our membership to help us shape the future of the organization as we strive to be more socially just and inclusive.

03/13/2020

PCEA 2020 Participants:

The Pennsylvania College English Association is officially cancelling our Spring 2020 conference. While disappointing, this is clearly the best course of action, taking public health and safety into consideration.

If you are already registered for the conference, you will receive an email from the President of the Pennsylvania College English Association within the next day or so, and you will be refunded the full amount of your paid fees.

In the coming weeks, the PCEA Board will be discussing rescheduling the conference for either fall of 2020 or spring of 2021, retaining our theme and accepted essays as scholars are available and able to participate. Please watch this space and our website, www.pcea.online for further updates.

Best to everyone in this challenging moment.

01/19/2020

DEADLINE EXTENDED!
Great news! The deadline for paper and panel proposals for PCEA's 2020 Conference has been extended to Sunday, February 2nd! That means there is still time to put on your thinking cap (and tell your colleagues, and invite your graduate and undergraduate students) and submit your scholarship in association with this year's theme, Engendering Narrative. See the full CFP and submission details by clicking the link below, and check out our website at www.pcea.online! We'll see you at Slippery Rock!

The Pennsylvania College English Association (PCEA) invites proposals for its 2020 Annual Conference on the theme of engendering narratives, or begetting, producing, and procreating narrative. We are requesting pieces that focus on what engenders narrative creativity while highlighting the importanc...

09/13/2019

Hi, everyone! PCEA is excited to announce our CFP for the upcoming 2020 conference. Our theme is: "Engendering Narrative: Transforming Image, Text, and Medium." Abstracts are due on January 20th, 2020, so you have plenty of time to share your great ideas with us between now and then. Please feel free to reach out with any questions.

The Pennsylvania College English Association (PCEA) invites proposals for its 2020 Annual Conference on the theme of engendering narratives, or begetting, producing, and procreating narrative. We are requesting pieces that focus on what engenders narrative creativity while highlighting the importanc...

06/26/2019

06/26/2019

Now that the dust has settled a bit since our wonderful 2019 PCEA conference in May, we just want to take a chance to thank all of the participants and audience members who made this another successful conference! We really appreciate all of the work that you do and your commitment to sharing your work and helping others. We hope to see you again next year in Slippery Rock! And, if you have any pictures from the 2019 conference, please feel free to share them below or send them to us.

05/22/2019

Hi everyone! We're looking forward to seeing you at Bloomsburg over the next two days. Below you'll find a map of the campus with available parking options and event locations.