30th Congress of the International Federation for Modern Languages and Literatures (FILLM)
2026
Victoria University (Melbourne) in Narrm, Australia
8 - 11 December 2026
The International Federation for Modern Languages and Literatures (FILLM) proudly invites scholars, educators, and practitioners from around the world to the 30th FILLM Congress, hosted at Victoria University (Melbourne) in Narrm, Australia.
The theme for the congress is Talking Country: we are looking for individual presentations, panel sessions, and academic skills workshops, and other proposals that can respond strongly to this theme. This will be an expressly “on-country” Congress, where presenters will attend in person.
Talking Country is a theme that speaks against taking country for granted. Countries are vessels for languages and literatures, as well as fields of conflict in which cultures may confront, avoid, or obliterate each other. For many Indigenous epistemologies, country is a term of immense importance. It names a locus of profound responsibility that present cultures owe to their futures and pasts. Meanwhile, multicultural praxis often chafes at the norms of country and nation that would confine languages, literatures, and cultures to fixed points in space and time. This theme is a call to reflect on the importance of country, and to debate its entailments for our fields of study—including:
If you wish to present an individual paper (up to 18 minutes), a panel session (85 minutes, including discussion), or an academic skills workshop (85 minutes), please submit via our conference submissions portal. The portal outlines all required information and relevant word limits.
This 2nd CfP round closes 31 May 2026. Proposals received on or before that date will receive an outcome no later than 31 July 2026, affording presenters lead-time to plan travel and seek any funding support. If you will need a formal invitation letter for visa, funding, or other purposes, please indicate this need in the portal when you submit your proposal.
Secure your place at the 30th FILLM Congress in Melbourne from 8–11 December 2026. Take advantage of early bird pricing and be part of discussions around the theme Talking Country.
Pretty Boy at Novotel offers a stylish setting for the FILLM Congress dinner, featuring a generous buffet, contemporary design, and a vibrant atmosphere – Limited to 70 guests.
We acknowledge the Ancestors, Elders and families of the Kulin Nation (Melbourne Campuses), the Eora Nation (Sydney Campus) and the Yulara/YUgarapul and Turrbal Nation (Brisbane Campus) who are the traditional owners of University land.
To learn more, please contact the Moondani Balluk Academic Unit on +61 3 9919 2836 or [email protected]
Interplay and interrelation (and conflict and ignorance) of languages and literatures, operating between and within countries.
Intersections between country or nation and other modes of cultural identification—examples include gender, race, religion, sexuality, and wealth.
Nation–affirming agendas and their normative consequences for languages, literatures, and cultures.
Various ways that Indigenous and multicultural contributions are reconfiguring received understandings about country and culture, as well as various forms of resistance to these changes.
Agendas for decolonisation and for worldwide efforts to preserve languages and cultures of expression.
Ecologies of places and cultures, including ecolinguistics and ecopoetics.
Ontologies underpinning comparative language and literature studies.
Interrelations between ancient or lost country, future or imagined country, and present or contingent country.
Countries talking, countries as voices and authors, countries as narratives and texts.
Challenges that ideas about country pose to education about languages and literatures.
Attendees requiring a visa to travel to Australia may request an official letter of invitation to support their visa application. Visa support letters will be issued to registered delegates upon request. Please contact [email protected] to request an official letter of invitation, and please ensure to include your full name (as per passport), date of birth, nationality, passport number, your role in the conference (participant, FILLM committee member etc.) and whether any financial support is being provided (or if your attendance is self-funded).
Delegates should refer to the Australian Government’s Department of Home Affairs website for the most up-to-date visa requirements and processing times. We strongly recommend applying as early as possible, as processing timeframes can vary significantly by region.
For travel routing considerations (including avoiding certain transit regions), Smartraveller is the primary reference point. You should also check your own government's travel advice as well as seeking guidance from your airline.
Professor Sudesh Mishra
Born in Suva, Sudesh Mishra is Professor in Literature at the University of the South Pacific. He has previously worked at universities in Australia (Flinders University, Deakin University) and Britain (University of Stirling). He has been the recipient of an Australian Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship, the Harri Jones Memorial Prize for Poetry, an Asialink Residency in India, the Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara Fellowship (Otago University), an Erskine Canterbury Fellowship (Canterbury University) and a New Horizons Fellowship (University of Tubingen). He is the author of two critical monographs, including Diaspora Criticism (Edinburgh UP, 2006), and five books of poetry, including Tandava (Meanjin Press: Melbourne University, 1992), Diaspora and the Difficult Art of Dying (Otago UP, 2002) and The Lives of Coat Hangers (Otago UP, 2016). He is co-editor of Commodities and Literature (Cambridge University Press, 2025).
Professor Alice Te Punga Somerville
Alice Te Punga Somerville (Māori: Te Āti Awa, Taranaki) is a scholar, poet, irredentist and māmā. After holding academic posts in New Zealand, Australia and Hawai’i, she is currently Head of the Department of English Language & Literatures at the University of British Columbia where she also holds a joint professorial appointment in the Institute for Critical Indigenous Studies. Her publications include scholarly articles and chapters, public facing writing and media about Māori literary and political issues, and three books: Once Were Pacific: Māori Connections to Oceania (2012), 250 Ways To Start an Essay about Captain Cook (2021) and a collection of poetry, Always Italicise: how to write while colonised (2022). She is completing a book manuscript (contracted to Minnesota) that focuses on Indigenous engagements with periodicals 1900-1975 in New Zealand, Australia, Fiji and Hawai’i.
