Good places to give a first paper in a relatively low-pressure environment

• UW’s MADLIT Conference
• University of Chicago English Department Graduate Student Conference, topic and title determined annually.
  • Note: graduate students from all over the country apply, so it can be hard to get a paper accepted.
• Midwest Conference on Literature, Language, & Media [MCLLM]. Northern Illinois University—driving distance.
• Midwest Modern Language Association [MMLA] or other regional MLA conferences

18th-Century Studies

• ASECS (American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies) is the big conference and panels there are often highly selective. There is also the regional branch conference (MWASECS), which tends to be very welcoming and features many graduate student papers. Every three years there’s an international version that’s called ISECS.
• Additionally, there is BSECS, the British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies, in the UK which is a fine and welcoming venue for scholars attending their first international conference.

20th-Century Literature

• Louisville Conference on Lit Since 1900. A solid 20th-c. Literature conference where graduate students regularly present; usually has a mix of big names and newer scholars.

African Literature

• ALA (African Literature Association). Smallish. Plenty of grad students on panels. Not intimidating or exclusive.

African-American Literature

• Every year Penn State hosts the “Celebrating African American Literature” conference that, despite the corny name, is excellent. It includes a broad range of panelists from grad students to well-known senior scholars. It’s very laid back as far as conferences go, it’s in the middle of nowhere so people actually go to panels all day, and the ethos is much more collaborative than competitive.
• The Melus Conference (MELUS: Journal for the Study of the Multi-ethnic Literature of the U.S.) is very open to graduate students. Its location rotates yearly.
• The African American Literature and Culture Society‘s conference (a subdivision of the American Literature Association) is less warm and fuzzy, but still welcoming of advanced grad students.
• There’s also the CLA (College Language Association), which began as the segregation-era “black MLA” and continues to hold annual conferences. It welcomes proposals from graduate students.
• See above for the American Women Writers of Color Conference and the Melus Conference.
• Most national Af-Am lit conferences will take some grad student papers, especially if they’re part of a mixed-rank panel.

American Literature

• ALA (American Literature Association). A good, friendly, not-too-expensive conference with high acceptance rate and always in Boston or San Francisco.  Has a number of constituent societies, including the Circle for Asian American Literary Studies.
• ASA (American Studies Association). A large, intellectually trendy interdisciplinary conference devoted to American culture and history. Plenty of advanced graduate students on panels.
• SEA (the Society for Early Americanists). The SEA conference is held in years opposite C19 (see below) and covers the colonization of the Americas to about 1830. Presenters usually range from luminaries in the field to grad students, a generally nice crowd. Also, The McNeil Center for Early Am. Studies often has grad student conferences.  They tend to prefer historical work (the balance of power there is toward the historians).  Giving a paper there is a good way to get in the door there if one wants to eventually apply for a McNeil Center diss. or postdoc fellowship (they are highly competitive but those who hold them have often gone on to do quite well for themselves professionally). Also, the Charles Brockden Brown Society covers the years between the Revolution and Jacksonian periods (1790s to 1830s, roughly). They put on an excellent, small annual conference. Don’t be fooled by the “author society” name, since they are interested broadly in this period between “early” America and “antebellum” America.
• C19 is a large biennial conference dedicated to 19th-c. American literary studies. Panelists range from dissertators to prominent scholars in the field. It rotates between Berkeley, Chapel Hill, and Penn State. See also the Interdisciplinary Nineteenth-century Studies Association (INCSA) below.

Anglo-Saxon Literature

• Anglo-Saxon Studies, the International Society of Anglo-Saxonists (ISAS) sponsors “New Voices” sessions for young scholars at both the Kalamazoo and Leeds conferences. Additionally, at each of its biennial conferences, ISAS runs a pre-conference workshop for graduate students. Information may be found here: http://www.isasweb.net/grad.html

Asian American Studies

• AAS (Association for Asian American Studies). The main interdisciplinary conference in Asian American studies (there isn’t an Asian American literature conference held regularly).
• The Annual Conference on South Asia is hosted by UW at the Concourse Hotel in Madison. It is international and interdisciplinary.
• See The American Women Writers of Color Conference (above) and the Melus Conference (below).

Book History

• The SHARP Conference (Society for the History of Authorship, Reading, and Publishing) and the Society for Textual Scholarship Conference are putting old media into conversations with new media. And both groups seem eager to invite younger scholars into the conversation.

British Literature (gen.)

• North American Conference on British Studies (NACBS).

British Women Writers

• British Women Writers Association/Conference (BWWA/BWWC). It can be challenge to get an abstract accepted here, but it’s widely considered one of the most fun, friendly, and encouraging conferences to attend. Caroline Levine, Susan Bernstein, and Susan Friedman (all of whom have presented and keynoted this conference) say it’s “great fun.” They also have a beefy travel grant for graduate students, well worth applying for the grant.
• There is also a conference for the Study of American Women Writers (SSAWW, see above). See also the National Women’s Studies Association (NWSA) annual interdisciplinary conference, which showcases feminist scholarship.

Comics/Graphic novels

• For Comics/Graphic novels, the Comics Arts Conference held in conjunction with Com-con in San Diego is the place to go if you work in that field because you get the best of both worlds — popular and academic — at once. UF runs an annual comics conference as well. MLA has standing panels on graphic narratives, which means that the panels are guaranteed acceptance, it’s just a matter of getting oneself on one.

Commonwealth Literatures

• ACLALS (Association for Commonwealth Literatures and Languages Association). Smallish. Plenty of grad students on panels. Not intimidating or exclusive.

Composition and Rhetoric

• CCCC (“Four Cs”). Conference on College Composition and Communication. This is the flagship conference of composition and rhetoric. It’s the largest conference in the field, welcomes work on composition theory, rhetorical theory, computers and writing, writing center studies, writing program administration, and more. It’s a great place for graduate students to present and to get a sense for the shape of the field.
• Rhetoric Society of America. This is a biannual conference and focuses on work in rhetorical theory and history of rhetoric. It draws scholars from both Communications and English, and it is the premier conference in the U.S. for rhetoricians. The conference is not as big as CCCC, but it is growing. It welcomes work from graduate students
• The ASHR Symposium (American Society for the History of Rhetoric) takes place every two years in advance of the RSA Biennial Conference. It has a separate call for papers and a separate selection process from RSA but is a good way to attend both events and offers a more intimate conference experience within the larger event.
• Thomas R. Watson Conference. This is an annual conference for work in rhetoric and composition that is hosted by the University of Louisville. It is a great place for graduate students to present work, and it’s a traditionally strong conference.
• Feminisms and Rhetorics Conference. “A lively exchange of dialogue and action concerning feminist rhetorics and rhetorical practices as they intersect with local, national, and international human rights movements.”
• Computers and Writing Conference. The main conference for those who use computers and networks to teach writing.
• Association of Teachers of Technical Writing Conference. Meets every spring and is not limited strictly to technical writing. Also offers innovative research methods workshops as part of the conference that are great opportunities for grad students. It meets immediately prior to CCCC so it can also be a great two-fer.
• Writing Research Across Borders is the premier international conference for social scientific studies of writing. 

Cross-Cultural Literatures

• ACLA (American Comparative Literature Association). ACLA is vast but accommodates a lot of grad students.

Digital Humanities and New Media

• Digital Humanities conferences are easy to find, although the best ones are often conducted as ThatCamps or unconferences–these are almost like flash mobs in the degree to which they pop up in seemingly spontaneous ways.  The difference is that no one learns the dance in advance:  everyone learns together around a common topic.  Proposing and hosting a ThatCamp (often piggybacked on another conference) is a feather in one’s cap. The most prestigious conference venue is the one called simply “Digital Humanities” or “DH” sponsored by ADHO. It is very open to new people and new work.  Those involved in the field should be checking out DHCommons and BambooDiRT online regularly to see about virtual as well as in-person venues.  The DH Summer and Winter Institutes are also important, and are as focused on learning as on giving papers.
• The Computers and Writing conference features work in rhetoric and composition that takes up new media technology. Work on video games, digital pedagogy, visual rhetoric, and more is presented here. It’s a conference that has been getting stronger by the year (more interesting work has been presented in recent years than in years past). Great for graduate students.
• The Society for Literature Science and the Arts hosts a wide-ranging conference that covers work in science studies, literature, new media, and more. It’s a fantastic conference that usually features cutting-edge theoretical work. Graduate students are welcome, and the conference is a great size for networking (not too big) 

Disability Studies

•  Society for Disability Studies Annual Conference. Each June, the Society for Disability Studies brings together a vibrant mix of academics, activists, artists, students and community members. The SDS annual meeting is the premier academic conference in disability studies in the world. If you are someone who has a passion for disability studies, or are interested in advancing the cause of disability rights and social justice, the annual SDS conference inspiring and fun.

Early Modern / Renaissance Literature

• The annual meeting of the SAA (Shakespeare Association of America) takes place every year sometime around Spring Break. You now have to be a dissertator to attend (your dissertation director is asked to send a confirmation email to this effect), but it is a great conference for grad students (and not all papers have to be on Shakespeare).
• The RSA (Renaissance Society of America) conference happens in March or April and is a good place for grad students to propose and put together panels for the first time. It’s true that it’s a huge conference so you might not get a large audience, but English Lit has been much more well-represented in the past few years, and people are even starting to choose it over SAA. Another plus: our Center for Early Modern StudiesUW-Madison’s Center for Early Modern Studies is now an affiliate organization, which means that it has 3 guaranteed panels each year.
• BABEL is a graduate-friendly biennial conference put on by the BABEL working group (http://blogs.cofc.edu/babelworkinggroup/).  Good for both medieval and early modern grad students.  They are doing a lot of cutting-edge stuff, and pride themselves on not being hierarchical, so it’s a good forum for grad students. They also like to experiment with the conference format.  Students can propose a session, or once the sessions have been accepted, apply to take part in one of them.
• The Newberry Library’s Center for Renaissance Studies’ Graduate Student Multidisciplinary Conference: Organized by graduate students who are members of the consortium each year. A friendly place to present materials and to meet your peers.  I know many people who have established great connections with grad students at other institutions, and even gone on to collaborate with them on projects. (http://www.newberry.org/center-renaissance-studies-programs)
• Also recommended for grad students: the biennial New College Medieval and Renaissance Conference, which covers all aspects of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. It meets in Sarasota, Florida.
• If you work on women’s writing, you shouldn’t miss the Attending to Early Modern Women conference which takes place every three years and has just moved from Maryland to Milwaukee.
• Early modern literary scholars are also welcome at the NACBS and PCCBS (North American Conference on British Studies and Pacific Coast Conference on British Studies), although the audience here is largely made up of historians.
• Sidney-Spenser at Kalamazoo – Almost a conference-within-a-conference, the Sidney Society and the International Spenser Society sponsor a few panels every year.  It is a great way to get to know people in the field.  Everyone goes out to dinner together, and the older Spenser/Sidney scholars are so thrilled that there are younger scholars still working on these figures, so they are very friendly and want to mentor you.  The editor of Spenser Studies usually goes and is often on the lookout for papers that would make good articles.
• SCSC – Sixteenth-Century Society Conference (http://www.sixteenthcentury.org/).  A bit more traditional than SAA or RSA, but it’s a collegial conference, especially for graduate students.

Environmental Literature

• The biennial ASLE (Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment) conference features plenty of grad students on panels. Not intimidating or exclusive.
• The American Society for Environmental History (ASEH) Conference. Because the Environmental Humanities put so much emphasis on storytelling, this conference is a great fit for lit students seeking to do cross-disciplinary work. UW professor Greg Mitman is the current president of ASEH.

Writing Center Research

• The International Writing Centers Association Conference (IWCA). Now held annually in the fall, this medium-sized conference (about 1000 participants) and is a great place for graduate students to present their work, get a sense of the field of writing center studies, and meet some of the top people in the field.
• The Midwest Writing Centers Association Conference (MWCA). Held every other spring (in even years), usually within driving distance of Madison, this conference draws about 300 participants, including many undergraduate writing tutors, and is a great place to begin presenting your work in this field.
• The International Writing Across the Curriculum Conference (IWAC). Held every other year in late May or early June, this conference focuses on research about disciplinary discourse communities, transfer, and the structure and focus of WAC programs. (Because this conference is not affiliated with a professional association, there’s no permanent web address. The WAC Clearinghouse typically lists information about each year’s conference on their webpage, but you can also do a web search to find the official conference site.)

Women Writers and Women’s Studies 

• This list is predominantly American at this point, and we welcome additional contributions with more geographical breadth.
• The Society for the Study of American Women Writers conference (SSAWW) meets every third year and is very open to graduate work, although it is often heavy on nineteenth-century materials. There is also a British Women Writers Association Conference (BWWA/BWWC) (see below).
• The National Women’s Studies Association (NWSA) annual interdisciplinary conference showcases feminist scholarship.
• The American Women Writers of Color Conference meets yearly in Ocean City, MD. It is hosted by Salisbury University in November.
• WisCon meets each May in Madison and features work on Feminist Science Fiction. It’s a mix of academic but mostly nonacademic panels, many on popular culture.

Medieval Literature

• One of the best starter conferences for medievalists is also one of the big professional conferences: the International Congress on Medieval Studies held every May in Kalamazoo, MI. It is one that almost everyone in the profession goes to, but as a result it is SO big that it can be quite easy to get a paper accepted if one picks one’s session correctly.  The call for papers comes out in the spring and it’s never a bad idea to check with the organizer before one sends in an abstract because sometimes the sessions have really been filled in advance even if they appear in the call for papers.  There is a corresponding International Medieval Congress held in Leeds, UK, every summer that can provide a good excuse for traveling to England.
• Another good one for graduate medievalists is Vagantes, the traveling grad student conference; but in fact it is much smaller than Kalamazoo and can thus be actually harder to get into.
• BABEL is a graduate-friendly biennial conference put on by the BABEL working group (http://blogs.cofc.edu/babelworkinggroup/). See below for more.
• Also recommended for graduate students: The biennial New College Medieval and Renaissance Conference.
• The stuffy granddaddy conference in Medieval Studies is the Medieval Academy of America Annual Meeting (the Kalamazoo conference began in revolt from it), but it’s an honor to be selected to present; I don’t recommend this for any but the most advanced grad students.
• The New Chaucer Society’s Biennial Congress is often (but not always) held in in international venues.
• The Medieval Association of the Midwest hosts an annual conference.
• The Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies annual conference (is a fun trip in February for those of us who live in cold climes!).
• The biennial Sewanee Medieval Colloquium is held at the University of the South and is a really collegial experience.

Modernism

• MSA (Modernist Studies Association). A big, prestigious modernism conference. It has panels, roundtables, and also “seminars,” for which it is best known. In these seminars, participants discuss 5-page papers that have been made accessible in advance. Registration for seminars is first-come. Many grad students get into the MSA thru this doorway first, though seminars have plenty of faculty participants, too.

Narrative & Novels

• ISSN. International Society for the Study of Narrative. A large, popular conference.
• Society for Novel Studies hosts a biennial conference.
• The International Conference on Narrative is an interdisciplinary forum addressing all dimensions of narrative theory and practice, although historically it tends towards formalism. 

Victorian Studies

• North American Victorian Studies Association (NAVSA). This is the “mother ship” for Victorianists. UW-Madison hosted this conference in Fall 2012. In addition to conventional panels, for which it can be difficult getting a paper accepted, the conference has begun hosting “seminars” in which participants discuss papers made accessible in advance. The conference environment is very warm, collegial, and welcoming. For those interested in 19th-c. British studies, it’s a terrific opportunity to network with some of the most famous, well-regarded scholars in the field, as well as a chance to make friends with other graduate students.
• Midwest Victorian Studies Association (MVSA). This is a regional conference branch of NAVSA. Conferences can be more hit or miss as a result of whoever is organizing it that year. The plus side is that they are almost always driving distance. This past fall, the conference was in Ohio and several of the students in our department attended (read: carpools and hotel sharing!). They usually draw a well-known keynote in part due to the location amidst a hotbed of awesome English departments. This would be a good one for grad students trying out their first conference that includes faculty.
• Interdisciplinary Nineteenth-century Studies Association (INCSA).
• The Research Society of Victorian Periodicals (RSVP) Conference

Newer fields (e.g., Digital Humanities and Comics) have new conferences springing up every year, and new voices are always at an advantage.