05/05/2026
See the call for papers below:
Old Norse Poetry in Performance
4th International Conference – Call for Papers and Performances
Building on the success of the 2016 inaugural conference and subsequent editions that consolidated
this initiative as a key interdisciplinary forum, the fourth edition of Old Norse Poetry in
Performance seeks once again to bring together scholars, artists, performers and musicians
interested in the material, pragmatic and cultural dimensions of Old Norse poetry. Since its
beginnings, the conference has aimed to foster dialogue across disciplines and to explore new
approaches to Old Norse texts, traditions, and expressive cultures through both academic and
creative practice.
The fourth edition will take place at St Edmund Hall, University of Oxford, on 26–27 October 2026.
It will continue this trajectory by offering a space for innovative research, critical reflection, and
experimental engagement with the Old Norse corpus and its wider historical contexts. We invite
proposals for papers, performances, and practice-based demonstrations that address the
intersections between text, voice, embodiment, memory, space, and material culture in medieval
Scandinavia.
This year’s edition will place particular emphasis on audience-oriented approaches and on the
relationship between Old Norse expressive forms and contemporary audiences. How may medieval
texts and traditions be reactivated, translated, staged, or reimagined for present-day publics?
Special attention will also be given to interdisciplinarity, intermediality, and genre displacement. From
a pragmatic perspective, changing communicative situations may invite us to observe how texts and
cultural artefacts move across generic boundaries, media environments, and social contexts. We
therefore welcome contributions that explore how Old Norse material is transformed, and what
tensions emerge, as it moves between manuscript and stage, scholarship and artistic practice, or
medieval and modern frameworks of reception. Contributions may consider, but are not limited to, the
following topics:
• Contemporary reception and audience engagement
• Staging strategies, memory and recitation
• Archaeology of sound and space
• Translation, adaptation, and modern recreations
• Material culture and performative artefacts
• Manuscript culture and textual transmission
• Visual culture and iconography
• Music, voice, and soundscapes in the medieval North
• Digital humanities and new media approaches
• Interdisciplinary and experimental methodologies
Old Norse Poetry in Performance is conceived as a strongly interdisciplinary conference. We
particularly welcome proposals from scholars in literature, philology, history, archaeology, art history,
musicology, theatre studies, performance studies, anthropology, and related fields, as well as from
creative practitioners whose work engages with Old Norse materials.
The organisers are especially keen to include a diverse range of academic papers alongside
performative contributions that demonstrate new ways of encountering and interpreting the Old Norse
tradition.
Please submit an abstract (250–300 words) outlining your proposed paper, workshop, or
performance, together with a short biographical note, by 30 June 2026 to [email protected] .
Organising Committee: Clare Mulley, Richard Munro, Vicky Katarina Mikalsen and Inés Garcia López
