20-21 November, University of Bristol – Humanities Research Space 1.H020, Arts Complex, 7 Woodland Road, Bristol
ICI London supports Dante Futures. New Voices in the UK and Ireland
International Conference
Dante Futures is an international academic congress promoted by the Centre for Dante Studies in Ireland and dedicated to the study, research and teaching of Dante within the Anglo-Irish academic ecosystem. The fifth edition will take place at the University of Bristol on 20 and 21 November 2026, following the meetings hosted in Cork (2022), Leeds (2023), Cambridge (2024) and Warwick (2025).
The initiative aims to foster scholarly dialogue among the new generations of researchers, offering an international space for the presentation of ongoing research, interdisciplinary discussion and the development of new academic collaborations.
This year’s programme brings together doctoral candidates, postdoctoral researchers and scholars from prestigious British, Irish, European and American universities, and features papers that will propose multiple perspectives on Dante’s work and its fortune in subsequent centuries.
Over the two days the following speakers will intervene: Elizabeth Bratton (University of Bristol); Jessica Gowers (University of Cambridge); Elena Michelini (Trinity College Dublin); Francesca Luppino (University of Warwick); Elisa Rosati (University College Cork); Pietro Ruggeri (University of Bologna); Beatrice Rosso (University of Notre Dame); Charis Horsley (University College London); Maria Irene Fiducia (Brown University); Elettra Solignani (Brown University); Chiara Caputi (The Graduate Center, City University of New York).
The programme of the first day also includes the keynote lecture by Dr Nicolò Crisafi (University of Cambridge), entitled The Cost of Making Dante: Bias, Shame, and the Futures of Dante Studies; while on 21 November the presentation of the volume A History of Poetry in Italy 1200–1600 (Cambridge University Press, 2026) is scheduled, with the participation of the authors: Prof. Guyda Armstrong (University of Manchester); Dr Rhiannon Daniels (University of Bristol); Prof. Catherine Keen (University College London). Workshops organised in collaboration with the Bristol Common Press, dedicated to the material culture of the book and printing practices, are also planned.
Full programme HERE: Dante Futures Programme
Information and participation
The conference will take place at:
University of Bristol – Humanities Research Space 1.H020, Arts Complex, 7 Woodland Road, Bristol, United Kingdom.
To attend as auditors, confirmation of attendance is required by writing to the organisers at the address: dantefutures@gmail.com.
Dante Futures 2026 is organised under the auspices of the Società Dantesca Italiana and is supported by the Society for Italian Studies, the Institute of Greece, Rome and the Classical Tradition, the Bristol School of Modern Languages, the Bristol Centre for Medieval Studies, the Italian Department of the University of Bristol and the Italian Cultural Institute in London.
The organising committee is composed of Elizabeth Bratton (University of Bristol), Aistė Kiltinavičiūtė (Centre for Dante Studies in Ireland), Enrica Leydi (University of Warwick), Francesca Sartori (University of Bristol) and Chiara Valcelli (University College Cork).