The Northeast Victorian Studies Association has since 1975 brought together scholars specializing in nineteenth-century British literature, history, and the arts. Our annual conference, held in the spring at locations across the American northeast and Canada, invites submissions from graduate students, faculty, and independent scholars. All NVSA paper proposals are vetted anonymously by a program committee of 20 scholars of diverse ranks, from graduate students to senior faculty. No NVSA panels overlap, so everyone gets to see every paper and be part of the conversation, which culminates in two invited “wrap-up” talks that draw questions and conclusions from the preceding papers.

NVSA features a keynote panel of three invited speakers and a “Fieldwork” roundtable on topics of pressing interest. It also features a lively banquet dinner and a lunch, where all conference attendees are welcome to suggest ideas and vote on the topic for the following year. Our most recent conference, “Labor” was held April 5 – 7, 2024 at College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts.  

NVSA sponsors a robust and successful graduate-student mentorship program and a graduate-student essay award to promote the demographic, methodological, temporal, and intellectual diversity of the conference and the field of Victorian studies. NVSA also administers one of the most prestigious awards in the field, the Sonya Rudikoff Award for the best first book in Victorian Studies.

President: Simon Reader (College of Staten Island, CUNY)
Vice-President: Mary Mullen (Villanova University)

Programming Committee Chair 2025: Sierra Eckert (Wesleyan University)
Site Coordinator 2025: Anna Henchman (Boston University)
Mentorship Program Coordinator: Oishani Sengupta (University of Texas at El Paso)