Call for Papers

10–13 June 2026, Lund

The conference will focus on the double query of Viking Culture Then and Now, i.e. of how people actually lived and experienced their lives during the Viking Age, as well as aspects of how – and why – that period have influenced modern world culture, from the general perspective of the still ongoing, strong influence from Nordic Romanticism in these matters: how our understandings and delusions of Viking Culture are affected by the tradition from Nordic Romanticism since early 19th Century. One of the aims of the conference is to highlight the bicentenary of Esaias Tegnér's Frithiof's saga (1825), by far the most influential literary export from Scandinavian Romanticism to the world – and also the first international success of Swedish literature.

Suggestions for the approach of the conference presentations:

· Vikings in the Era of High Romanticism

· Runology

· Vikings Material Culture Then and Now

· Vikings in Politics

· Blue Humanities & Viking Studies

· Forging of Viking Legacy

· Modern Repurposing of Medieval Manuscripts

We hope that Nordic Romanticism and Viking Culture in Lund 2026 will become an inspiring meeting place for discussions and reflections from many other perspectives beyond those we have outlined here. 

We are very pleased to announce Alessia Bauer (École Pratique des Hautes Études and Sorbonne, Paris), Alan Macniven (University of Edinburgh), Mats Roslund (Lund University) and Rikard Schönström (Lund University) as keynote speakers of the conference. Other lectures, panels, and events will be continuously presented as the planning of the conference advances. 

The conference will take place at the Centre for Languages and Literature (Lund University) as well as in the beautiful halls of Kulturen in Lund. 

We welcome you to submit abstracts (approximately 150 words) for papers (20 minutes) and proposals (approximately 250 words) for panels (60 minutes) in either English, Swedish, Norwegian, or Danish by April 15 2026, to nrvc2026@litt.lu.se. 

Following the conference, a special volume will be published in 2027 in the Spleen Nordic international book series, in collaboration with CSS and the publisher Spleen Nordic, Berlin.

We look forward to welcoming you to Lund in June! 

Sincerely,

Conference Committee CSS and Kulturen i Lund