Queer Class/Room Symposium
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA
April 15 and 16, 2026
Due date for proposals: November 15, 2025
Keynote: Justin Torres

The University of Pennsylvania is excited to partner with CLAGS: The Center for LGBTQ Studies at the City University of New York to hold a symposium addressing the intersection of queer and trans experience and social class. We invite applications from students at any stage in their graduate study and in any discipline who are working on related questions and topics to take part in a day of faculty-led interactive workshops.

This symposium hopes to foster emerging scholarship that explores the connections between queer lives and class experiences. We’re particularly interested in work that addresses this intersection alongside race, caste, disability, gender, and nationality. The symposium will begin with an evening keynote by Justin Torres, author of Blackouts (winner, 2023 National Book Award for Fiction) and We the Animals (2011). The following day will consist of a combination of reading groups and workshops. In the spirit of cross-institution solidarity, we are proud to collaborate with CUNY and CLAGS: The Center for LGBTQ Studies on this event.

Twelve successful applicants will receive a stipend of $750 as well as food and lodging in Philadelphia for the duration of Queer Class/Room. Through this stipend, we hope to defray the cost of travel to Philadelphia and to New York for the Queer-Class Relations Conference. At the end of the day on April 16, a chartered bus will drive participants the two hours to New York City for a joint dinner sponsored by Queer Class/Room and Queer-Class Relations ahead of the CUNY conference held on April 17-18 (https://queerclassrelations.commons.gc.cuny.edu/).

We ask for proposals of no more than 200 words and short bios of no more than 100 words. Students at all levels are invited to apply. We welcome expressions of curiosity and interest as well as more finished proposals. Please describe your interests, experience, and outline of your project (or potential project). Due date: Nov. 15, 2025. SUBMIT PROPOSALS HERE

Please contact [email protected] with any questions.

With thanks to our University of Pennsylvania Sponsors: Department of English, The Program in Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies, The Center for Research in Feminist, Queer, and Transgender Studies, and the Gender and Sexuality working group (Gen/Sex).

Organizing Committee: Pearl Brilmyer, Amelia Carter, Heather K. Love, George Perez, Marc Ridgell, Liz Rose, Ryan Mangione-Smith, Rylee Smith, Austin Svedjan, Jordan Trice.
SUBMIT PROPOSALS HERE