The Stowe Symposium is the Stowe Center for Literary Activism’s annual gathering to explore current Harriet Beecher Stowe scholarship. The symposium focuses on Stowe in historical context and in conversation with other writers and thinkers of the 19th century though today.

The Stowe Symposium offers lectures, panels, and a keynote speaker. We gather scholars and enthusiasts for a day-long exploration of 19th Century Literature and History in partnership with the Stowe Society and the New England Quarterly.

The Stowe Center also offers an annual award for best new scholarship on Stowe.

Award for New Scholarship

The Stowe Center for Literary Activism invites papers for their 2026 “Stowe in Context & Conversation: Understanding Harriet Beecher Stowe in her Historical Context and Ours” symposium. This symposium welcomes work that examines Harriet Beecher Stowe, the larger historical context that she lived and worked within, those who inspired or interacted with her work, and other related topics and themes. We encourage people to think broadly about Stowe, what she meant in her time, and what she means in our time. Our 2025 program included such varied topics as the19th century women’s domestic sphere; author and Stowe contemporary Charles Chesnutt; the Delany/Douglass debates around Uncle Tom’s Cabin; and Stowe’s feminist theology.

Submissions will be reviewed and selected by leading Stowe scholars. We invite papers of article length, books or dissertations, or well-developed works-in-progress. All submissions should include an abstract. Invited speakers should be prepared to discuss, rather than read, their papers for 30-40 minutes and answer 10-15 minutes of audience questions and discussion. The Stowe Center will cover transportation costs (within reason) and accommodation for invited speakers.