Narrative Conferences
Past Conferences + Workshops + Schools
Every year, gatherings take place across the globe to discussing narrative research, communications and media strategies and emerging issues of concern. Topics reveal trends in response to changes in the media, advances in technology and global events. Suggest a conference to add.
Annual
IGEL Conference
Narrative Conference of the ISSN
Netherlands Winter School on Narrative
Project Narrative Summer Institute
The Power of Narrative
Bi-Annual
Conference of The Association for Studies in Fiction and Fictionality (ASIFF)
Narrative Matters
2026
Netherlands Winter School on Narrative
January 20-22
Enschede, Netherlands.
Narrative and the Arts
The Netherlands Winter School on Narrative is a joint initiative to bring together the next generation of narrative scholars and practitioners in responsible interdisciplinary work on narrative. More.
2025
The Netherlands Winter School on Narrative
January 20-24
Groningen, Netherlands.
The Power of Narrative Conference
March 28-29
Boston, MA USA.
Narrative Conference of the International Society for the Study of Narrative (ISSN)
April 2-6
Miami, FL USA.
European Narratology Network Conference
September 29 - October 1
Wuppertal, Germany.
Narrative Power Summit
May 7-10
New Orleans, LA USA.
Narrative Matters
May 13-16
The American University of Paris and Université Paris Cité, Paris, France.
2025 Project Narrative Summer Institute
June 2-13, online.
APL Conference
August 20-22
Frankfurt, Germany
8th International Workshop on Computational Models of Narrative
May 28-30
Geneva, Switzerland.
Annual Conference of the International Society for the Empirical Study of Literature (IGEL)
June 5-6
Austin, TX, USA.
Zip-Scene
October 23-25
Prague, Czech Republic.
Synthetic Narratives
October 25-26
Hoboken, NJ USA
COP30
November 29, online.
Narrative and the Mind
The 2025 winter school was on the interplay between narrative and the mind, to examine how cognition is informed by narrativity, and how narratives are shaped by our cognitive engagement. More.
Boston University's annual narrative journalism conference. More.
Limits of Narrative
In view of the rampant use of the term ‘narrative’, which often enough lacks a precise meaning, it is time to take a critical look at its limits. Which phenomena cannot be appropriately labeled as 'narrative'? What are legitimate and illegitimate uses of narrative? More.
The Narrative Power Summit (NPS), co-hosted by RadComms and ReFrame, is a transformative convening for social justice communicators and movement workers. More.
Disparate Narrative Worlds: Crisis, Conflict & the Possibility of Hope.
Conference website.
Narrative Theory: Foundations and Innovations
Project Narrative Summer Institute is a one-week course centered around narrative theory, through Ohio State University. Learn more.
Borders / DIALECTICS / Civility
Amidst the clamor for walls and fences and the host of anti-gay and anti-trans legislation being passed throughout parts of the United States and Europe, with civic life becoming increasingly gentrified and the borders between the haves and the have-nots and between the Global North and the Global South wider than they have previously been, with the space between the literary and mere “content production” (or between authority and mere opinion) paradoxically ossifying in the process of dissolving, this call for papers asks after the ways philosophy and literature interlink in coming to terms with these problems. Conference website.
The 2025 Computational Models of Narrative workshop series was dedicated to advancing the computationally-grounded scientific study of narrative, a crucial aspect of human experience used for communication, persuasion, explanation, and entertainment. More.
Creativity, Story Experience, and Reflection
Conference website and program.
Hunting for Attention: Interactive Digital Storytelling in Fragmented Attention Landscapes
The Zip-Scene Conference takes XR/extended reality (VR/AR/MR) and Metaverse-related works seriously and treats them on equal footing to film and performing arts, and wishes to expand its scientific treatment and reflection. More.
Synthetic Narratives convened leading artists, technologists, and philosophers to ask what storytelling looks like when the line between human and machine authorship begins to blur. More.
Climate Change: Stories from the Front Line
An online symposium examining how stories themselves, of all kinds, can contribute to our understanding of climate change and to the struggle to make our societies more sustainable. More.
2024
The Netherlands Winter School on Narrative
January 16-18
Enschede, Netherlands.
Narrative Conference of the International Society for the Study of Narrative (ISSN)
April 17-19
Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom.
Annual Conference of the International Society for the Empirical Study of Literature (IGEL)
July 5-6
Aachen, Germany.
International Symposium: Science with/in Literature
December 16
Chungbuk, Korea.
Creating Change: Integrating Narrative Research and Storytelling Practice
This interdisciplinary winter school invites researchers and practitioners from the humanities, behavioral, social, and technological sciences to take stock and reflect on their work. More.
More.
Perspectivity
Conference website.
2023
Narrative Conference of the International Society for the Study of Narrative (ISSN)
March 1-4
Dallas, TX USA.
NARRALINCOG
May 17-19
Madrid, Spain.
Narrative Matters
May 13-16
Tampere University, Tampere, Finland.
7th International Workshop: Communication of Science and Literature in the multiverse
July 3-5
Aegina, Greece.
Annual Conference of the International Society for the Empirical Study of Literature (IGEL)
September 28-30
Monopoli, Italy.
Narrative, Linguistics, and Cognition: Interdisciplinary approaches to narrative and storyworld possible selves
The “narrative turn” in the social sciences has highlighted the need for specific methods that allow the systematic study of narrative experiencing from interdisciplinary perspectives. More.
Instrumental Narratives: Narrative Studies & the Storytelling Boom
Storytelling consultants are thriving in today’s storytelling economy, but where are narrative scholars? Do the professional analyzers and theorizers of narrative have a say in the current storytelling boom? Conference website.
Discussing various views on the role and presence of science and literature communication in a highly diversified world, including science diplomacy as it is connected with our questions for the past, the present and the future of the world in various ways. More.
Rhythm, Speed, Path: Spatiotemporal Experiences in Narrative, Poetry, and Drama
IGEL 2023 is co-located with the 7th conference of the European Narratology Network (ENN), and the final event of ELIT, the Empirical Study of Literature Training Network. Conference website and program.
2022
frank 2022
February 23-24
Gainesville, FL USA.
Narrative Matters
May 16-19
Mercer University, Atlanta, GA USA.
Annual Conference of the International Society for the Empirical Study of Literature (IGEL)
July 14-16, online.
International Narrative Conference on Narrative Therapy and Community Work
August 8-12
Kigali, Rwanda.
In Real Life
At frank 2022 we explored the role of lived experience in driving lasting social change. More.
Narrative and Personal & Social Transformation
Learn more.
Diversity and Inclusion in Literature and Media
Conference website and program.
This conference featured the diverse work of Rwandan practitioners with children and families and from narrative therapists and community workers from many different parts of the world. More.
2021
frank 2021
April 29, online.
Narrative Conference of the International Society for the Study of Narrative (ISSN)
May 19-23, online.
Extravaganza
More.
2020
Narrative Conference of the International Society for the Study of Narrative (ISSN)
March 5-7
New Orleans, LA USA.
frank 2020
April 29, online.
frank is back for its seventh year, and at this gathering we’re going to play with your emotions. Or at least how you can intentionally use emotion in your work. More.
2019
frank 2019
February 6
Gainesville, FL USA.
APL 2019
May 29 - June 2
Gainesville, FL USA.
Narrative Conference of the International Society for the Study of Narrative (ISSN)
May 30 - June 1
Pamplona, Spain.
Space
Explore space in all of its different meanings. More.
Truth, Fiction, Illusion: Worlds and Experience
Today’s authoritarian populism has returned us to questions of the fragility of truth. These questions have cast deep divisions in contemporary life. To what extent are such worlds themselves constituted through truths or fictions, through narratives? More.
2018
frank 2018
February 10
Gainesville, FL USA.
Narrative Conference of the International Society for the Study of Narrative (ISSN)
April 18-22
Montreal, Canada.
Narrative Matters
July 2-5
University of Twente, Twente, Netherlands.
ABCs of Narrative
The current booming interest for narrative or “story-telling” across academic disciplines and professional fields comes with the need for a better understanding and an interdisciplinary dialogue between the arts and humanities; the natural and computer sciences; and the behavioral, social, and health sciences. Conference website.
2017
frank 2017
January 20-24
Gainesville, FL USA.
Narrative Conference of the International Society for the Study of Narrative (ISSN)
March 23-26
Lexington, KY USA.
The Narrative/Metaphor Nexus Project
30 March - 1 April
Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Look Both Ways: Narrative and Metaphor in Education
The 2025 winter school was on the interplay between narrative and the mind, to examine how cognition is informed by narrativity, and how narratives are shaped by our cognitive engagement. Learn more.
2016
frank 2016
February 25
Gainesville, FL USA.
Narrative Matters
June 20-23
Royal Roads University & University of Victoria, Victoria, Canada.
Narrative/Metaphor Nexus Project
January
Stanford, CA USA.
How Narrative Research Transforms People and Communities
Learn more.
Narrative and Metaphor in the Law
Legal scholars and specialists from cognitive theory, journalism, rhetoric, social psychology, criminology, and legal activism explored how narrative and metaphor are both vital to the legal process. More.
2014
frank 2014
February 1
Gainesville, FL USA
Narrative Matters
June 23-27
Paris Diderot University, Paris, France.
Narrative Knowing
Learn more.
2012
Narrative/Metaphor Nexus Project
March
Claremont, USA.
Narrative Matters
May29 - June 1
The American University of Paris, Paris, France.
Warring with Words: Narrative and Metaphor in Domestic and International Politics
More.
Life and Narrative
Learn more.
2010
Narrative/Metaphor Nexus Project
October
Berkeley, CA USA.
Narrative Matters
May 29 - June 1
St Thomas University, Fredericton, Canada.
Exploring the Narrative Landscape
Learn more.
Binocular Vision: Narrative and Metaphor in Medicine
Topics included: narrative and metaphor in patients’ experience of illness, the narrative medicine programs which have been developed in medical schools and the value of adding a metaphor dimension to these. More.
2006
Narrative Matters
May 25
Acadia University, Wolfville, Nova Scotia Canada.
The Storied Nature of Human Experience: Fact and Fiction
Learn more.
2004
Narrative Matters
May 20-23
St Thomas University, Fredericton, NB Canada.
The Power of Story in a Postmodern World
Reflections and presentations from this conference were included in a special issue of the McGill Journal of Education and a two-part special issue of Interchange: A Quarterly Review of Education (Part 1 and Part 2). Learn more.
2002
Narrative Matters
May 19-21
St Thomas University, Fredericton, NB Canada.
The inaugural Narrative Matters conference. Learn more.
1996
The Narrative/Metaphor Nexus Project
July 8-10
University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
Narrative and Metaphor across the Disciplines
Convened contributors from architecture, dance, economics, education, environmental studies, history, indigenous studies, law, literature, media studies, medicine, nursing, organisation theory, philosophy, politics, and psychology. More.