About us

The International Gothic Association (IGA) is the only professional organisation for scholars, students, artists, writers and performers interested in gothic cultures.

The International Gothic Association (IGA) promotes the study and dissemination of scholarship on all aspects of gothic studies.

The IGA brings together teachers, scholars, students, artists, writers and performers from around the world who are interested in any aspect of gothic culture: fiction, drama, poetry, art, film, music, dance, architecture, popular culture and technology. It promotes the study and dissemination of information on gothic culture from the mid-eighteenth century to the contemporary moment. Its purpose is to exchange and expand knowledge of and research on the gothic as widely and effectively as possible.  It also aims to encourage and support new and young scholars in the area of gothic studies.

The founding president of the IGA was Allan Lloyd Smith, of the University of East Anglia, where the inaugural conference of the International Gothic Association was held in 1991. As a memorial to Allan, who died in 2010, the IGA set up The Allan Lloyd Smith Memorial Prize for Gothic Criticism.

A truly international organisation, with over four hundred members from more than thirty country across the globe, the IGA holds an international conference every two years. Sponsored by host institutions from all over Europe and North America, the IGA conference has taken place in England, France, Germany, Canada, the United States and Mexico.

We look forward to welcoming new members in the future, and especially those from the currently less represented areas outside of Europe and North America.

The IGA promotes the study and dissemination of scholarship on all aspects of gothic studies.

In addition, the IGA sponsors joint sessions with other academic organisations, such as BARS (British Society for the Study of Romanticism), NASSR (North American Society for Studies in Romanticism), ACCUTE (Association of Canadian College and University Teachers of English) and ALA (American Literature Association).

Co-Presidents: Xavier Aldana Reyes (Manchester Metropolitan University, U.K.) and Karen Macfarlane (Mount Saint Vincent University, Halifax, Canada).

Executive Officer: Monica Germanà (University of Westminster, U.K.)

Our Constitution
Our Committee