Bart Mulderij

Research Areas:
Period: 20th Century Gothic, 21st Century Gothic
Gender: Female Gothic, Gothic Masculinity
Interdisciplinary Approaches: Folklore and Myth, Spirituality and Religion
Genres and Media: Animation, Fiction, Film and TV, Games
Regions and Cultures: American Gothic, English Gothic, European Gothic, Irish Gothic
Creatures: Aliens, Animals, Ghosts, Monsters, Vampires, Zombies

Bart Mulderij holds master’s degrees in English Literature and Culture and in Arts, Media, and Literary Studies (Research Master) from the University of Groningen. His research focuses on Gothic, Weird, and speculative fiction, with particular attention to Arthur Machen and the exploration of transgression and forbidden knowledge. He has presented at international conferences, including Gothic Crossroads (Manchester, 2025) and the VPFA Annual Conference (Birmingham, 2025), and has organised OSL symposia on contemporary Gothic and supernatural literature. He is currently exploring PhD opportunities to further develop his research.

Email: mulderij.b@gmail.com

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Owain Talfryn

Affiliation: Uppsala University

Research Areas:
Period: 19th Century Gothic, 20th Century Gothic
Interdisciplinary Approaches: Eco-Gothic, Folklore and Myth
Genres and Media: Fiction, Film and TV, Children and YA, Games, Poetry, Tourism and Travel
Regions and Cultures: Postcolonial Gothic, English Gothic, European Gothic, Irish Gothic, Nordic Gothic, Scottish Gothic, Welsh Gothic
Creatures: Animals

Owain Talfryn is a Welsh PhD student in English Literature with a special interest in folklore and the Gothic.

Email: owain.talfryn@engelska.uu.se

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Posted March 20, 2026

Longlists announced for the International Gothic Association Book Prizes 2026

Now that all nominations have been received and verified, it is a pleasure to announce the longlists for the two IGA book Prizes.

Now that all nominations have been received and verified, it is a pleasure to announce the longlists for the two IGA book Prizes. Five monographs were nominated for the Alan Lloyd Smith prize, and eight essay collections were nominated for the Justin D. Edwards prize, with many books receiving multiple nominations. The resulting longlists are as follows:

Longlist for the Allan Lloyd Smith Prize for Best Monograph 2026:

  • Dale Townshend, Matthew Gregory Lewis: The Gothic and Romantic Literary Culture (University of Wales Press, 2024)
  • Emma McEvoy, The Music of the Gothic, 1789-1820 (Cambridge University Press, 2024)
  • Rebecca Wynne-Walsh, New Basque Gothic (Manchester University Press, 2025)
  • David Ashford, A Book of Monsters: Promethean Horror in Modern Literature and Culture (Manchester University Press, 2024)
  • Joana Jacob Ramalho, Memory and the Gothic Aesthetic in Film (Palgrave Macmillan, 2025)

Longlist for the Justin D. Edwards Prize for Best Edited Collection 2026

  • Nick Groom and William Hughes, eds., The Vampire: An Edinburgh Companion (Edinburgh University Press, 2025)
  • Andrew Smith, ed., The Victorian Ghost Story: An Edinburgh Companion (Edinburgh University Press, 2025)
  • Robert Edgar, Lauren Stephenson and John Marland, eds., Horrifying Children: Hauntology and the Legacy of Children’s Television (Bloomsbury, 2024)
  • John Whatley, ed., The Gothic in Times of Crisis (Manchester University Press, 2025)
  • Carol Margaret Davison, ed., Gothic Dreams and Nightmares (Manchester University Press, 2024)
  • Barbara Chamberlin, Julia Round, and Kom Kunyosying, eds., Horror and Comics (University of Wales Press, 2025)
  • Sam George and Bill Hughes, eds., The Legacy of John Polidori: The Romantic Vampire and its Progeny (Manchester University Press, 2024)
  • Ruth Heholt and Jo Parsons, eds., Ghosts and the Gothic (Manchester University Press, 2025)

All nominations will be assessed by a panel of past winners and presidents of the IGA. The Chair for the prize panels is Joseph Crawford. The Secretary for the prize is Alexia Ainsworth. A shortlist will be published on the IGA website by the middle of July. The prizes will be presented (or, if a winning author is not present, announced) during the conference which, this year, is hosted at the University of Hull, July 28-31 2026.

Congratulations to all nominees!

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Buke Saglam

Affiliation: University of Vigo

Research Areas:
Period: Early Modern Gothic, 18th Century Gothic, 19th Century Gothic, 20th Century Gothic, 21st Century Gothic
Gender: Female Gothic, Gothic Gender
Interdisciplinary Approaches: Eco-Gothic, Folklore and Myth, Technology, Medicine and Science, Spirituality and Religion
Genres and Media: Animation, Arts, Fiction, Film and TV, Games, Comics and Graphic Novels, Poetry, Theatre and Performance
Regions and Cultures: American Gothic, Arctic Gothic, Canadian Gothic, English Gothic, European Gothic, Irish Gothic, Nordic Gothic, Scottish Gothic
Creatures: Aliens, Animals, Ghosts, Monsters, Vampires

Researcher focusing on the entanglements of weird fiction, posthumanism, and the medical/health humanities across languages.

Email: buke.saglam@rai.usc.es

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Penny Senanarong

Affiliation: University of Bath

Research Areas:
Period: 20th Century Gothic, 21st Century Gothic
Interdisciplinary Approaches: Eco-Gothic, Folklore and Myth, Spirituality and Religion
Genres and Media: Animation, Fiction, Film and TV, Games, Poetry
Regions and Cultures: Postcolonial Gothic, Asian Gothic, English Gothic, European Gothic
Creatures: Animals, Ghosts, Monsters, Vampires

Penny Senanarong is a PhD researcher at the University of Bath, whose research focuses on climate change, with an interest in folklore and the eco-gothic.

Email: senanarong@yahoo.com

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Kate Foster

Affiliation: University of Reading

Research Areas:
Period: 19th Century Gothic, 20th Century Gothic
Interdisciplinary Approaches: Folklore and Myth, Technology, Medicine and Science, Spirituality and Religion
Genres and Media: Arts, Fiction, Film and TV
Regions and Cultures: English Gothic, European Gothic, Irish Gothic, Scottish Gothic, Welsh Gothic
Creatures: Ghosts, Monsters, Vampires, Zombies

Kate Foster is a lecturer in French and ECR in French Studies and Comparative Literature. Interests: artificial bodies; human-technology interfaces; contagion; automation; text-image relations; cultural history.

Email: katelouisefoster@gmail.com

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Shabnam Ahsan

Affiliation: University of Hertfordshire

Research Areas:
Period: 19th Century Gothic, 20th Century Gothic, 21st Century Gothic
Gender: Female Gothic
Interdisciplinary Approaches: Folklore and Myth
Genres and Media: Fiction, Children and YA
Regions and Cultures: Postcolonial Gothic, Asian Gothic, English Gothic
Creatures: Animals, Ghosts, Monsters, Vampires

Shabnam Ahsan researches the Gothic in British and South Asian fairy tales, specialising in nineteenth-century Indian tales and contemporary retellings by British South Asian authors.

Email: shabnamahsan1@gmail.com
Website: https://www.opengravesopenminds.com/about-2/ogom-people

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Andrew Smith

Affiliation: University of Sheffield

Research Areas:
Period: 19th Century Gothic, 20th Century Gothic
Gender: Female Gothic, Gothic Masculinity, Queer Gothic
Interdisciplinary Approaches: Eco-Gothic
Genres and Media: Fiction, Film and TV
Regions and Cultures: Postcolonial Gothic, English Gothic, Irish Gothic
Creatures: Ghosts, Vampires

Andrew Smith is Emeritus Professor of Nineteenth-Century English Literature, University of Sheffield.

Email: smtandy8@aol.com

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Phillip Royce Johnson

Affiliation: Tokyo International University

Research Areas:
Period: 20th Century Gothic
Interdisciplinary Approaches: Folklore and Myth, Technology, Medicine and Science, Spirituality and Religion
Genres and Media: Animation, Arts, Fiction, Film and TV, Games, Poetry, Tourism and Travel, Virtual Gothic

Phillip Johnson is a professor at Tokyo International University specialised in writing courses. His passion for literature, creative writing, design, and emergent technology have opened new vistas in his research.

Email: phillipteacher@gmail.com

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Malinda Hackett

Affiliation: Claremont Graduate University

Research Areas:
Period: 18th Century Gothic, 19th Century Gothic, 20th Century Gothic, 21st Century Gothic
Gender: Female Gothic, Gothic Masculinity, Queer Gothic, Trans Gothic, Gothic Gender
Interdisciplinary Approaches: Eco-Gothic, Folklore and Myth
Genres and Media: Fiction, Film and TV, Children and YA, Comics and Graphic Novels
Regions and Cultures: Postcolonial Gothic, African Gothic, American Gothic, Black Gothic, Caribbean Gothic, Creole Gothic, English Gothic, European Gothic, Irish Gothic, Latin American Gothic
Creatures: Animals, Ghosts, Monsters, Vampires, Zombies

Malinda Hackett is a graduate student at Claremont Graduate University and a part-time adjunct at California State University, Northridge.

Email: malinda.hackett@cgu.edu

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