The Biographies Area of the Popular Culture Association (PCA) is soliciting papers for the 2026 conference that examine the connections between biography and popular culture. Papers and full panel presentations regarding any aspect of popular culture and biography are encouraged. Potential topics might include:
Biography and entertainment, art, music, theater
Biography and film
Biography and criminal justice
Television programs about biography
Biography and urban legends
Biography and folklore
Biography and literature
Scholarly Biography
Controversial Biography
Psychoanalysis and Biography
Historical Biography
Political Biography
Autobiography
The conference will be held April 8-11, 2026 at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis, 265 Peachtree Center Ave NE. Sessions are scheduled in 1½ hour slots, typically with four papers or speakers per standard session. Presentations should not exceed 20 minutes.
Below are some recent titles of presentations in the Biographies Area panels:
- Sex, Drugs, and Rock-n-Roll: Celebrity Biography through the Lens of Autopsy
- Will Rogers: American Folk Hero or Elitist Fraud
- Manufacturing “Soupy Sales:” Biographical Insights in the Emergence of a Comic Entertainer
Please see this link for details and guidelines on submitting to the conference:
https://pcaaca.org/general/
If interested in submitting for the conference, please provide the title and abstract of your presentation.
Deadline for Paper Proposals: November 30, 2025.
Susie Skarl
Associate Professor/Urban Affairs Librarian
susie.skarl@unlv.edu
702-895-2141
