icgrn conference 2026

Crime Fiction: Retrospection, Futurity, Reinvention

Friday 12th June – Saturday 13th June 2026

University College Dublin

Co-organised by Dr Ciara Gorman and Dr Emer O’Beirne

On the occasion of its twentieth anniversary, the International Crime Genre Research Network invites papers for its tenth biennial conference, on the theme of “Retrospection, Futurity, Reinvention”. Just as Tzvetan Todorov’s famous analysis of the genre sets the crime story on dual narrative tracks – one oriented towards the past and the other towards the future – we see prospection, retrospection and reconfiguration as key elements in crime narratives of all kinds. We frame this conference as a moment of reflection on the genre – as it stands in 2025 and in the context of its long histories and potential futures – and on its engagement with what Martin Swales describes as the “deep structures of change and stasis, of onward-moving events and retrospective reflection, of mystery and its resolution” that undergird the crime story. 

We thus invite participants to look both back and forward at past and current evolutions of the crime genre and its themes, forms and media, as well as its intersections with a range of genres – from literary or romance fiction to auteur cinema and social digital platforms – and time periods, from the medieval to the futuristic. We are as interested in the ‘micros’ of plot as in the ‘macros’ of history, politics and publishing, in the work of one author as in the workings of whole genres, and encourage papers which discuss crime narratives from a range of (inter)national traditions and interdisciplinary perspectives. How does the crime genre reflect (on) its own malleability – generic, sociological, or other? How have postcolonial and post-imperial crime narratives inflected understandings of what the genre is, was and can be? How do retrospection and nostalgia, futurity and optimism (or despair) work their way into the plots of crime narratives? How can crime stories, centrally focused in their twin narrative orientations on discerning truth from chaos and lies, speak truth to power in the present as we find ourselves in an age of strongmen and surveillance? How does the genre approach unfolding issues – climate change, vampiric technology, rentier capitalism – and (re)assess enduring ones, such as feminicide, patriarchy and discrimination? How have portraits of the criminals, detectives and victims who people the criminal landscape changed over time? How do narratives about cold cases, miscarriages of justice and cover-ups help us to understand “our” past as well as “the” past? 

Submissions on these and other aspects of crime fiction’s Janus-faced character are warmly invited. Papers are strictly limited to 20 minutes in length and must be delivered in English. 
Abstracts of 200 words max, along with a brief biographical note, should be addressed to the conference organisers at icgrnetwork@gmail.com by 30th November 2025. This email address should be used for any conference-related queries.

Conference Organisers
Dr Ciara Gorman, UCD
Dr Emer O’Beirne, UCD

ICGRN Committee
Dr Kate Quinn, University of Galway
Dr Marieke Krajenbrink, University of Limerick
Dr David Conlon, Maynooth University
Dr Dominique Jeannerod, Queen’s University Belfast