Spotlight on the New Queer Medievalisms Series Board

During the month of June, MIP will be featuring works in our New Queer Medievalisms and Premodern Transgressive Literatures series that explore what it has meant to be queer through the ages. We want to share our publications in queer studies with all of you in a spirit of love, visibility, and affirmation—to spread the word about our series that provide a home for important work in queer medieval studies; to share fascinating blog posts, podcasts, and open access resources related to these works; and to support the work of our authors and welcome new authors to publish with us. Happy Pride!

Our New Queer Medievalisms Series explores new directions in the study of queer, gay, lesbian, transgender, intersex and asexual medieval identities and simultaneously expands the work of the queer Middle Ages beyond early English and continental studies. Almost every area of Medieval Studies has a dedicated group of scholars interrogating the connections between medieval topics and Queer Studies; NQM provides these scholars with a new venue dedicated to their work while also bringing new scholarly and geographic specialties into the conversation.

The Series Editors of New Queer Medievalisms are Will Rogers (University of Louisiana at Monroe) and Michelle M. Sauer (University of North Dakota). One of the founding editors of the series, Rogers has gathered a dynamic and diverse advisory board to shape the future of the series. When Sauer joined Rogers as series editor in 2022, Rogers remarked, "As someone who has published groundbreaking and innovative work at the intersection of Queer Theory and medieval studies, Michelle will bring new energy to the expanding activities of the board." Rogers and Sauer work with Christopher Roman (Kent State University)—who initially founded the series with Rogers—Anna Klosowska (Miami University), Gabrielle Bychowski (Case Western Reserve University), Bill Burgwinkle (King's College, Cambridge), and Natalie Grinnell (Wofford College) to extend the important work of investigating the intersection of queer theory with the study of the Middle Ages by expanding the conception of queerness and queer identity.

The series currently consists of two books: Medieval Futurity: Essays for the Future of a Queer Medieval Studies, edited by Rogers and Roman, and Postmodern Poetry and Queer Medievalisms: Time Mechanics, edited by David Hadbawnik. Burgwinkle looks forward to NQM's "continued growth and its celebration of free academic endeavor" and says, "The broadening of categories such as gender, sexuality, and identity is crucial to understanding the past.  Too many historians have presented it through a binarist, heterosexist, and patriarchal prism by ignoring or dismissing data and material that was available but challenged those norms.  We hope that NQM can offer an antidote and alternative." Future volumes will highlight the sadomasochistic qualities of Beowulf; the potential of Gower's poetry for destabilizing normative views of sex, gender, and the body; an exploration of queer textures and materiality; and more.

As the series looks to future books and potential projects, the board is committed to offering a dedicated venue for the amplification of queer and marginalized voices of the premodern past and the postmodern future. As Kłosowska reflects, "A queer medieval series enables us all to find our ancestors, affirm that queer, trans, asexual and nobinary people have always existed, and better understand the present because we can reflect on the documents and texts of the past."

Series Keywords: queer, gender, medieval, medievalism, transgender, sexuality, religion, history.

Geographical Scope: Global

Chronological Scope: 400-1500 CE

Interested in pitching a book to New Queer Medievalisms? Please contact Tyler Cloherty, the acquisitions editor for the series, or propose a project through our webform and Tyler will reach out to you to find out more!