The Journal of Romance Studies (JRS) is pleased to welcome two new editors, Professor Sara Kippur (Wellesley College, USA) and Dr Sheela Mahadevan (University of Liverpool, UK), who will lead the journal into its next chapter.
Both bring extensive experience as researchers, authors and editors, with research interests encompassing literary and cultural studies, translation, multilingualism, world literature and transnational cultural exchange. Their work reflects the international outlook and cross-disciplinary engagement that have long defined the journal.
Sara Kippur
Sara Kippur is Professor of French and Chair of the Department of French, Francophone and Italian Studies at Wellesley College. She is the author of two monographs, New York Nouveau: How Postwar French Literature Became American (Stanford, 2025) and Writing It Twice: Self-Translation and the Making of a World Literature in French (Northwestern, 2015), as well as co-editor of Being Contemporary: French Literature, Culture and Politics Today (Liverpool, 2016). She brings additional editorial experience from her work on the editorial board of PMLA (2022-2024) and as co-editor of a special issue on Sartre in the Journal of Romance Studies (2006). She is delighted to partner with Sheela Mahadevan as the next editors of JRS.
Sheela Mahadevan
Sheela Mahadevan is Lecturer in French and Francophone Studies at the University of Liverpool, UK. Her recent publications include the translation of the French novel Lakshmi’s Secret Diary by Ari Gautier (Columbia University Press, 2024), which was shortlisted for the 2025 Society of Authors TA First Translation Prize, and the monograph Writing between Languages: Translation and Multilingualism in Indian Francophone Writing (Bloomsbury, 2025), part of the ‘Advances in Translation’ series. She is currently co-editing, with Charles Forsdick, the volume Translation as Research: New Perspectives, which is forthcoming with UCL Press, and is Consultant Editor for the Cambridge Journal of Literary Translation. She is delighted to collaborate with Sara Kippur on the forthcoming issues of JRS.
Call for papers
JRS invites submissions of articles and special issue proposals for forthcoming issues of the journal.
The journal’s primary focus is on those parts of the world that speak, or have spoken, French, Italian, Spanish or Portuguese, but articles referring to other languages and cultures, as well as in comparative contexts, are also encouraged. Articles published in the JRS cross national and disciplinary boundaries in order to stimulate new ways of thinking about cultural history and practice. Please see past issues at the following link: https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/journal/jrs.
The journal promotes innovative critical work in the areas of linguistics, literature, translation studies, literary multilingualism, postcolonial studies, eco-criticism, performing and visual arts, media, material culture, intellectual and cultural history, critical and cultural theory, psychoanalysis, gender studies, social sciences and anthropology.
JRS is published by Liverpool University Press.
Articles should be between 6,000 – 8,000 words in length. Please submit open articles via the website which provides access to the journal’s submission system. Please also make sure articles are formatted in line with the JRS Style Guide which can also be found on the LUP website.
Special issues normally consist of 5-7 articles (6,000 – 8,000 words each in length) preceded by an introduction. In the first instance, prospective editors of special issues should contact the editors of the journal to provide a rationale for the issue and a list of intended contributors. Please email outline proposals to sheela.mahadevan@liverpool.ac.uk and sk130@wellesley.edu.
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