2026 Festival of Monsters - The Center for Monster Studies in Santa Cruz

Held in beautiful Santa Cruz, Calif., the 2026 Festival of Monsters academic conference will explore how monsters and language intertwine with panels on monsters and communication, cursed texts, monster poetry and more. Monster-related games will be played. Bioethicist author Rosemarie Garland-Thomson will to give a keynote talk, while comics writer Iván Brandon anchors a keynote panel on monstrous comics. The conference will take place Oct. 14-18, 2026, at the Courtyard by Marriott hotel (313 Riverside Ave, Santa Cruz, CA 950603) near the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. There will be a day of public events on Saturday, Oct. 17, in downtown Santa Cruz. The registration fee includes a welcome reception the evening of Oct. 14, breakfast and coffee Oct. 15-18, the Monsters Ball on the evening of October 17th, and all conference events. All conference presenters and attendees should register for the conference at https://bit.ly/2026MonsterEvent by Monday, Sept. 14, 2026. The conference costs $300 for tenure-track faculty, $275 for contingent faculty and independent scholars and $250 for graduate students. Current UC Santa Cruz students, staff and faculty may attend the conference for free. The free registration for DOES NOT include food. Visit https://bit.ly/UCSCMonster26 for UCSC-affiliated registration. If you are a UCSC-affiliated presenter at the conference, please contact Center staff for a code and register at https://bit.ly/2026MonsterEvent.