7th Biennial Asian Shakespeare Association Conference (Hong Kong, 12-14 June 2026)
Shakespeare exists across and between multiple worlds today. After centuries of circulation in Asia, Shakespeare inhabits all locales and cultural formations in ever-changing forms, but is contained by none. Neither completely virtual nor concretely embodied, long dead yet very much alive, inhabiting past, present and future in equal measure, Shakespeare continues to thrive in the act of playing, teaching and thinking. Recent Asian Shakespeare scholarship has critically reflected upon, yet ultimately celebrated such cross-cultural, international, world-wide flourishing, bringing together new arrangements, forms and collaborations of Shakespeare’s work across art, performance and cultures.
Unlike even a decade ago, however, it seems no longer self-evident that the portals and gateways that Shakespeare has opened in Asia and around the globe, connecting geographical locations, cultural sensibilities, political spheres of influence, forms of artistic expression and evolving media, will remain open. In light of recent challenges, the Asian Shakespeare Association invites Shakespeare scholars to Hong Kong to contemplate recent developments as well as long-standing issues in Shakespeare Studies in Asia and beyond and to reaffirm the value of keeping the conversation going. Organized in conjunction with the Tang Shu Wing Theatre Studio’s Hong Kong International Shakespeare Festival, “Shakespeare Between Worlds: Portals and Pathways” will bring together scholars, students and practitioners of Shakespeare for an exciting event that will combine scholarly activities with the opportunity to witness world-class international Asian Shakespeare performances.
In this spirit, we invite papers that examine Shakespeare’s existence between worlds, in portals and pathways. Topics of interest may include, but are explicitly not limited to:
— Cartography: borders, margins, frontiers
— Pathways: traffic, movement, migration
— Portals: history, temporality, transportation
— Networks: relationships, structures, capital, exchange
— Adaptation: interpretation, appropriation, animation, reception
— Mediality: virtuality, augmentation, remediation, artificial intelligence
— Performance: reality, embodiment, liveness
— Movement: theatricality, gesture, dance
— Acoustic: rhetoric, music, architecture
— Interculturality: dialogue, conversion, conflict
— Language: translation, hybridization, localization
— Education: pedagogy, ideology, interdisciplinarity
— Discourse: power relations, censorship, cultural transfer
— Diversity: gender, race, class, sexuality, disability
— Equity: decoloniality, justice, activism, audience, inclusivity
We look forward to seeing you all in Hong Kong in 2026!
About the ASA
The Asian Shakespeare Association (ASA), a non-profit, non-government organization founded in 2013 with its headquarters in the Philippines, is dedicated to researching, producing, teaching, translating, and promoting Shakespeare from Asian perspectives. Its hundreds of members come from more than forty countries. The ASA holds biennial conferences in Asian locations and has been to Taipei (2014), New Delhi (2016), Manila (2018), Seoul (2020), online (2022) and Iloilo (2024). Papers originated from the ASA conferences have been published as two books, Shakespeare’s Asian Journeys: Critical Encounters, Cultural Geographies, and the Politics of Travel (Routledge, 2017), Asian Interventions in Global Shakespeare (Routledge, 2020), a special issue “Intersections in Shakespeare” of Shakespeare Review (2022), and a special issue “Shakespeare in Asian Currents” of Shakespeare (2025).
About the Conference
The three-day conference consists of academic, theatrical, and social events.
Keynote Speakers
— Sujata Iyengar (University of Georgia)
— Shen Lin (Central Academy of Drama / China Academy of Art)
— Tang Shu-wing, MH (Tang Shu-wing Theatre Studio)
Theatrical Presentations
— Othello (dir. Tang Shu-wing, Tang Shu-wing Theatre Studio)
— Hamlet (dir. Pu Cunxin, Tibet Autonomous Region Drama Troupe)
About the Location
The conference will be jointly co-hosted by Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) and City University of Hong Kong (CityU) in their Kowloon City campuses, with other venues across Hong Kong including the West Kowloon Cultural District, Hong Kong Cultural Centre, and the HKU Black Box.
Submission Guidelines
The conference calls for proposals in two categories.
1. Panel Presentation: 20-minute delivery time
2. Symposium Presentation: 6-minute delivery time, in one of the following areas:
(1) Translating Shakespeare
(2) Digital and AI Shakespeares
(3) Teaching Shakespeare
(4) Shakespeare and Gender
(5) Popular Shakespeares
(6) Intercultural Shakespeare
Please submit a 250‐word abstract and a 100‐word bio, and specify which category and area you intend to join. Graduate students are welcome.
The deadline for submission is 30 November 2025. Results will be announced by January 2025.
Contact
Submissions and queries should be sent to admin@asianshakespeare.org. For conference updates, please visit AsianShakespeare.org