The Philip Roth Society

Please join the Philip Roth Society in congratulating Roth scholar Maggie McKinley on the publication of her new book, The Art of Looking Back: Joan Didion and American Nostalgia from LSU Press. From the publisher's website: In The Art of Looking Back, Maggie McKinley evaluates the complex nature of nostalgia in the canon of Joan Didion, a theme that has often been taken for granted, oversimplified, and misunderstood. In reassessing this fraught concept, McKinley emphasizes t

The Philip Roth Society is pleased to announce the winner of the 2026 Siegel/McDaniel Award recipient, Ariel Horowitz. Ariel is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Comparative Literature at Stanford University. His dissertation presents a comparative analysis of the concept of redemption in the writings of Hannah Arendt, Philip Roth, and S.Y. Agnon, weaving together theoretical works, close readings, and archival material. He is also interested in the interplay between

On March 20, 2026, a day after Roth's 93rd birthday, we celebrated him at Trieste during the symposium Philip Roth and Europe. We had three different panels. The first one was dedicated to "Roth in Prague," and was moderated by Debra Shostak, with presentations by Aimee Pozorski, David Brauner, and Maggie McKinley. The second panel, "Roth Across the Nations," was moderated by Pia Masiero with presentations by Sergia Adamo, Rachele Puddu, and Simone Sannio. We learned a lot ab

The 2025 Roth/Updike Conference was held at the Center for Jewish Center in New York City from October 19-22. Featuring a remarkable range of established and emergent scholars, the Conference celebrated the work, friendship, and rivalry of these two major American writers. Conference Directors Aimee Pozorski and Adam Sexton Reading and Discussion with Taffy Brodesser-Akner, Moderated by Steven Zipperstein and Aimee Pozorski Michael Updike and Olga Karasik-Updike A panel featu

The annual Siegel/McDaniel Award, sponsored by the Philip Roth Society, recognizes high-quality graduate student papers written within the past year on any aspect of Philip Roth’s work. (*we may also consider undergraduate work of exceptional quality). We recommend that faculty encourage their students to submit papers, and we welcome submissions from Roth Society members and non-members alike. PLEASE KNOW: if you finished your graduate studies in 2025, then your work may be

Check out this interview with scholar and former Roth Society President Matthew Shipe (author of Understanding Philip Roth and...