Festival of Monsters: Academic Conference

Name: Festival of Monsters: Academic Conference
Start: 2026-10-14T00:00:00-07:00
End: 2026-10-18T23:59:59-07:00
Location: Courtyard by Marriott Santa Cruz

October 14 – October 18

Event Series (See All)

Free

The 2026 Festival of Monsters image is a monstrous banana slug rampaging across a city, like a kaiju.

The 2026 Festival of Monsters Academic Conference (Oct. 14-18, 2026) explores how monsters and language intertwine with panels on monsters and communication, cursed texts, monster poetry and more. Monster-related games will be played. Comics writer Iván Brandon and bioethicist author Rosemarie Garland Thomson are scheduled to give the keynote talks.

The academic conference will take place at the Courtyard by Marriott hotel (313 Riverside Ave, Santa Cruz, CA 950603) near the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. There will be additional public events on Wednesday, Oct. 14 and Saturday, Oct. 17, in downtown Santa Cruz. The Festival is sponsored by the UC Santa Cruz Center for Monster Studies.

Current UC Santa Cruz students, staff and faculty may attend the conference for free. Free registration for the conference does not include food. Visit https://bit.ly/UCSCMonster26 to register.

Details

Start: October 14
End: October 18

Series:

Festival of Monsters 2026

Cost: Free
Event Category: Conference
Event Tags:arts division, Center for Monster Studies, Festival of Monsters, Free Event, Humanities, PPD, THI, UCSC
Website: https://www.monsterstudies.ucsc.edu/2026fest

Organizers

Venue

Courtyard by Marriott Santa Cruz
313 Riverside Ave
Santa Cruz, 95060 United States + Google Map