Conferences and Events

The Burneys: Crossroads, Revolutions, and Transformations

The Burney Society, North America

Place: New Brunswick, New Jersey

Date: June 12-13, 2025

Burney Society (NA) 2025 Conference Call for Papers

'Exploring Burneys': 25 Year Anniversary Conference

The Burney Society UK

Place: University of Greenwich, Historic Greenwich, London

Date: June 13-15, 2024

Burney Society UK 2024 Conference Call for Papers

The Burneys: Isolation, Gatherings, and Celebrations

The Burney Society, North America

Place: McGill University, Montreal, Quebec

Date: June 13-14, 2023

Burney Society UK Conference 2022

Date: June 11-13, 2022

'The Burney Society (North America) Virtual Zoom Conference: Re-reading, Re-viewing, and Re-assessing the Burneys'

Date: July 5-7, 2021

Behn Burney 2019: Celebrating Women in the Arts 1640-1840: Public Good(s)

Place: Auburn University College of Liberal Arts
Date: November 6-9, 2019
Conference website

Burney Society (UK) 2019 Conference: 'Locating the Burneys: from the Margins to the Mainstream'

Place: Bishop Grosseteste University, Lincoln
Date: July 30-August 1, 2019
Burney Society Conference Website

Burney Society Symposium: ‘Making Connections: Burney, Johnson, Thrale & Walpole’

Place: Dr Johnson’s House, Gough Square, London

Date: July 2, 2018

Symposium website

Pittsburgh 2017

Date: November 2-3, 2017

Place: Duquesne University, Pittsburgh PA

Plenary Speaker: Dr. Linda Zionkowski, Ohio University

Washington 2016

Date: October 20-21, 2016

Place: Trinity Washington University, Washington DC

Plenary Speaker: Dr. Tara Ghoshal Wallace (The George Washington University): "Burney and the Politics of Empire."

Brighton 2016: UK Burney Society AGM

Date: October 1, 2016

Place: University of Notre Dame, London

Plenary Speaker: Jeni Buckley "The Politics of Debt in Frances Burney's Camilla"

Durham 2016

Date: July 4-6, 2016

Place: St Chad's College, Durham

Plenary Speaker: Harriet Guest

Louisville 2015

Date: October 10, 2015

Place: Louisville, Kentucky

Plenary Speaker: Dr. Hilary Havens (University of Tennessee): "Two Decades of the Burney Society and Burney Studies"

London 2015

Date: 2015

Place: University of Notre Dame, London

Cardiff 2015: Scandal and Sociability: New Perspectives on the Burney Society

Date: September 1, 2015

Place: Cardiff University, Wales

Plenary Speaker: Prof. Peter Sabor (Director of the Burney Centre, McGill University)

Montreal 2014

Date: October 9-10, 2014

Place: Montreal, Quebec

Plenary Speakers: Dr. Misty Anderson (University of Tennessee) and Dr. Juliet McMaster (University of Alberta)

London 2014

Date: 2014

Place: University of Notre Dame, London

Plenary Speaker: Sir Brian Unwin: "A Tale in Two Cities"

London, 2013

Date: October 5, 2013

Place: University of Notre Dame, London

Plenary Speaker: Dr. Philip Olleson: "The Musical World of Susan Burney"

Minneapolis 2013

Date: September 27, 2013

Place: Minneapolis, Minnesota

Plenary Speaker: Dr. Lorna Clark (editor of volumes 3 & 4 (1788) of The Court Journals and Letters of Frances Burney)

Cambridge 2013

Date: July 21-24 2013

Place: Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge

Plenary Speakers: Dr. Peter Sabor (Director of the Burney Centre, McGill University): "Educating Alexander: Frances Burney d'Arblay and the 'Idol of the World'" and Dr. Philip Olleson, Professor Emeritus (University of Nottingham): "'Such Devoted Sisters': Susan and Frances Burney"

London 2012

Date: October 6, 2012

Place: University of Notre Dame, London

Plenary Speaker: Dr. Gillian Skinner (Durham University): "‘An Unsullied Reputation in the Midst of Danger’: Barsanti, Propriety and Performance in Burney’s Early Journals and Letters"

New York 2012
Date: October 3-4, 2012
Place: New York, New York

Plenary Speaker: Dr. Nancy E. Johnson (SUNY-New Palz): “Cecilia; or, A Young Philosopher’s Journey into the Smithean Marketplace”  

Fort Worth 2011
Date: October 14, 2011
Place: Fort Worth, Texas

Plenary Speakers: Dr. Peter Sabor and Dr. Stewart Cooke (Burney Centre): "Editing Frances Burney's Court Journals"

King's College 2011
Date: October 1, 2011
Place: King's College, London

Plenary Speakers: Dr. Peter Sabor and Dr. Stewart Cooke (Burney Centre): "Editing Frances Burney's Court Journals"

Portland, 2010
Date: October 28-29, 2010
Place: Portland, Oregon

Plenary Speaker: Dr. Cynthia Wall (University of Virginia): "The Impress of the Invisible"

King's College 2010
Date: October 2, 2010
Place: King's College, London

Plenary Speaker: Kate Chisholm: "Wits and Wives: The Women Who Knew Dr. Johnson"

Paris 2010

Date: June 10-11, 2010

Place: Paris, France

Plenary Speakers: Dr. Peter Sabor (McGill University): "Madame d'Arblay, Parisienne: new light on Burney's years in France"; Dr. Frédéric Ogee (Université-Paris Diderot)

Bethlehem 2009
Date: October 8, 2009
Place: Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

Plenary Speaker: Dr. Devoney Looser (University of Missouri)

Chawton 2009
Date: June 14, 2009
Place: Chawton, Hampshire

Plenary Speaker: Dr. Tina Davidson (University of Southampton): "The good, the bad and the shallow: conversation and the voicing of morality in Burney's novels"

Chicago 2008
Date: October 2-3, 2008
Place: Chicago, Illinois

Plenary Speaker: Dr. Helen Thompson, Northwestern University: "Distinction and the City: Free Indirect Speech and Burney's Political Imaginary."

Parham 2008
Date: June 15, 2008
Place: Parham, Sussex

Vancouver 2007
Date: October 5, 2007
Place: Vancouver, British Columbia

Plenary Speaker: Dr. Betty Schellenberg (Simon Fraser University)

Windsor 2007
Date: July 6-7, 2007
Place: Windsor, UK

Plenary Speakers: Dr. Patricia Crown: ‘His innumerable as well as beautiful works’: The Artist Edward Francis Burney" and Dr. Margaret Doody (University of Notre Dame): "Harlequin Fool and Ghostly Father: Burney's Ideas of Comedy and Tragedy"

Plenary Speaker: Dr. Margaret Doody (University of Notre Dame): "Borders, Invasions, Contested Spaces and Margins in 1814: Waverley, Patronage, Mansfield Park and The Wanderer"

Juniper Hall 2006
Date: June 6, 2006
Place: Juniper Hall, Mickleham, Surrey

Plenary Speakers: Dr. Mascha Gemmeke, (University of Greifswald): "Juliana Schwellenberg: Fanny Burney's temperamental superior at the Court of King George III" and Dr. Fiona Ritchie (King's College London/Dr Johnson's House): "Fanny Burney and Shakespeare"

Milwaukee 2005
Date: October 7, 2005
Place: Woman's Club of Wisconsin, Milwaukee

Plenary Speaker: Dr. Margaret Doody (University of Notre Dame): "Frances Burney and the Fantastic: Stretching the 'Real'"

Bath 2005
Date: July 3-4, 2005
Place: Holburne Museum of Art, Bath

Juniper Hall 2004
Date: June 13, 2004
Place: Juniper Hall, Mickleham, Surrey

Plenary Speakers: Dr. Paula Byrne (University of Liverpool): "Fanny Burney's Theatrical Connections" and Sarah Burton: "Literary links between the family of Charles and Mary Lamb and their contemporaries"

Montreal 2003
Date: October 9-11, 2003
Place: Montreal, Quebec

Plenary Speaker: Ian Kelly: "West End Girl: Burney on Shaftesbury Avenue (A Case Study of an Eighteenth-Century Comedy on the Contemporary Stage)"

Juniper Hall 2003
Date: June 15, 2003
Place: Juniper Hall, Mickleham, Surrey

Plenary Speaker: Bill Fraser: "Esther Burney and her Family Circle"

Toronto 2002
Date: October 11, 2002
Place: Toronto, Ontario

Plenary Speaker: Dr. Betty Rizzo (City College of New York): "Scissors, Paper, and Cloth: Burney Composing"

Westminster Abbey 2002
Date: June 13, 2002
Place: Westminster Abbey, UK

Featuring the unveiling and dedication of a memorial to Frances Burney in Poets' Corner.

Memorial Programme (pdf)

Address and Remarks, from the Burney Letter, 8.2 (Fall 2002) (pdf)

"Recognition for a lost literary voice," by Kate Chisholm, originally published in the Evening Standard, June 13, 2002 (pdf)

"Poet's Corner memorial for Fanny Burney," by Maev Kennedy, originally published in The Guardian, June 13, 2002 (html)

Seattle 2001
Date: October 5, 2001
Place: Seattle, Washington

Plenary Speaker: Dr. Michael Wheeler (University of Southampton/Chawton House Library): "Beginning with Frances Burney"

Juniper Hall 2001
Date: June 10, 2001
Place: Juniper Hall, Mickleham, Surrey

Plenary Speakers: Ian Kelly: "The Production of A Busy Day at the Lyric Theatre in London's West End" and Hester Davenport: "Two Edward Burney Illustrations for Evelina, Known and Unknown"

Boston 2000
Date: October 13, 2000
Place: Boston, Massachusetts

Plenary Speaker: Janice Farrar Thaddeus: "Sharpening Cecilia: Frances Burney as Professional Writer"

Juniper Hall 2000
Date: June 11, 2000
Place: Juniper Hall, Mickleham, Surrey

Plenary Speaker: Annette Koback: "Mme de Staël and Fanny Burney"

Colorado Springs 1999
Date: October 8, 1999
Place: Colorado Springs, Colorado

Plenary Speaker: Stewart Cooke: "Sweet Cecilia and Brown George: Editing Volume 5 (1782-83) of Burney's Early Journals and Letters"

Juniper Hall 1999
Date: June 13, 1999
Place: Juniper Hall, Mickleham, Surrey

Plenary Speaker: Kate Chisholm: "Fanny Burney and The Wanderer"

Quebec City 1998
Date: October 9, 1998
Place: Quebec City, Quebec

Plenary Speakers: Lars Troide (delivered by Stewart Cooke): "The McGill Burney Project" and Maggie Lane: "Fanny Burney and Bath"

Badminton 1998
Date: June 14, 1998
Place: Badminton, Gloucestershire

Plenary Speaker: Maggie Lane: "Fanny Burney and Bath"

San Francisco 1997
Date: October 3, 1997
Place: San Francisco, California

Plenary Speakers: Dr. Peter Sabor (Université Laval): "Annie Raine Ellis, Austin Dobson, and the Rise of Burney Studies" and Dr. John Wiltshire (La Trobe University): "James Burney: A Brief Account"

Juniper Hall 1997
Date: June 8, 1997
Place: Juniper Hall, Mickleham, Surrey

Plenary Speaker: Dr. Judy Simons (Sheffield Hallam University): "Miss Somebody: The Diary of Frances Burney"

Richmond 1996
Date: October 10-11, 1996
Place: Richmond, Virginia

Plenary Speaker: Dr. Juliet McMaster (University of Edmonton): "Body Language in Camilla"

Juniper Hall 1996
Date: June 9, 1996
Place: Juniper Hall, Mickleham, Surrey

Plenary Speaker: Alan Coveney: "Fanny Burney and the Theatre - A Busy Day"

Madison 1995
Date: October 5, 1995
Place: Madison, Wisconsin

Plenary Speaker: Dr. Margaret Anne Doody (Vanderbilt University): "Frances Burney: Diarist, Dramatist, and Novelist"

Juniper Hall 1995
Date: June 11, 1995
Place: Juniper Hall, Mickleham, Surrey

Plenary Speaker: Karin Fernald: "Miss Burney, her Family and her Friends"