CALL FOR PAPERS AND READINGS
The Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature invites you to participate in its 41st Annual Symposium
Writing the Midwest: A Symposium of Scholars and Creative Writers
May 12-14, 2011 Michigan State University Union, East Lansing, Michigan
The Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature is devoted to the study and production of Midwestern literature in whatever directions the insight, imagination, and curiosity of the members may lead. The annual symposium brings together writers, scholars, and filmmakers to present criticism, poetry, fiction, one-act drama, and creative nonfiction.
The Society offers $250 prizes for the best poem, creative prose piece, and literary criticism read at the conference. There is also a $250 prize for student work in any genre, and winning entries are published in MidAmerica. Critical work presented at the conference may be also submitted for inclusion in one of the Society’s two refereed publications, MidAmerica and Midwestern Miscellany.
All presenters must be members (or must become members) of the Society. Dues are $25 for students, $35 for emeritus faculty, and $45 for all others. Up to twenty student scholarships are available providing waiver of 2011 membership dues; scholarship awardees who receive financial support from their colleges or universities to present at the conference will also receive up to $100 in matching funds. All presenters, including those awarded student scholarships, must pre-register and pay the conference registration fee ($25 for students and $85 for all others). Membership and pre-registration forms, as well as information on lodging, may be found on the SSML website: http://www.ssml.org.
We welcome proposals for individual papers, panels, and roundtables on Midwestern literature, and reading of creative work with a Midwestern emphasis. Please plan on fifteen minutes for creative and scholarly presentations. Please submit proposals and queries to the program chair, Ken Grant, at kenneth.grant@uwc.edu or at E11960 Kessler Rd., Baraboo, WI 53913. The deadline for proposals is Tuesday, February 1, 2011. All proposals must include the following information:
- The title of your proposed paper or reading;
- Your name and institutional affiliation or, if an independent scholar/creative writer, your home town;
- Your mailing address, e-mail address, and telephone number;
- Days and times during the conference that it would be impossible for you to present;
- If you are a new participant, please provide an abstract of your paper, or if you are proposing to read creative work, please submit a short sample of recent work.
- If you are a student, indicate whether you wish to be considered for a scholarship waiver of the 2011 dues. If you are also applying for support from your college or university to present at this conference, let us know whether you wish to be considered for up to $100 in matching funds.
Cautionary Note on Audiovisual Support: As a way of avoiding additional Symposium expenses and minimizing hardware/software incompatibility, we encourage presentations that do not rely on audiovisual support. If your presentation requires audiovisual support, please let Ken Grant know immediately so that you can be scheduled for a day and time when a data projector and screen will be available. To use the data projector, you must bring a laptop with a USB connector. Flash drives, travel drives, and CD/DVD disks cannot be used directly on our available equipment. Because the equipment you rely on at your home institution may differ from that available at the MSU Union, compatibility is not always possible and cannot be guaranteed. If you have questions concerning the available technology, contact Marc Van Wormer at vanworme@msu.edu.
Turtle Talk 