Call for Papers: PCEA 2008 Annual Conference

The Pennsylvania College English Association is hosting a conference in April on American literature with an added bonus: a Best Paper Student Competition. Details follow. Note that it is required that those who submit are required to join PCEA, but don't let that dismay you, as dues are only $10 for a student membership. Visit their website to join.

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Pennsylvania College English Association (PCEA)
2008 Annual Conference
April 10-12, 2008
Ramada Inn and Conference Center
1450 South Atherton Street
State College, PA 16801
(814) 238-3001
Room rate: $76 plus tax

Celebrating American Literature

PCEA invites faculty, graduate and undergraduate students, and independent scholars and writers to submit abstracts of 300 words or less proposing a panel or individual presentation. While this year’s conference theme celebrates American literature (honoring Fred Lewis Pattee, Penn State English Professor, who helped establish American literature as a field worthy of study in its own right), proposals in any area of literary, film, and composition studies are welcome. Both pedagogical and theoretical proposals are encouraged, as are proposals to present original creative writing. To preserve time for discussion, PCEA limits all presentations to 15 minutes. Presenters must join PCEA in order to participate.

Student Contest

Graduate and undergraduate students are invited to compete for the Best Paper Award, which is given by PCEA in three categories—critical, creative poetry, creative prose—and carries a small monetary prize. Students who compete must be PCEA members. Award winners will be considered for publication in PCEA's journal, Pennsylvania English.

To compete, submit 3 copies of the completed work by regular mail no later than February 1, 2008, to Ms. Jackie Atkins, at the address below. The student's name should be removed from the work; a cover sheet with the student's name, educational affiliation, year in school or graduate student level (master's or doctoral candidate), and contact information should be
included.

Submissions of critical work should be the equivalent of a conference paper, including notes and works cited. For creative work, submit 10-15 pages of double-spaced prose (fiction or creative nonfiction) or 4-6 poems. No mixed genre submissions, please. Students who wish to present their work at the conference must submit separately. Faculty members of PCEA are asked to encourage students who have written strong critical or creative work to
submit to the contest and/or the conference.

Submission

Please include your name, affiliation (if any), address, phone number, e-mail address, proposal title, AV needs, and any special needs. Send this information and your abstract to:

Ms. Jackie Atkins
Penn State DuBois
301 E. DuBois Ave.
DuBois, PA 15801
jkatkins@psu.edu (preferred)

Students should keep in mind that they must submit their work for the contest separately and via regular mail as discussed above.

Deadline

February 1, 2008

Keynote Speaker

William Heyen, Professor Emeritus at SUNY Brockport; author of The Swastika Poems, Hummingbird Corporation: Stories, and many other works of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction; National Book Award finalist

For additional information, visit the PCEA website at
http://www.english.iup.edu/pcea/.