Still seeking submissions!

The current popularity of The Hunger Games Trilogy has brought young adult dystopian fiction to the forefront of both readers' and scholars' minds this year. Yet this genre has always produced innovative novels that reflect contemporary hopes and fears in their playful (and often violent) explorations of the future. Many authors use potential future worlds to comment upon contemporary concerns, including the loss of literacy, gender roles, political participation, and more. Presenters are invited to submit papers that consider how authors explore current issues in future dystopian and utopian worlds and what those predictions reveal about perceptions of young adults today.

This panel is for the Midwest Modern Language Association conference in St. Louis, Missouri from November 3-6, 2011 at the St. Louis Union Station Marriott. http://luc.edu/mmla/

Please submit 250-word abstracts to kmcduff@ilstu.edu by June 3, 2011. Priority will be given to proposals submitted earlier.