When we think of the Central Valley, that strange opaque space between Los Angeles and San Francisco, we often think of heat, smog, and sometimes fruits and vegetables. What we don’t think about, however, is the immense literary scene of writers from the Central Valley and/or writing about the Central Valley. From Manuel Muñoz, to Gary Soto, to Juan Felipe Herrera, to Lee Herrick, to Marisol Baca, to David Dominguez, to many others, the Central Valley literary community is capacious and deserves attention. As such, this panel session invites papers that discuss the literary community of the Central Valley. Rather than approaching the valley and its writers from an essentialist standpoint, this panel seeks to examine the many ways in which writers and thinkers imagine, critique, highlight, and portray the complexities of the valley. Having spent many summers palletizing fruits and vegetables in the Central Valley myself, I can attest both the violence of that space (in particular its heat) and to the beauty of community building that happens in those fields and elsewhere in the valley. Taking into consideration that this year’s keynote is Central Valley’s own Manuel Muñoz, this panel provides us the perfect opportunity to talk about an often-forgotten literary space. Proposals should reflect this year’s theme of “Empowering Communities” in some way, though the proposals need not be only on Muñoz.

Please send an abstract of around 250 words and a brief 100-word bio with your submission. Please submit your proposal via this link: https://cfplist.com/nemla/Home/S/22261

Any questions or inquiries regarding this panel should be emailed to: zdale@ku.edu