CALL FOR PAPERS: Margaret Walker Centenary Panel (Poetry) and Anthology Project (Poetry and Fiction).

Margaret Walker's 100th birthday gives scholars the perfect opportunity to reflect upon the importance of her contribution to African American literary traditions. Her re-envisioning of the historical novel as a genre that could be used to examine African American slave experience (Jubilee), and her award-winning volume of poetry (For My People), Walker's creative and critical work shaped contemporary African American literature. Her appreciation of the complexities of African American folk life enriched her work as both a novelist and a poet, yet she is rarely studied in the academy. This volume of essays seeks to bring renewed critical attention to Margaret Walker, particularly the pivotal role that she played in the development of African American literature.

The editor seeks the following topics:
• Analysis of newly published work (see Margaret Walker's This is My Century: New and Collected Poems (University of Georgia Press, 2013), Foreword by Nikky Finney and Introduction by Maryemma Graham).
• New approaches to Walker's poetry.
• New approaches to Walker's fiction.
• Critical Evaluations of Walker's contribution to poetry.
• Critical Evaluations of Walker's contribution to fiction (African American historical novel, neoslave narrative, etc).
• Essays by African American poets and/or authors about the influence Walker's work had on your life as a poet/writer.
• Interviews with African American poets and/or or authors about the influence Walker's work had on their life as a poet/writer.
• The editor is also open to other ideas—so you are invited to pitch an idea by the deadline to the editor, if you do not see something that fits your interests.

Deadline for one page Abstracts: 1 January 2015
Poetry Papers will also be considered for a panel @ the new Poetry by the Sea Conference in Madison CT. May 26-29, 2015. If your paper is chosen for that part of the project, then you will be invited to present there. The location is Mercy by the Sea: http://www.mercybythesea.org

Deadline for Drafts: 1 April 2015

Please email abstracts with short cv to:
Cherise A. Pollard, Ph.D.
Professor
Department of English
529 Main Hall
West Chester University of PA
700 High Street
West Chester, PA, 19382
610.692.2959 cpollard@wcupa.edu