The 2009 Narrative Conference, taking place from June 4th to 6th, 2009, is an interdisciplinary forum addressing all dimensions of narrative theory and practice. The conference is sponsored by The University of Birmingham and the International Society for the Study of Narrative.

Please do come along to this exciting event and – if you wish – submit a paper.

Cfp: If you want to deliver a paper, please submit a title for your paper and an abstract of 250 words for consideration to: a.hartnell@bham.ac.uk by 31 October 2008

You need to join the International Society for the Study of Narrative in order to attend the conference: http://narrative.georgetown.edu/membership/

The MacDonald Burlington and the Crowne Plaza hotels are holding a limited number of rooms at a discounted price – see the website for details — http://narrativesociety.bham.ac.uk

For other accommodation options (at a range of prices) see http://narrativesociety.bham.ac.uk

THE BARBARA PERKINS & GEORGE PERKINS AWARD

This year the Perkins Prize will be judged by Professor Eileen Gillooly (Associate Director, Heyman Center for the Humanities / H2 – 1 Heyman Center / Columbia University / New York, NY 10027); Professor Dorothy Hale (Department of English / 322 Wheeler Hall / University of California at Berkeley / Berkeley, CA 94720-1030); and Gerald Prince (521 Williams Hall / University of Pennsylvania / Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305). For books published in 2007, please send inquiries or informal, brief written nominations to the Chair of the judging committee, Professor Gerald Prince, gprince@babel.ling.upenn.edu. Please send a copy of the nominated book to each of the Committee members at the above addresses.

Publisher, third party, and self-nominations are appropriate. Nominations should be submitted
as soon as possible. The committee begins its deliberations in the spring; nominations received
after June 1 will be at a disadvantage.

The winner will announced at the MLA Convention in December, and the prize presented at the annual Narrative Conference the following spring. The prize, awarded to the book making the most significant contribution to the study of narrative in a given year, consists of $1,000 plus a contribution of $400 toward expenses for the winning author to attend the Narrative Conference where the award will be presented.

BEST GRADUATE STUDENT PAPER

All graduate students who present papers at the ISSN Annual Conference are invited to compete for the prize for the best graduate-student paper of the 2008 conference. The winner will receive a copy of a Perkins Prize-winning book of his or her choice and will be invited to expand the winning paper and submit it for consideration by Narrative. Submit your papers electronically as attachments (Word PC-compatible files, please) to both of the judges, David Richter, drichter@nyc.rr.com and Lisa Zunshine, lisa.zunshine@yale.edu, no later than May 18, 2008. Be sure to submit the paper you actually presented at the conference, not some expanded or edited version of it.

The 2008 Narrative Conference is being held in Austin, Texas, May 1-4. More information can be found on the conference web site.