Penn's Store Poetry Contest Benefit

As many of you know, there were devastating floods throughout Kentucky and Tennessee last year. One place held dear to many of us in the Elizabeth Madox Roberts Society, Historic Penn's Store (http://www.pennsstore.com), was barely left standing by the floods. Penn's Store is America's oldest country store operated by the same family (relatives of Robert Penn Warren) since before the Civil War. It has been a legendary site for poetry readings and picking and singing gatherings for years.

There will be a poetry reading benefit for Penn's Store in November, and the proceeds will go directly to the Penn's Store benefit fund for restoration so that the store may open again. Anyone is welcome to participate in the poetry reading, but since it will occur in New York and some of you may be far abroad, you are invited to submit your One-Page poem to the contest before November 1st.

You may choose either to: a) send a poem (max. one-page, somehow related to the old-country-store-theme) with $5 donation and your poem will be read at
the event; b) send a poem with $10 donation and "contest entry form" (attached to this email) and your poem will be eligible for publication in the ensuing chapbook
plus awards; c) or just send a donation.

The Reading: CABALOOSA (Main St. New Paltz)

Wednesday November 17 (7 PM)

All readers are welcome who sign up in advance

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Details: 1) Chapbook of poems selected from this reading will be published; 2) Contest ($10 entry fee in advance) with prizes in various categories for the best poems on the theme: The Old Country Store

Contact by November 1^st: H. R. Stoneback (stonebah@newpaltz.edu) and Amanda Boyle (amandalyn1028@gmail.com) in the English Department at SUNY-New Paltz (257-2720).

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All proceeds from this Benefit Reading will go directly to the fund to save Penn’s Store. For information on Penn’s Store see www.pennsstore.com.

Contest Entry Form

Send this form with a one-page poem and $10 entry fee (check or cash) before November 1^st to: H. R. Stoneback, Department of English, SUNY-New Paltz, New Paltz, NY 12561.

Name: ___________________________________

Contact Information:____________________________________________________________________________

Title of Poem: (do not put your name on the manuscript page with the poem)__________________________________

Check One: I am an undergraduate____graduate___

student at _____________________Other________

_________________________________

Kentucky Writers Day and Roberts Society

American Premiere of Des Hymnagistes: An Anthology

The 2010 Kentucky Writers Day Celebration at Historic Penn's Store will feature the American Premiere of the new poetry volume Des Hymnagistes: An Anthology (Des Hymnagistes Press, 2010). The book will have its World Premiere and formal release celebration in June at Brunnenburg Castle in Italy, former home of Ezra Pound and now the residence of his daughter Mary de Rachewiltz. The Des Hymnagistes volume resonates with Pound's landmark Des Imagistes: An Anthology (1914). Inspired by Imagism, filtered through a century of literary history and transformed by influences such as hymns and country songs, Hymnagism is a worldwide movement with deep Kentucky roots--over the past decade, for example, many Hymnagistes poets have read their works at Kentucky Writers Day Celebrations. This new volume includes poems by descendants of the original Imagists (e.g. Pound's daughter Mary de Rachewiltz and Richard Aldington's daughter Catherine Aldington),Valerie Hemingway, as well as the work of the well-known Kentucky poet H. R. Stoneback and other rising young Hymnagiste poets. Along with Stoneback, several other contributors to the volume--A.B., William Boyle, Brad McDuffie, Matthew Nickel, Alex Shakespeare--will read at the 2010 Kentucky Writers Day, Sunday, April 25th at 2 PM, at Penn's Store. All of these Hymnagiste poets will be in Kentucky for their annual pilgrimage to the Elizabeth Madox Roberts Conference at St. Catharine College in Springfield (April 24-26). And they claim Roberts, Kentucky's great novelist, as an Imagiste, a proto-Hymnagiste.

The American Premiere and Hymnagiste Readings are scheduled for 2:00pm until 3:30pm, April 25 during the 2010 KENTUCKY WRITERS DAY CELEBRATIONS at Historic Penn's Store. Penn's Store is located at 257 Penn's Store Road, off KY HWY 243 3 miles SE of Gravel Switch, Kentucky.

The Sparrow Memorial Award and the Terry Ward Memorial Grant

In August 2008 the Roberts Society Executive Board established two memorial awards in the names of two of our most cherished charter members—Sparrow Stoneback and Terry Ward. These awards, to be presented at our annual April conference, were designed to encourage participation in our conferences by 1) first-time presenters and 2) presenters with no institutional funding support. A call for donations to the awards fund went out in the summer of 2008 and thereafter. The Roberts Society expresses its deep gratitude to all contributors.
Donations to sustain the Memorial Awards program may be made at any time. Contact Tina Iraca, EMRS Treasurer at tinair@hotmail.com, or send a check made out to Tina Iraca, with notation of amounts to be applied to the Sparrow Memorial Award and the Terry Ward Memorial Grant to: Tina Iraca, 16 Montgomery Street, Tivoli, NY 12583.

CFP EMR 2010

Call for Papers: EMR 2010

The XII Annual Elizabeth Madox Roberts Conference will be held April 24-26, 2010, at St. Catharine College (Springfield, KY) and the Beaumont Inn (Harrodsburg, KY).

Conference directors welcome papers on any aspect of Elizabeth Madox Roberts’ life and work. Papers may deal intertextually with Roberts and other writers; Roberts in the context of the Southern Renascence; Roberts viewed from regional and historical perspectives; Roberts and Modernism; Roberts and architecture, etc. First time reader response papers or essays of discovery and celebration from new readers of Roberts are also strongly encouraged.

Titles and abstracts are due January 15, 2010.

Papers should be no more than 15 minutes in oral presentation. Academic paper sessions will be held at St. Catharine College, Springfield. The conference headquarters is the lovely and legendary Beaumont Inn, Harrodsburg.

Email title and abstract to:
Alex Shakespeare (Boston College), Program Chair, at shakespe@bc.edu.

Please send a copy also to at least one other member of the Program Committee:

Brad McDuffie (Nyack College) bigtwoheartedriver@earthlink.net, or Amanda Boyle (SUNY New Paltz) boyle687@newpaltz.edu.

Direct all other conference inquiries to the Conference Director: H. R. Stoneback, Dept. of English, SUNY New Paltz, 75 S. Manheim Blvd., New Paltz, NY 12561 (Stoney_Sparrow@webtv.net).

Questions about Kentucky Writer’s Day should be directed to Gregg Neikirk (Westfield State College) gneikirk@wsc.ma.edu.

See the Roberts Society website (www.emrsociety.com) for further information, archived newsletters, and recent critical studies of Roberts.

Roberts CFP's--ALA & SAMLA

As many of you know, the Roberts Society is growing rapidly this year. There are several Roberts panels at various conferences in the coming year:

CFP: ALA Symposium in Savannah, Georgia, October 8-10, 2009.
Conference Director Olivia Carr Edenfield has requested a special panel on the work of Elizabeth Madox Roberts at this year’s fiction symposium to be held in Savannah, Georgia, in the fall. Please submit paper proposals (length: 15 to 20 minutes, depending on number of presenters) for this panel to Steve Florczyk, panel chair, at sflorczyk@msn.com before June 1, 2009. Roberts Society Honorary President H. R. Stoneback will deliver the keynote address at this year’s conference. Details: Sessions run Friday and Saturday, October 9-10. On Friday, October 9, there will be a special luncheon as well as an evening reception including the keynote address by H. R. Stoneback. On Saturday, October 10, the luncheon keynote will be delivered by Kirk Curnutt. A final celebration will take place that evening.

CFP: SAMLA Convention in Atlanta, Georgia, November 2009.
The Elizabeth Madox Roberts Society will hold two special sessions at SAMLA in 2009 in Atlanta, Georgia:

Session one, “Elizabeth Madox Roberts as Children’s Literature,” will be chaired by Jane Dionne. This session will explore the importance of using Elizabeth Madox Roberts’ poems with students across all the grades. Suggested topics include but are not limited to: 1) In what ways Roberts’ poems in Under the Tree affect children in the classroom; 2) children’s responses to Roberts’ poetry based on their age and experience; 3) techniques for teaching Roberts to a variety of children and special needs students; 4) how Roberts’ poetry may encourage more poetry to be taught across the curriculum; 5) how Roberts’ poetry, presumably for children, fits into the genres of Children’s Literature and/or Modernism. Papers may focus on one or more levels, from elementary to college. Papers should be fifteen minutes long. Please submit title and brief abstract by April 15, 2009 to Jane Dionne at janedionne@yahoo.com.

Session two, “Elizabeth Madox Roberts and the Influence of Philosophy,” will be chaired by Amanda Boyle. This session will examine the influence of philosophy in the life and writings of Elizabeth Madox Roberts. Some suggested paper topics include, but are not limited to: 1) direct philosophical influences on Roberts’ work (Bishop Berkley, Plato, etc.); 2) analysis of how philosophy may influence and be exemplified through literature, with a focus on Roberts’ writing; 3) the philosophy of existence in relation to the works of Elizabeth Madox Roberts. Papers should be fifteen minutes long. Please submit title and a brief abstract by April 15, 2009 to Amanda Boyle at Boyle687@newpaltz.edu.

Elizabeth Madox Roberts Conference

XI ANNUAL ELIZABETH MADOX ROBERTS CONFERENCE

APRIL 18-20, 2009

Harrodsburg and Springfield (Roberts’ hometown), KY

The XI Annual Elizabeth Madox Roberts Conference will be held April 18-20, 2009, at St. Catharine College (Springfield, KY) and the Beaumont Inn (Harrodsburg, KY).

Conference directors welcome papers on any aspect of Elizabeth Madox Roberts’ life and work. Papers may also deal intertextually with Roberts and other writers; Roberts in the context of the Southern Renascence; Roberts viewed from regional and historical perspectives; Roberts and Modernism; stylistic studies, etc. First time reader response papers or essays of discovery and celebration from new readers of Roberts are strongly encouraged.

Titles and abstracts are due January 10, 2009. Papers should be no more than 15 minutes in oral presentation. Academic paper sessions will be held at St. Catharine College, Springfield. The conference headquarters is the lovely and legendary Beaumont Inn, Harrodsburg.

Email title and abstract to:
Nicole McDaniel (Texas A&M), Program Chair, at nicolemcdc@tamu.edu.

Please send a copy also to at least one other member of the Program Committee:
Goretti Vianney-Benca (SUNY New Paltz) at vianneyg@aol.com; Vicki Barker (Carson-Newman College) at vbarker@cn.edu; William Boyle (University of Mississippi) at williamboyle4444@yahoo.com; Matthew Nickel (University of Louisiana-Lafayette) at sapling805@yahoo.com; Alex Shakespeare (Boston College) at alexandriesse@yahoo.com; Natalie Khoury (University of Georgia) at nkhoury@uga.edu; or Gisele Sigal (Universite de Pau, France) at gisele.sigal@iutbayonne.univ-pau.fr.

Direct all other conference inquiries to the Conference Co-directors: Brad McDuffie, Dept. of English, Nyack College (bigtwoheartedriver@earthlink.net) and H. R. Stoneback, Dept. of English, SUNY New Paltz, 75 S. Manheim Blvd., New Paltz, NY 12561 (Stoney_Sparrow@webtv.net).

See the Roberts Society website (emrsociety.com) for further information, archived newsletters, and recent critical studies of Roberts.

Elizabeth Madox Roberts: Essays of Discovery and Recovery

Elizabeth Madox Roberts: Essays of Discovery and Recovery

Edited by H. R. Stoneback, Nicole Camastra, and Steven Florczyk

"This volume is the second of the two books devoted to Elizabeth Madox Roberts to be published in the same year--annus mirabilis! Before the appearance of these two volumes, more than four decades had elapsed since the last book-length critical study of Roberts was published. In many ways, this book serves as a companion piece to its immediate predecessor, Elizabeth Madox Roberts: Essays of Reassessment and Reclamation (edited by H. R. Stoneback and Steven Florczyk). We will not repeat what was said in the introduction to that volume regarding the history of the Elizabeth Madox Roberts Society, from whose annual conferences most of the essays in the present study emanate. It will suffice here to note that the publication of both these landmark volumes signals the celebration, in 2008, of the tenth anniversary of the Roberts Society." (from the Introduction)

This new book of critical essays on Elizabeth Madox Roberts is available for sale at $20 (includes shipping and handling). Included in this book is new fiction by Roberts (fragments from Sallie May, "The Prophet" and notes On Poetry), and critical essays by H. R. Stoneback, William H. Slavick, Wade Hall, Vicki Barker, William Boyle, Nicole Camastra, Damian Carpenter, Steven Florczyk, Angela Green, Tina Iraca, Emily Kane, Brad McDuffie, Jennings Mace, Gregg Neikirk, Matthew Nickel, Erin Presley, Katy Shores, Nicole Boucher Spottke and Nicole Valentino, James Stamant, John Weatherford, and Gerald Preher.

Anyone interested in purchasing a copy, please send a check (for $20 made out to H.R. Stoneback) to:

H.R. Stoneback
Elizabeth Madox Roberts Society
Department of English
SUNY New Paltz
New Paltz, NY 12561