Fifth International Piers Plowman Society: Call for Papers

The Fifth International Piers Plowman Society Conference will be held at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, 14-17 April 2011. For the first time there will be a graduate paper prize. See "Conferences" (on the right) for details.

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YLS Special Topic: Manuscripts and Versions

YLS announces plans for a special topic issue on the manuscripts and versions of Piers Plowman, as well as Middle English editing more generally. The recent death of George Kane, the last and many would say the greatest of the Athlone editors, has given scholars pause to reflect on where we are in the editing of Piers Plowman, and where we might want to go next. How have editorial methods changed since Kane and Donaldson's edition of the B text in 1975 -- both in affirmation of, and in resistance to, that volume's remarkably detailed exhibition and justification of editorial method? How might we now investigate the evidence provided to us by individual manuscripts, for example by tracing their scribes, dialects, revisions? What are the various options open to us in editing a text extant in widely divergent versions? Please contact the editors as soon as possible to discuss your plans for submission: we aim for both breadth and balance, and will be soliciting contributions as well as accepting proposals with this goal in mind. Depending on the number of submissions, this topic will yield either a full special issue, or a special topic cluster within YLS 24 (2010). The deadline for all contributions is December 2009.

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Call for Kalamazoo and Leeds Conference Organizer(s)

IPPS needs a new officer to organize conference sessions at Kalamazoo. We would also be interested in proposals to organize sessions at Leeds, NEMLA, SEMA, or other conferences. If you are interested in taking this on, please send a proposal and short CV to Robert Adams, eng_ira@shsu.edu. Proposals will be considered and new officers selected at the annual general meeting.