Essay Prize: The Gaskell Journal's Joan Leach Memorial Graduate Student Essay Prize 2014 (1/10/2014)

The Gaskell Journal
Joan Leach Memorial Graduate Student Essay Prize 2014
Deadline for submissions: January 10th 2014

The Gaskell Journal runs a biennial Graduate Student Essay Prize in honour of Joan Leach MBE, founder of the Gaskell Society.

Aims of the Prize:

The essay competition is open to all graduate students currently registered for an MA or PhD in Victorian Studies. Entries are welcome which consider Gaskell's writings within Victorian cultural, religious, aesthetic and scientific debates, and which have an inter-disciplinary aspect. Also welcome are essays that offer innovative and focused close readings of Gaskell's works, including those enlightened by critical theory. In all cases, clarity of argument and control of expression are paramount, and the essay must clearly offer an original contribution to the field of Gaskell studies.

The Prize:
The winning essay will be published in The Gaskell Journal and its author will receive £200 from the Gaskell Society, and a complimentary copy of the Journal. High quality submissions other than the winner will also be considered for publication in the journal.

Conditions:
Essays should be no longer than 7,000 words, and not under consideration for publication elsewhere. We request that you use the MHRA system of referencing, with endnotes rather than footnotes.

Judging:
Essays will be judged by members of The Gaskell Journal Editorial Board, with the final decision being made from a shortlist by a leading scholar in Gaskell studies.

IMPORTANT:
All judging will be anonymous. Please keep your name and affiliation separate from your article. Complete the below form, and send with your anonymised essay to The Gaskell Journal editor, Rebecca Styler rstyler@lincoln.ac.uk by/on January 10th 2014. All entrants will be informed of the outcome of their submission. These details are also available though the journal website: www.gaskelljournal.co.uk 

Reminder: Gaskell Project 2015: Place, Progress, and Personhood (10/31/2012)

Gaskell Project 2015: Place, Progress, and Personhood

An Edited Collection

(Abstract Deadline: 31 October 2012)

Emily Morris

Sarina Gruver Moore

Lesa Scholl    

Contact email: gaskellproject2015@gmail.com

In anticipation of the 150th anniversary of Gaskell’s death, we are seeking abstracts for an edited volume on the subject of Place, Progress, and Personhood in the Works of Elizabeth Gaskell. The nineteenth century saw dramatic changes in the landscape of Britain as industry and technology reshaped the geographical space. The advent of the railway and the increasing predominance of manufactory machinery reoriented the nation’s physical and social countenance. But alongside the excitement of progress and industry, there was also a sense of fear and loss manifested through an idealisation of the country home, the pastoral retreat, and the agricultural South. This collection of interdisciplinary essays will present a variety of geographical, industrial, archeological, psychological, and spatial perspectives not only on Gaskell’s work, but also on Gaskell’s place within the narrative of British letters and national identity.

Gaskell’s importance, both as a literary figure and as a cultural touchstone, continues to rise. In the popular imagination, new BBC adaptations of her novels have perhaps given her the greatest celebrity she has had since her own lifetime. In addition, the recent Heritage Lottery Fund award of £1.85 million for the restoration and preservation of the Gaskells’ house in Manchester, Plymouth Grove, indicates her renewed national influence.

This collection is very consciously an international and egalitarian collaboration, and we invite scholars of any level or discipline to submit an abstract.

Topics might include (but are not limited to):

• Geography  / materiality of place
• Digital transformations of texts/mapping
• Concepts of home and not home
• Foreign places, travel, and national identity
• Rural vs. urban landscapes
• Ecology / environmentalism
• Imagined places
• Place and gender, the gendering of spaces
• Space theory and Victorian spaces
• Correspondence
• Landmarks of progress, modernity, and personal identity
• Gaskell’s place in the popular imagination/literary tourism
• Architectural spaces and everyday life
• Ideas of belonging

Please submit an abstract of 300-500 words and a brief CV to  gaskellproject2015@gmail.com by 31 October 2012. Authors will be notified by 5 January 2013 whether or not their abstract has been accepted. The deadline for the full-length article, if accepted, is 15 April 2013. Articles should be between 4,000 and 6,000 words in length, accompanied by an abstract of around 200 words.

Preliminary inquiries are welcome: kindly address them to gaskellproject2015@gmail.com.

Emily Morris

Department of English

St. Thomas More College, University of Saskatchewan

Canada

Sarina Gruver Moore

Department of English

Calvin College

Grand Rapids, Michigan

USA

Lesa Scholl

Dean of Academic Studies

Emmanuel College, University of Queensland

Australia

Reminder: Gaskell Journal Interdisciplinary Essay Prize (4/30/2012)

Joan Leach Memorial Interdisciplinary Essay Prize 2012

The essay competition is open to all graduate students currently registered for an MA or PhD in Victorian Studies. Preference will be shown to essays with a clear interdisciplinary focus, i.e. those that consider Elizabeth Gaskell within contemporary Victorian cultural, aesthetic and scientific debates, or else, through recent critical theory. Essays that treat Gaskell's work in more traditional ways, but which nonetheless demonstrate a compelling style and focus, are also very much welcomed.

The winning essay will be published in the 2012 edition of the Gaskell Journal and its author will receive £200 from the Gaskell Society, as well as a year’s free subscription to the journal.

Essays should be no longer than 7,000 words and not under consideration for publication elsewhere. The closing date for the essay prize is April 30, 2012.

Essays will be judged by members of the Gaskell Journal Editorial Board, with the final decision being made by the International Editor, Prof. Jill L. Matus.

Please see the Gaskell Journal website gaskelljournal.com for further submission details.

CFP: Joan Leach Memorial Interdisciplinary Essay Prize 2011-2 (4/30/2012)

The Gaskell Journal is pleased to inaugurate its Graduate Student Essay Prize in honour of Joan Leach MBE, founder and president of the Gaskell Society.

The essay competition is open to all graduate students currently registered for an MA or PhD in Victorian Studies. Preference will be shown to essays with a clear interdisciplinary focus, i.e. those that consider Elizabeth Gaskell within contemporary Victorian cultural, aesthetic and scientific debates, or else, through recent critical theory. Essays that treat Gaskell's work in more traditional ways, but which nonetheless demonstrate a compelling style and focus, are also very much welcomed. In all cases, clarity of argument and expression is paramount.

The winning essay will be published in the 2012 edition of the Gaskell Journal and its author will receive £200 from the Gaskell Society, as well as a year’s free subscription to the journal.

Essays should be no longer than 7,000 words and not under consideration for publication elsewhere. The closing date for the essay prize is April 30, 2012.

Essays will be judged by members of the Gaskell Journal Editorial Board, with the final decision being made by the International Editor, Prof. Jill L. Matus.

Please see the Gaskell Journal website gaskelljournal.com for further submission details.

Registration Open: Victorian Afterlives: Gaskell in Adaptation Colloquium (11/12/2011)

Victorian Afterlives: Gaskell in Adaptation Colloquium
Saturday, November 12, 2011  10am - 4.30pm
The Council Room, King's College London, Strand Campus

Coffee and Welcome  9.30am – 10.00 am

Panel 1: Adapting Gaskell 10am  – 11.15am

• Prof. Deborah Wynne, Chester: 'Fabric and Fluff: North and South and the Costume Drama'
• Dr Peter Garratt, Northumbria: 'Gaskell & Victoriana'

Panel 2: Mary Barton on Stage 11.15 am – 12.30 pm

• Dr Andrew Maunder, Hertfordshire: 'Recasting Mary Barton: Adapting Elizabeth Gaskell for the Victorian Stage'
• Prof. Thomas Recchio, Connecticut: 'Elizabeth Gaskell As "A Dramatic Common": Stanley Houghton's Appropriation of Mary Barton in Hindle Wakes'

LUNCH  12.30pm  - 2pm

Panel 3: Cranfordia Then and Now 2.00 pm - 3.15pm

• Brenda McKay, Birkbeck: 'Dramatising 1970s Cranford: Reconstructing History, or a Slice of Contemporary History?'
• Dr Chris Louttit, Radboud: ‘Cranford: the Sequel'

Tea 3.15pm - 3.45pm

Roundtable Discussion 3.45pm - 4.30pm

Contact  Dr Louise Lee (louise.lee@kcl.ac.uk) for more details. Registration is £12. Please send cheques to the address below and make payable to King’s College London.

Dr Louise Lee

British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow
Editor, Gaskell Journal
English Department
King's College
Strand
London
WC2R 2LS