Literary Journalism
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THE NEWSLETTER OF THE IALJS Literary jourNAlism VOL 5 NO 3 INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR LITERARY JOURNALISM STUDIES SUMMER 2011 IALJS-6 IN THE amendments of our Constitution and FUTURE IALJS Bylaws. We now have a First and Second CONFERENCE SITES HEART OF EUROPE Vice Presidents, and we have added the The following future IALJS convention chairs of the Liaison, Publicity, venues are planned. For more info, The success of our annual Conference Planning and Graduate please see <www.ialjs.org>. conference in Brussels in May. Students Committees have been included IALJS-7: Ryerson University, in our Executive Committee. For the full Toronto, Canada, 17-19 May 2012. By Alice Donat Trindade, text of our amended and approved char- IALJS-8: University of Helsinki, Universidade Técnica de Lisboa (Portugal) ter, please see Page 23. In other news, Finland, 9-11 May 2013. Nancy Roberts of the University at IALJS-9: American University of e just completed our annual confer- Albany will join founding book review Paris, France,15-17 May 2014. ence, IALJS-6, last month—and so editor Tom Connery on the staff of our IALJS-10: University of St. are still resonant with the wonderful journal, Literary Journalism Studies. Now Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota, U.S.A or energies of these yearly meetings. Université book review editor elect, she will take University of Oslo, Norway, 7-9 May Libre de Bruxelles, Manuel Couvreur, François over at the end of this year. 2015 (pending). W IALJS-11: NU-Q, Doha, Qatar, 19- Heinderyckx and So we have more hands to help, Isabelle Meuret eager to contribute to the growth of an 21 May 2016 (pending). IALJS-12: were this year’s to be announced, 11- 13 May 2017. hosts, and we are all indebted to them for the Brussels was remarkable hospi- truly wonderful, so please MEMBERSHIP tality that they mark your WREPORTe are happy to FOR be able to2011 report that lavished on us. calendar now for May 2012 our association’s membership, as of 15 The partici- May 2011, includes a total of 117 pants in this in Toronto members. PRESIDENT’S year’s conference turned it into LETTER another occasion for a community INSIDE2 IALJS-6 Annual Conference of scholars to dis- association that was initially the dream of cover both the degree to which literary journal- the handful of people who gathered 5 2011 Annual Business Meeting ism is a worldwide phenomenon and the qual- round our founding president, John Bak, 6 Literary Journalism in China ity of academic research it supports. Moreover, in 2006 in Nancy, France. 8 Reflection: IALJS/ESSE in Turin the IALJS-6 conference was an opportunity to Whether or not you were in 10 Research Perspective: Culture Peg bring together uniquely different experiences. Brussels this year, please make note that We witnessed how the voices of liter- our next annual meeting is in Toronto in 15 LJS Journal Call for Submissions ary journalism speak in the languages of many May 2012 at 16 Literary Journalism Across the Globe peoples of the experiences of many societies. It Ryerson Univer- 17 IALJS @ SEC in South Carolina was interesting to note that both the past and sity with Bill 17 In Print: Publications by Members the future were represented in the work of the Reynolds as our conference participants: from the Latin host. We are all 18 IALJS @ ACLA in Vancouver, B.C. American nineteenth-century chronicles to the sure it will fol- 19 IALJS-7 Call, May 2012 in Toronto twenty-first-century developments in the low the path of 22 2011 IALJS Membership Form emerging literary journalism realms of film, all our confer- photography and graphic nonfiction. It all ences so far, a 23 Current Constitution and Bylaws showed the ability of the genre to renew itself course of admir- NANCY ROBERTS 26 IALJS Officers and Chairs and evolve, as well as the progress our learned able growth in 28 Teaching Tips society is making in defining a true scholarly both diversity and rigor. Until then, discipline. please enjoy the newsletter and consider On another note, the association’s your next submission to the conference or WWW.IALJS.ORG o annual business meeting voted to approve the journal. PAGE 1 THE NEWSLETTER OF THE IALJS 2011 IALJS ANNUAL CONVENTION IN BELGIUM The Université Libre de Bruxelles hosts our sixth international conference. By Isabel Soares, Universidade Técnica de Lisboa (Portugal) nspirational. Congenial. These are mere euphemisms that don’t do justice to the moments lived by all of the evangelists on behalf of literary journal- Iism at our 2011 annual conference. Six years have passed since that serendipi- tous meeting in Nancy, France—the origi- nal spark that ignited IALJS. And all through the subsequent years we have been witnesses to the growing interest that aca- demics have in both the associa- tion and, most importantly, lit- BRUSSELS ABOVE, THE TWO NEW ASSOCIATE EDITORS OF THE IALJS erary journalism JOURNAL, LITERARY JOURNALISM STUDIES, ARE CONFERENCE itself. This year ROBERTA AND MILES MAGUIRE, BOTH AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN - OSHKSOH. IN ADDITION, THE THE VENUE, BELOW, MOST OF THE has proved no RESEARCH PAPER THAT MILES PRESENTED AT IALJS-6 WAS SESSSIONS OF IALJS-6 WERE CONDUCTED different. A total AWARDED THE 2011 SUSAN L. GREENBERG IN A BEAUTIFUL LECTURE HALL RESEARCH PRIZE FOR LITERARY JOURNALISM STUDIES. IN BUILDING “A,” ONE OF THE HISTORIC of 56 persons were on the IALJS-6 pro- STRUCTURES ON THE UNIVERSITÉ gram. And in an attempt to accommodate LIBRE DE BRUXELLES CAMPUS IN BRUSSELS. the increasingly larger number of submis- sions and panel proposals that come our way each year, we have had, for the sec- ond consecutive year, to program parallel panel sessions. As we heard underscored at our Friday Scholar’s Breakfast— newly enti- tled “Breakfast for Your Thoughts”— IALJS offers a welcoming international forum of like-minded spirits. Scholarly research, usually carried out in the loneli- ness of the academic world, is shared and discussed to the benefit of all. In fact, because it is informal in nature, with a friendly format especially intended for junior researchers, the breakfast provided Text continues on Page 4 Literary Journalism Summer 2011 Vol 5 No 3 Editors: Bill Reynolds and David Abrahamson ISSN 1941-1030 (print) ISSN 1941-1049 (online) © 2011 The Newsletter of the International Association for Literary Journalism Studies. All rights reserved. Continued on next page PAGE 2 LITERARY JOURNALISM / SUMMER 2011 THE NEWSLETTER OF THE IALJS CONFERENCE Continued from previous page ABOVE, ISABELLE MEURET, THE CHAIR OF THE IALJS-6 ABOVE, CONFERENCE KEYNOTE JOHN PAULY IN CONVERSATION WITH NORM HOST COMMITTEE, IN CONVERSATION SIMS, WHILE THE IALJS-4 KEYNOTER RICHARD KEEBLE AND WITH THE ASSOCIATION’S PRESIDENT, ALICE DONAT TODD SCHACK, BELOW, SHARE A SMILING MOMENT BETWEEN SESSIONS. TRINDADE. THE GRACIOUSNESS AND EFFICACY WITH WHICH ISABELLE ORGANIZED EVERY ELEMENT OF THE ANNUAL MEETING WAS OBVIOUS IN THE APPARENT COLLEGIAL PLEASURE ENJOYED BY ALL OF THE CONFERENCE PARTICIPANTS. ONE OF THE HIGHLIGHTS OF THE CONFERENCE WAS THE FRIDAY MORNING GET-TOGTHER, BELOW. ENTITLED “A BREAKFAST FOR YOUR THOUGHTS,” ORGANIZED BY GRADUATE STUDENT CO-CHAIR TOBIAS EBERWEIN, MODERATED BY NORM SIMS, THE BREAKFAST WAS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR GRAD STUDENTS TO INTERACT WITH FACULTY. TOPICS INCLUDED ASPECTS OF LITERARY JOURNALISM, AS WELL AS THE ACADEMY AS A WHOLE. Continued on next page LITERARY JOURNALISM / SUMMER 2011 PAGE 3 THE NEWSLETTER OF THE IALJS IALJS-6 CONFERENCE Continued from previous page BY THE CONCLUSION a wonderful opportunity for graduate OF THE TWO- students to share their intellectual experi- AND-A-HALF- DAY IALJS-6 ences—as well as perhaps some of their CONFERENCE, career-related anxieties—with more senior IT WAS CLEAR THAT researchers and faculty. The result is A GREAT something special. If I had to stress any- DEAL OF BONHOMIE thing particular that highlights the WAS IN THE uniqueness of this session, it is this amaz- AIR. THE DEMEANOR ing possibility for younger members of OF A GROUP the academy who are starting their PHOTO OF MANY OF THE careers to have an opportunjity to interact MEMBERS directly with the “gurus” and top OF THE IALJS researchers in the discipline. It is clear EXECUTIVE that this is definitely an aspect that sets COMMITTEE, PLUS A FEW IALJS conferences apart from larger and HONORED perhaps less personal academic scholarly GUESTS, SEEMS TO profesional meetings. SUPPORT As chair of the Research THE Committee, I have the privilege of orga- OBSERVATION. nizing the research paper and work-in- progress submissions and the jurying many people are listening to it. And speaking of human experi- process. Of course, one has to concede Being a truly international asso- ence, one of the topics that stood out at that not every submission is accepted for ciation, the conferences of IALJS take this year’s conference was, as the session presentation. (Our overall acceptance rate pride in being international in scope. For title claimed, “the possibilities of personal was 60 percent.) Nor are all of them even the first time this year there were pan- experience.” In a way, this said it all. legitimate attempts at bonafide academic elists from Japan and Italy sharing their IALJS-6 enriched minds with new ideas work. Notwithstanding, I must admit that knowledge with us. And, again, Latin and our hearts with the warm glow of a I was delighted to receive submissions and North America, Europe, Asia and very special collegiality. from such improbable places as Georgia, Australia were so well represented that We left the Université Libre de Ghana and Iran. I think we can consider we even had a session that explored the Bruxelles and our gracious host, Isabelle this a marker of the success of our still- possible transnational nature of literary Meuret, looking forward eagerly to next o young association.