Announcements

2003 Jay B. Hubbell Medal

Houston A. Baker Jr. was awarded the 2003 Jay B. Hubbell Medal in American Literature by the American Literature Section of the Modern Language Association. The annual award, named for the founding editor of American Literature, is given in recognition of a significant contribution to the study of American literature. Houston Baker is the Susan Fox Beischer and George D. Beischer Arts & Sciences Professor of English and Professor of African and African American Studies at Duke University.

2003 Norman Foerster Prize

The Norman Foerster Prize for the best essay published in American Literature in 2003 was awarded to Ed White, Louisiana State University, for "Captaine Smith, Colonial Novelist" (September, 487–513). Members of the judging committee were Dana D. Nelson, University of Kentucky (Chair); Robert J. Corber, Trinity College; and Judith Jackson Fossett, University of Southern California.

2003 Norman Foerster Prize, Honorable Mention

The Norman Foerster Prize, Honorable Mention, for an outstanding essay published in American Literature in 2003 was awarded to Andrew Lawson, Staffordshire University, England, for "'Spending for Vast Returns': Sex, Class, and Commerce in the First Leaves of Grass" (June, 335–65).

2003 Crompton-Noll Award

The Crompton-Noll Award for the best essay in lesbian, gay, queer studies in 2003 was awarded to Dona Yarbrough for "A Queer Form of Trauma: Lesbian Epistolarity in Either Is Love" (June, 367–93).

Don D. Walker Prize

The Don D. Walker Prize for the best essay on Western American Literature published in 2002 was awarded in October to Susan Scheckel for "Home on the Train: Race and Mobility in The Life and Adventures of Nat Love" (June, 219–50).

Call for Papers: Frederick Douglass and Herman Melville: A Sesquicentennial Celebration

To mark the 150th anniversary of the publication of both Douglass's My Bondage and My Freedom and Melville's Benito Cereno, the Melville Society, the Frederick Douglass Institutes of West Chester and Rochester, the New Bedford Historical Society, and the New Bedford Whaling Museum will host a conference, 22–26 June 2005, in the historic town of New Bedford, Massachusetts, where both men spent time. Proposals for papers, panels, and roundtables on the works, lives, and contexts of either or both of these writers are welcome; considerations of the two writers in relation to one another are especially encouraged. In addition to papers, the conference will include literary readings, exhibitions, and performances. Proposals for panels and papers should be one to two pages and must be sent by 15 June 2004 to Samuel Otter; Department of English; 322 Wheeler Hall #1030; University of California; Berkeley, California 94708–1030 (sotter@socrates.berkeley.edu; or to Robert S. Levine; Department of English; University of Maryland; College Park, Maryland 20742 (rlevine@umd.edu). Additional information on the conference may be found on the New Bedford Whaling Museum's Web site: http://www.whalingmuseum.org.

Call for Papers: Fifth International Conference on the State of Mark Twain Studies

The Elmira College Center for Mark Twain Studies has announced a call for papers for "Elmira 2005: The Fifth International Conference on the State of Mark Twain Studies." Papers should be suitable for fifteen-minute presentations (two copies, eight pages, double spaced). All approaches and perspectives are welcome, but priority will be given to papers that address one of twenty-one topic suggestions, which include Twain's Reading, Electronic/Digital Twain, Twain and Spirituality, Twain and Indigenous Peoples, and Twain at 70. A complete list of the suggested topics is available on the Elmira College Web site (http://www.elmira.edu; from Quick Links, select "Mark Twain Connection," then "2005 Conference"). To ensure a blind submission process, papers should include a cover sheet containing the paper's title and the author's name, mailing address, e-mail address, and phone number. A one-paragraph abstract should also be included. Submissions must be received by 30 November 2004 and may be mailed to Jane McCone, Director; Center for Mark Twain Studies; One Park Place; Elmira, New York 14901.

Call for Nominations: Modern Language Association Book Publication Prizes...