The Department of English and Philosophy at Arkansas State University (Jonesboro campus) announces its fifteenth annual Delta Blues Symposium, to be held 2-4 April 2009. The theme for Delta Blues Symposium XV is the celebration of Delta culture the past 100 years. The ways in which those in the public as well as in academia have highlighted cultural influences shaping the Lower Mississippi River Delta embrace a wide range of expressive forms. Underscoring such an multidisciplinary approach, the symposium committee encourages proposals from scholars and students of the humanities and social sciences-especially anthropology, art history, economics, folklore studies, geography, history, literature, musicology, political science, and sociology. As well, we seek contributions from scholars and students of the physical and natural sciences.

In keeping with past symposia, we also welcome proposals for papers and panels that deal with any and all aspects of the seven-state Mississippi River Delta region or with the blues, perhaps the region's most famous export. We particularly invite presentations on artists who have appeared at previous symposia (fiction writers such as Lewis Nordan, Ellen Douglas, Scott Ely, Tom Piazza, and Beverly Lowry; poets like Natasha Trethewey, Yusef Komunyakaa, Jo McDougall, and Michael Harper; visual artists, including James Fraher, David Rae Morris, and Maude Schuyler Clay; and such musicians as Alvin Youngblood Hart, Kenny Neal, Little Milton, Billy Lee Riley, and James “Super Chikan” Johnson.

Program proposals may be for individual presentations or for panels. These should be sent as 100-word abstracts. We also urge participation by creative writers and other artists. Please send samples of previous work for our consideration. The submission deadline is December 15, 2008. The registration fee of $25.00, which covers Symposium expenses and brings a one-year subscription to Arkansas Review, will be collected after proposals have been accepted. Note that this fee is waived for currently enrolled students.


Proposals may be sent via post, e-mail, or fax to the following address:

Delta Symposium Committee
Department of English and Philosophy
PO Box 1890
Arkansas State University
State University, AR 72467
delta@astate.edu
Phone: 870-972-3043
Fax: 870-972-3045

Further information can be had by contacting the Delta Symposium Committee or by checking the Symposium website: www.clt.astate.edu/blues.