CALL FOR PAPERSSapphire: PUSHing Boundaries, PUSHing Art is a new collection focused on the work of author and performance artist Sapphire. Critics, teachers, performance artists, and social justice activists are intrigued by Sapphire's craft, inspired by the relevance of the issues she dares to confront, and moved by her sympathetic characterizations and overall vision. This proposed volume emerges from the success of a one-day symposium on Sapphire's work hosted at Arizona State University in February 2007, at which scholars, teachers, and activists from diverse backgrounds and critical, theoretical, and pragmatic perspectives looked at the richness of this author's literary contributions. Until now, Sapphire's work has not been the subject of sustained scholarly analysis, although articles, dissertations, and conference presentations to date demonstrate the range of continued interest by scholars in her writing, voice, and vision. Recognizing the complexities and impact of Sapphire's writing, this volume offers an opportunity for dialogue among multiple intellectual and social communitiesdomestic and internationaland across academe and the wider public. The editors seek provocative new essays on Sapphire's poetry and fiction, as well as on the recent film adaptation of Sapphire's influential novel PUSH (released as Precious). Essays focused on environmental concerns in the text and/or film, pedagogical implications of the text and/or film, and engagement with black feminist/womanist theory/criticism that engages the complexity and diversity of black women's and girls' lives through analysis of this text and film would be of particular interest.Please send your complete 20- to 30-page manuscript with a one-page abstract and three-line author's biography to Elizabeth McNeil, Arizona State University, at mcneil@asu.edu, by the deadline of April 30, 2010.