Dear Colleagues,
I am less than sanguine regarding restrictions the idea of a canon imposes on a vibrant African American literary tradition, and I suspect the practice of the canon does as much harm as good in helping us to address multi-layered problems of literacy. Good fortune and John Zheng, editor of Valley Voices, have provided an opportunity to address these concerns in a 2011 special issue. The strategy I have chosen is to call for articles that give attention to writers whose names and works are unlikely to occur in privileged academic criticism and theory.
I would very much appreciate your sharing my call for papers with literary thinkers who might be interested in exploring works by the writers listed or by other writers in the tradition who challenge the notion of a canon.
All best wishes,
Jerry W. Ward, Jr.
CALL FOR PAPERS
Jerry W. Ward, Jr., Professor of English at Dillard University, will guest-edit the Fall 2011 issue of Valley Voices: A Literary Review on the African American literary tradition and the idea of a canon.
Articles will focus on the works of writers who have not been frequently discussed.
Ward invites original articles ranging from 15 to 20 pages, using MLA documentation, on such writers as Sandra Jackson-Opoku, Eugene Redmond, Tom Dent, Honorée Fannone Jeffers, Sarah Webster Fabio, Thulani Davis, John A. Williams, Wanda Coleman, Henry Dumas, E. Ethelbert Miller, Arthenia Bates Millican, Olympia Vernon, Kalamu ya Salaam, Angela Jackson, Joyce Carol Thomas, Haki Madhubuti, Carl Hancock Rux, Mildred Taylor , Askia Muhammad Toure, and others. Potential contributors should email an abstract of the article to Ward prior to submission.
Send submissions and a biographical note of no more than 250 words as PDF or Microsoft Word 2007 files to jerry.ward31@hotmail.com by February 1, 2011.