L.M. Montgomery Research Group

Due to an unexpected technological difficulty, Jean Mitchell and I would like to offer a five-day extension to everyone interested in submitting a proposal to the L.M. Montgomery and the Matter of Nature conference, to be hosted by the L.M. Montgomery Institute and held at the University of Prince Edward Island. Please send your abstracts and full contact information in the body of an e-mail to lmmi@upei.ca by Monday, 21 September at the very latest.

The call for papers can be found here.

L.M. Montgomery and the Matter of Nature
9th International Conference
University of Prince Edward Island
23-27 June 2010

At the ninth biennial conference hosted by the L.M. Montgomery Institute (University of Prince Edward Island), we invite you to consider L.M. Montgomery and the matter of nature. In recent years, the matter of nature has been the subject of much contested debate and theoretical innovation across disciplines. While multiple romanticisms have informed L.M. Montgomery’s passionate views of the natural world, her complex descriptions show her writing both of and for nature. This complexity extends as well to the depiction of cultural and gendered mores (domesticity, friendship, faith, community, biological determinism) as both natural and cultural. In all its forms, nature situates binary relationships that are often represented as hierarchical and oppositional: nature and culture; child and adult; animal and human; female and male; emotion and reason; body and mind; traditional and modern; raw and cooked; wild and domestic; rural and urban.

We invite the submission of abstracts that consider these issues in relation to Montgomery’s fiction, poetry, life writing, photographs, and scrapbooks, as well as the range of adapted texts in the areas of film, television, theatre, tourism, and online communities. Possible questions include:

• What are the effects of the representations and images of nature that are crafted and circulated in Montgomery’s work?
• How do Montgomery’s narrations of nature shape children and adults within and across cultures?
• How do particular constructions of nature work in fiction, across such differences as gender, race, culture, and class?
• What are the cultural and historical contingencies surrounding nature in Montgomery’s work?
• What does it mean to consider Montgomery as a “green” writer (Doody) or as a proto-ecofeminist (Holmes)?
• What do Montgomery’s provocative readings of nature offer us at a time of environmental crises and ecological preoccupations?
• How does the notion of “nature” impact some of the most central preoccupations in Montgomery’s fiction, poetry, and life writing (the nature of war, of mental illness, of cultural inheritance, of conflict, of same-sex friendships and of heterosexual marriage, of cultural memory, of national ideologies)?

Abstracts should clearly articulate the paper’s argument and demonstrate familiarity with current scholarship in the field (please see http://lmmresearch.org/bibliography for an updated bibliography). For more information, please contact the conference co-chairs directly: Dr. Benjamin Lefebvre (ben@roomofbensown.net) and Dr. Jean Mitchell (mjmitchell@upei.ca). All proposals will be vetted blind and should therefore contain no identifying information.

Please submit one-page abstracts and short biographical sketches by 15 September 2009 to the L.M. Montgomery Institute’s OCS page (http://ocs.vre.upei.ca/index.php/lmmi/2010).

If you’ve already submitted an abstract for the 2010 Conference, please verify that it has been received by e-mailing the director at lmmi@upei.ca. All those who were registered through the 2008 OCS page have been made authors and should go to http://ocs.vre.upei.ca/index.php/lmmi/2010/presenter/submit/1 to submit their abstract. If you were registered but have forgotten your password, please use the Reset Password link located here: http://ocs.vre.upei.ca/index.php/lmmi/2010/login/lostPassword. If this is your first time using OCS for the L.M. Montgomery Conference, then please register yourself as an author here: http://ocs.vre.upei.ca/index.php/lmmi/2010/user/account?source=&requiresPresenter (make sure to select the “Create account as Author: Able to submit items to the conference” option at the bottom of the registration form).

The 2010 Conference planning is well underway so please be on the lookout for future emails with details concerning accommodations and other events. And as always, if you have any problems, do not hesitate to contact us at lmmi@upei.ca.

The first international conference on L.M. Montgomery outside Canada

Uppsala, Sweden, will be the venue for an international conference entitled L.M. Montgomery—Writer of the World, 20-23 August 2009. The conference commemorates the first translation of Anne of Green Gables, the Swedish Anne på Grönkulla which appeared in 1909. Conference organisers are Gabriella Åhmansson, University of Gävle  and Åsa Warnqvist, Uppsala University.

The main theme for the conference is reading response and it has attracted 28 speakers from 10 different countries, including major Montgomery scholars such as Elizabeth Waterston, Mary H. Rubio, Elizabeth Rollins Epperly and Irene Gammel. The last day of the conference, Sunday August 23, is open to the general public, a tribute to one hundred years of devoted Montgomery readers in Sweden.

For a detailed programme and information on how to register, please visit the conference website http://ahmansson.com/montgomery2009.html or contact the conference coordinators at asa.warnqvist@littvet.uu.se.

The conference is hosted by University of Uppsala, one of Europe’s oldest universities, established in 1477. More information on the beautiful medieval city of Uppsala and its surroundings can be found on the Uppsala Tourism official website http://www.uppsala.to/en.

The following panel, “Beyond Green Gables” (chaired by Rita Bode, Trent University), will take place at the Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA) conference in Boston on 27 February 2009. It includes the following panelists:

• Kate Scarth, Memorial University, “Taking the Country to the City: Redefining ‘Home’ in L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of the Island“
• Christiana R. Salah, University of Connecticut, “Bonds of Sea and Land: The Prehensile Places of L.M. Montgomery’s Fiction”
• Trisha Tucker, University of Southern California, “L. M. Montgomery and the Curious Child”
• Anne Ramirez, Neumann College, “Anne Shirley and Ellen Montgomery: Imagining a Wider World”

The following panel will occur on Monday, 29 December 2008, between 8:30 and 9:45 a.m., at Hilton San Francisco, as part of the 2008 MLA Convention in San Francisco. The panel is titled “Return to Prince Edward Island: Anne of Green Gables at 100” and is arranged by the Division on Children’s Literature.

Presiding: Michele Ann Abate, Hollins University

1. “The Creation of the Family in Anne of Green Gables: Making Twenty-First Century Readers at Home in the Victorian.” Kathleen A. Miller, University of Delaware, Newark.
2. “A Return to the Wild; or, Long-Lasting, Mystical ‘Lunacy’ in Anne of Green Gables.” Val Czerny, Florida Atlantic University.
3. “The Problem Novel Then and Now: Using Anne of Green Gables in the Contemporary Young-Adult Literature Class.” Fiona Paton, State University of New York, New Paltz.
4. “From Formula Fiction to Girls’ Classic: Anne of Green Gables, Fashion Magazines, and Sunday School Writing.” Irene Gammel, Ryerson University.

I just the following article on the CBC.ca website:

Writers challenged to update Wind in the Willows on its 100th birthday

The 100th anniversary of Kenneth Grahame’s Wind in the Willows will be celebrated with a competition to write a modern version of the children’s classic.

The River & Rowing Museum in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, in Britain has launched a writing competition that challenges authors to put a modern take on Grahame’s themes.

“Kenneth Grahame knew all about the power of the river on the imagination, and on our real lives,” museum representative Paul Mainds told BBC.

“This competition gives authors the opportunity to re-animate these themes and make them more relevant for today’s young readers, especially in light of the environmental issues that now affect our rivers and the wildlife that lives in and around them.”

Writers are challenged to pen a “river-related” short story “for our times.”

The museum, on the river Thames, has a permanent exhibition dedicated to Wind in the Willows.

Grahame’s tale of the adventures of Toad, Mole, Ratty and Badger was published Oct. 8, 1908, four months after he left his job at the Bank of England….

The news of this competition made me wonder about Anne of Green Gables, which was published less than four months before Wind in the Willows. If there were a competition to write a modern version of this novel, how would it be done? What would need to be updated, changed, altered, or reemphasized?

Here are extracts from a press release for a conference called “Green Gables to Globalization: Crossover, Canada and Children’s Books”:

iBbY Ireland announces a one-day conference to be held on Saturday October 18th 2008 in The Church of Ireland College of Education, Upper Rathmines Road, Dublin 6.

The main theme of the conference will examine ways in which children’s literature transcend boundaries of all kinds, focusing in particular on crossover fiction and a sense of belonging in books from Canada, a post-colonial, multiethnic society.

Irene Gammel of Ryerson University will be speaking on “Looking for Anne of Green Gables: A Literary Icon at 100,” as part of the conference. For more information and for the complete program, visit the iBby Ireland website.

Thanks to Chris Yordy for sending me the following press release:

It’s been 100 years since Anne Shirley first peeked out of the pages of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables. An immediate success, the book would become one of the most-read and best-loved stories in the world. A century later, the University of Guelph is hosting a conference that will celebrate Montgomery’s life and her influence on Canada and the world.

Running Oct. 23 to 25, “From Canada to the World: the Cultural Influence of Lucy Maud Montgomery” will bring some of this country’s foremost Montgomery scholars and biographers to campus. The conference will feature a unique combination of lectures, performances, films, music, tours and exhibitions.

“L.M. Montgomery has enchanted millions of readers around the world, but she also had a tremendous effect on other writers and helped shape Canadian culture,” said Sue Bennett, director of University and community relations and one of the conference organizers.

“The themes Montgomery wrote about so adeptly and vividly were often drawn from her own experiences,” added Bennett. “She led a very complex life, and here at U of G, we’ve been lucky enough to glimpse some of her experiences through our L.M. Montgomery Collection. So it’s very fitting that we are hosting this important event.”

U of G has the largest collection of Montgomery memorabilia in Canada, including her handwritten journals, scrapbooks, handiwork, photo albums, legal and business papers, letters and the Order of the British Empire medal she received in 1935. It also contains original typescripts of some of her works, including Rilla of Ingleside. Montgomery wrote 22 novels during her lifetime and kept extensive journals from the time she was 14.

Guelph has also long been the academic home to two of the most pre-eminent Montgomery experts in the world — retired English professors Mary Rubio and Elizabeth Waterston. In the 1980s, they were asked by Montgomery’s son, Dr. Stuart Macdonald, to edit his mother’s personal journals. The works were published in five volumes of The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery.

Rubio has also written a biography about Montgomery, The Gift of Wings, which will be in bookstores next month. On Oct. 25, she will read from the biography and talk about the process of writing it.

Waterston will also speak, discussing Rilla of Ingleside as one of the few women’s war novels about the First World War. She also has a new book about Montgomery coming out this fall, Magic Island. Each chapter discusses a different Montgomery book, and Waterston draws parallels between Montgomery’s internal “island” – her personal life, her professional career – and the characters in her novels.

Other Saturday speakers include chief librarian and CIO Mike Ridley, who will explain the importance of the Montgomery collection to the University. In addition, Helen Salmon, associate chief librarian, and Lorne Bruce, head of archives and special collections, will talk about the collection and launch the L.M. Montgomery research centre website, which includes digitized images of the collection that make it visible and easily accessible.

Saturday will also feature a luncheon based on recipes from Montgomery’s personal cookbook. Food writer Liz Driver will discuss the cookbook as an artifact.

That evening, U of G chancellor Pamela Wallin will give a keynote address to conference participants.

Other conference highlights include a film screening and panel discussion at The Bookshelf Oct. 23 at 7 p.m.

A complete schedule and conference registration is available online.

More information about the film screening is available here:

“Takes on Maud,” a screening of two short films — I Know a Secret by Lucy Maud Montgomery and Boys and Girls by Alice Munro, produced by Atlantis Films — runs Oct. 23 at 7 p.m. at the Bookshelf Cinema. It will be followed by a panel discussion and reception in the E-Bar. Panellists are Michael MacMillan, executive chair of Alliance Atlantis; University professor emerita Elizabeth Waterston; Prof. Paul Salmon, English and Theatre Studies; and film historian Benjamin Lefebvre of the University of Alberta.

I have received a message from Cort Egan, announcing that registration is now open for “The Cultural Influence of Lucy Maud Montgomery,” a Symposium hosted by the University of Guelph, and can be accessed at: http://www.lmmrc.ca/conference.

Helen Salmon, the University of Guelph’s Associate Chief Librarian, describes the Symposium:

The university has undertaken an extensive digitization project to make its extensive collection of Montgomery memorabilia — including her private journals, scrapbooks, handiwork, photographs, and other records – more accessible to Montgomery scholars and fans everywhere. The symposium will offer the very first opportunity to explore the newly launched collections website, examine the archival collections first-hand, view an L.M. Montgomery exhibit at the University’s art gallery, and listen to speakers who will explore her impact on readers, writers, and women in the 20th century. Join with Canada’s foremost Montgomery scholars, biographers, enthusiasts, and fans to recognize her world-wide legacy and explore the mystery of her creativity. This four day weekend event will include coach tours to view several of  L.M. Montgomery’s residences in Ontario, the opening of an art exhibit,  film viewings, panel discussions, and scholarly presentations which will highlight author’s contributions to literary and popular culture.

The following calls for papers appeared in the program for “L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables, & the Idea of Classic,” the eighth international L.M. Montgomery Conference hosted by the L.M. Montgomery Institute of UPEI and held at the Delta Prince Edward Hotel in Charlottetown on 25-29 June 2008.

L.M. Montgomery—Writer of the World. International conference, Uppsala University, Sweden, August 20-23, 2009.

L.M. Montgomery’s world famous novel Anne of Green Gables has continued to attract readers from all over the world for a century. Our centenary conference is a tribute to all of those who have made 100 years of readership possible.

The main theme of the conference is “Reading Response.” We will explore reading experiences of Anne of Green Gables and other works by L.M. Montgomery. One section will be dedicated to Anne of Green Gables in Sweden. We also accept open proposals for papers on Montgomery’s works.

We invite you to send in one-page proposals for papers, together with a short biographical note.

Deadline: October 1, 2008. Send in your proposals to Conference Co-ordinator Gabriella Åhmansson at montgomery2009@ahmansson.com.

Queries? Please contact Conference Co-ordinator Åsa Warnqvist at asa.warnqvist@littvet.uu.se. More information on the conference will be published continuously at www.ahmansson.com/montgomery2009.html.

L.M. Montgomery and the Matter of Nature. 9th International conference, University of Prince Edward Island, June 2010.

In 2010 we invite you to consider L.M. Montgomery and the matter of nature. While multiple romanticisms have informed L.M. Montgomery’s passionate views of nature, her descriptions were complex as she wrote both of and for nature. What are the effects of the representations and images of nature that are crafted and circulated in the fiction of Montgomery, and in that of other writers of literature (especially for children and youth)? How do her narrations of nature shape children and adults within and across cultures? How do seasonality and place function in her life writing? How do particular constructions of nature work in fiction, across such differences as gender, race, culture, and class? What are the cultural and historical contingencies surrounding nature in Montgomery’s work?

In recent years, the matter of “nature” itself has been the subject of much-contested debate and theoretical innovation across disciplines. Nature situates binary relationships that are often represented as hierarchical and oppositional. These include nature and culture, child and adult, animal and human, male and female, reason and emotion, mind and body, modern and traditional, raw and cooked, domestic and wild, urban and rural—among others. How might any of these formulations be examined and challenged (or not) in the context of Montgomery’s work? What does it mean to consider Montgomery as a “green” writer (Doody) or as a proto-ecofeminist (Holmes)? What do Montgomery’s provocative readings of nature offer us at a time of environmental crises and ecological preoccupations?

Please send one-page abstracts and short biographical sketches by June 30, 2009, to:

L.M. Montgomery Institute, University of Prince Edward Island, 550 University Avenue, Charlottetown, PE C1A 4P3 Canada. E-mail: lmminst@upei.ca.