South Atlantic Modern Language Association

The South Atlantic Modern Language Association continues to expand its membership and to attract conference participants from the southeast as well as from other regions of the United States and abroad. Some 800 scholars attended the 2009 annual convention, and we anticipate hosting a thousand participants at the upcoming conference in Atlanta, Georgia (for the second of three consecutive years) from 5–7 November. This conference, our 82nd gathering, will be held at the newly constructed Loews Hotel on Peachtree Street, which is in an ideal midtown location close to the numerous restaurants and within walking distance of several cultural attractions, including the Woodruff Arts Center, the High Museum of Art, and the legendary Fox Theatre. It is also less than three blocks from the Midtown MARTA station, providing easy access to the Hartsfield-Jackson Airport. Room rates for the convention are $115 per night.

The special focus for the 2010 conference is “The Interplay of Text and Image,” and our program will feature approximately 225 regular, special, and affiliated-group sessions, with a large number devoted to the special topic. In addition, our plenary speakers and featured guests will offer multiple approaches for exploring interconnections and cross-influences between visual and written texts. R. Barton Palmer will be the conference’s critical plenary speaker. Palmer obtained a PhD from Yale University in medieval studies and a second PhD from New York University in cinema studies and is the Calhoun Lemon Professor of Literature at Clemson University, where he directs the film studies program. Dylan Kidd, the critically acclaimed writer, director, and producer, will be the creative plenary speaker. Kidd graduated with a degree in film from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and is best known for his 2002 film Roger Dodger, which won twelve prestigious awards and was characterized by the New York Times as an “acutely witty film.” Our featured speakers will include Brad Lichtenstein (an award-winning documentary film director and producer, founder of 371 Productions, and film professor at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee) and Robert McDonald (a film-based photographer who will present a display of photographs taken from a current project that captures the personal spaces and native landscapes of over two dozen Southern writers).

A special feature being added to this year’s conference will be Professional Development Seminars for graduate students and emerging scholars, which will take place from 8:30–10:30 a.m. on Friday before the conference starts. The three seminars, featuring seasoned SAMLA scholars, will address The Paper: Conference Presentations; The Paper: Academic Publications; and The Career: Running the Tenure Track. In addition, two special panels featuring academic presses and journals will run during the regular conference program for the larger SAMLA body, giving attendees an opportunity to interact with publishers and learn strategies for promoting scholarly work.

Registration costs for the 2010 convention are $135 for regular members and $75 for graduate students and adjunct and retired faculty members. A discount is provided for registration before 1 October. Participants may register as well as renew their membership using a form available on our Web site (www.samla.gsu.edu). Members of SAMLA receive four issues of the South Atlantic Review and the biannual newsletter, which includes the convention call for papers and pre-convention program details. Membership dues for 2010 are $60 for individual members, $80 for joint membership, and $35 for graduate students and adjunct and retired faculty members.