02 December 2009

The 2010 National Oz Conference Call for Papers

The Arne Nixon Center for the Study of Children’s Literature at California State University, Fresno, will host a national Oz conference, co-sponsored by the International Wizard of Oz Club, on 14-16 May 2010.

Featured speakers will include:

The conference will include a performance of Time Again in Oz, a musical adapted from Ozma of Oz by Suzan L. Zeder. There’s more about this show at the website of composer Richard Gray.

The conference has issued a call for papers on the theme of “Oz: The Books.” Organizers invite people to submit ideas for fifteen-minute presentations for breakout sessions on 14 May. There are slots for up to 48 papers. Possible topics include: Send proposals to Allison Cowgill, chair of the paper review committee, on or before 15 Jan 2010. The proposal emails should have the subject heading “Oz conference proposal.” The first page should state the workshop title and presenter’s name, address, phone number, and email. The following page should have the workshop title again, whether it will require a PowerPoint setup (no other audiovisual equipment can be provided), and an abstract of 300-500 words—but not the presenter’s name and contact information.

Organizers will confirm receipt of proposals by email, evaluate proposals through a blind review process, and notify authors of accepted proposals by 1 Feb 2010. Presenters must register for the conference. Information about the conference, including events schedule, registration fee, housing, and transportation, will be available at the Arne Nixon Center website or by calling 559-278-8116.

I’m sorry that I’ll miss this event because I’m booked to speak at SCBWI New England’s annual conference that same weekend. (My workshop topics will be on what it means to write within genres and on the differences between writing picture books and writing scripts for comics.)

2 comments:

ericshanower said...

John Fricke's book was published in September, so it's not forthcoming anymore.

J. L. Bell said...

I searched for John Fricke’s book in different ways at Powells.com, but didn’t find it.

Now I know why: it’s published by Fall River Press, an imprint of Sterling, which is the publishing arm of Barnes & Noble. Therefore, it’s primarily available at Barnes & Noble outlets, with limited distribution through that chain’s biggest competitors.

So folks interested in this book should go to BN.com.