MLA 2022 Special Session Panel

On Feb. 25, 2021, I posted information regarding a call-for-papers for a special session panel I co-organized with my colleague Rachel Warner for MLA’s 2022 Annual Convention.

As an update to that post, I can excitedly announce that LMCC Co-Directors Rachel Warner and I have co-organized and will be leading a panel for the 2022 annual MLA Convention!

Inspired by our joint interest in the health humanities and in our combined work as Co-Directors of UNC’s Literature, Medicine, and Culture Colloquium (LMCC), Rachel and I designed a potential special session panel, solicited papers, and created an exciting panel proposal that has been accepted as part of MLA’s Annual Convention. The convention will take place Jan. 6-9, 2022 in Washington, DC. Our panel, titled “Health, Medicine and Literature: Critical Intersections,” is scheduled for the evening of Thursday, January 6. I will serve as the Presider of the panel, and Rachel will serve as the Respondent for the panel (a position I pushed onto her because I think, quite frankly, that it is more difficult and because I think she has the stronger mind and skills to handle such a task).

I want to begin by expressing my gratitude for Rachel’s invitation to join her as Co-Director for the LMCC back in late 2019. This opportunity would not be happening without her.

Here is some more information about the convention as a whole, and here is more specific information regarding our specific panel.

Rachel and I are excited and grateful for this opportunity and look forward to collaborating with other scholars in this field and then sharing these experiences with our colleagues at UNC, especially the other members of the LMCC! (We also want to thank Professors Jane Thrailkill and Kym Weed for their inspiration, guidance, and assistance in this process! We also want to thank the excellent scholars who submitted papers to us, especially the three amazing scholars selected for our panel! We look forward to meeting them and discussing their work with them this January.)

I will be sure to post updates regarding this event in the future.