The Department of English and Philosophy at Arkansas State University (Jonesboro campus) announces its eleventh annual Delta Blues Symposium, to be held 7-9 April 2005. The theme for Delta Blues Symposium XI is “Imagining the Delta.” Presentations are encouraged from scholars and students of the humanities and social sciences–especially anthropology, art history, economics, folklore studies, geography, history, literature, musicology, political science, and sociology. Topics which focus on the Symposium’s theme may examine the ways in which the seven-state Mississippi River Delta has been imagined in mass media, history, and various forms of expressive culture; continues to be presented and represented; and is defined by those who foresee the Delta’s future. We especially encourage presentations on Delta writers who have previously appeared at symposia, including Lewis Nordan, Ellen Douglas, Ellen Gilchrist, Steve Yarbrough, Beverly Lowry, Yusef Komunyakaa, Arthur Flowers, and Michael Harper.

Featured participants on the program this year include novelist John Dufresne, folklorist Henry Glassie, and bluesman Little Milton.

Program proposals may be for individual presentations or for panels. These should be sent as 100-word abstracts. We also urge participation by creative writers and other artists. Please send samples of previous work for our consideration. The submission deadline is 14 January 2005.