November 2, 2005, will mark the one-hundredth birthday of William A. Owens, the nationally-renowned folklorist, essayist, autobiographer, and author of fiction. He is the author of such works as This Stubborn Soil (1966), Black Mutiny: The Revolt of the Schooner Amistad (1968), A Season of Weathering (1973), and Eye Deep in Hell (1989).

To celebrate this occasion, Texas A&M University-Commerce and Paris Junior College will joint-host a series of featured speakers, scholarly presentations, roundtable discussions, and dramatic productions surrounding the extraordinary career of this brilliant storyteller and folklorist. The William A. Owens Centennial Celebration will be held November 9-12, 2005, and conference organizers are looking for a variety of scholarly papers and creative efforts that reflect Owens’s life work. Possible topics for presentation could include, but are certainly not limited to:

• William A. Owens as master storyteller
• Owens as a chronicler of Texas history and Texas folklore
• Frontier narrative in the writings of Owens
• Owens’s influential work in folklore studies
• Texas songs, ballads, and spirituals and Owens’s efforts in collecting and preserving them
• The crossroads of folk studies and African American studies, and Owens’s work in this area
• Owens as military historian, as reflected in works such as Eye Deep in Hell
• Original creative fiction, poetry, or drama inspired by or paying tribute to the work of Owens as writer and scholar

Texas A&M University-Commerce and Paris Junior College are located in the northeast region of Texas, approximately one hour (Commerce) and an hour and 45 minutes (Paris) from Dallas. Conference accommodations and the celebration schedule will be listed on the William A. Owens Centennial Celebration Web site (web address provided below), at a future date. Deadline for submission is August 1, 2005.

Please send all proposals and queries to:

Karen Roggenkamp
Department of Literature and Languages
Texas A&M University-Commerce
Commerce, TX 75429-3011
Email: Karen_Roggenkamp@tamu-commerce.edu
Fax: 903-886-5980

OR

Derek P. Royal
Department of Literature and Languages
Texas A&M University-Commerce
Commerce, TX 75429-3011
E-mail: Derek_Royal@tamu-commerce.edu
Fax: 903-886-5980

For more information on the William A. Owens Centennial Celebration, please visit our Web site at the following web address.