The 2006 MLA convention will be held in Philadelphia. Members should familiarize themselves with the guidelines for the MLA convention, which appear in the September 2005 PMLA (pp. 1003-1008), before writing to the organizer listed below. All participants in convention sessions must be MLA members by 7 April 2006. Organizers are responsible for responding to all inquires. A member may participate as speaker or respondent only twice, (e.g., by organizing and chairing a meeting, reading a paper, or serving as a speaker, panelist, or respondent in one or two sessions) at a single convention. [www.mla.org]

Discussion Group: Lusophone Literatures and Cultures: Outside of Portugal and Brazil (L3)

Session title: O papel das tradições orais na transformação da literatura lusófona/The Role of Oral tradition in the Transformation of Lusophone Literatures.

Session description: Portugal has had over 500 years of contacts with former colonies in Asia, Africa, as well as Brazil. Throughout this period, and continuing to the present, Portuguese literature and language have undergone incessant transformations. One of the salient, yet still under-investigated, factors of this transformation is the wealth of oral traditions that have entered into Portuguese and Lusophone literatures.

Type of submission preferred: Abstracts by March 10, 2006. Papers: English/Portuguese.