In July 2019, Dickens goes west, and into the mountains! The 24^th Annual Dickens Society Symposium will be held in Salt Lake City, Utah, co-sponsored by the Dickens Society and Utah Valley University. Proposals from scholars, independent researchers, and graduate students on any topic related to Dickens’s life or work are welcome. One-page (250-300 word) abstracts for papers deliverable in 20 minutes, plus 150-word bios, may be submitted Sept. 1 – Nov. 1, 2018, through a link at dickenssociety.org. Please contact Program Committee Chair, Natalie Cole (cole[at]oakland.edu), for more information about proposals.

Salt Lake City is the capital of Utah, nestled in a high-desert valley between two mountain ranges, a gateway to some of the most spectacular geological formations on the planet. Though Dickens himself never visited Utah, the region is explored several dozen times in his journals, referred to variously as an “unknown land,” a “New Jerusalem,” “a flat desert,” out of which rise “a number of parallel ridges of considerable elevation.” Conference participants are encouraged to encounter the western wonders that Dickens only ever imagined: within one hour of SLC, they might travel to Park City or Antelope Island State Park; within three, to Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty, Goblin Valley State Park, or the Golden Spike National Historic Site; within four to five, to Arches National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, Zion National Park, or Capitol Reef National Park (where UVU has a field station). Another hour or two would take the road-tripper north into the Tetons and Yellowstone (WY) or south into the Grand Canyon (AZ). Salt Lake itself is a small, lively city: summers are host to farmers’ markets, festivals, and outdoor music concerts, and hiking trails for hikers of all skill levels can be accessed directly from downtown. The SLC International Airport (Delta hub) offers direct flights to many American—and several European—cities. Details about accommodations, events and excursions, as well as conference sessions will be posted on the Dickens Society website: dickenssociety.org. For more information about location and logistics, please contact Organizing Committee Chair, Leslie Simon (lsimon[at]uvu.edu).

Host institution Utah Valley University, located 40 miles south of Salt Lake in Orem, is the largest public university in the state. Currently serving over 37,000 students, this rapidly growing teaching institution is dedicated to a legacy of open-enrollment admissions, to student-centered and innovative learning initiatives, and to a uniquely diverse and interdisciplinary program of undergraduate study. This symposium is sponsored specifically by the UVU College of Humanities and Social Sciences and Department of Philosophy and Humanities.

Photo courtesy of https://www.myrockymountainpark.com/road-trips/salt-lake-city-utah

The Robert B. Partlow, Jr. Prize

Applications are invited for the Partlow Prize, named in honor of the original Secretary-Treasurer and one of the founding members of the Dickens Society. It may be in the form of EITHER one stipend of $500 OR two of $300 (if two recipients are chosen), and is intended to defray costs of attending the Dickens Symposium, in order to deliver a paper on any aspect of Dickens’s life or work. The registration fee and cost of the Dickens Dinner will also be waived. Eligibility is restricted to students (graduate or undergraduate), independent scholars, and non-tenured faculty. Candidates should submit a CV and a completed paper of 20 minutes duration, to the Program Committee Chair, Natalie Cole (cole[at]oakland.edu), by 15 November 2018. Should the paper be of publishable quality, Dickens Quarterly shall have first right of refusal.