48th WLA Conference
to be held in Berkeley, California
Oct. 9-12, 2013

WLA President for 2013 is Richard Hutson.

Conference Theme: Califia: The West Calling the World

Venue: Doubletree Hilton on the Berkeley Marina. Room rate for WLA: $159

CALL FOR PAPERS

The name of California derives from the legend of Califia, the queen of an island inhabited by dark-skinned Amazons in a 1521 novel by Garcia Ordonez de Montalvo, Las Sergas de Esplandian. The “island” kingdom of California has been calling to the world ever since, a land of promise, myth, and dream, often a land of harsh reality. We will honor the career of Pulitzer Prize–winning poet and former Poet Laureate of the United States Robert Hass, who will share the Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award with the late novelist and critic Louis Owens whom we honor posthumously.

The 48th annual conference of the Western Literature Association will meet in Berkeley, California. Berkeley lies east across the bay from San Francisco. It is the home of the University of California, a public university established by a land grant in 1868. The conference will take place at the Doubletree Hilton hotel at the Berkeley Marina, overlooking the Bay, San Francisco, and the Golden Gate Bridge.

In addition to proposals on any aspect of western literature and culture, the WLA invites proposals on the West in general. Proposals my be for individual papers, panels, or round-table discussions. Suggested topics may include but are not limited to the following:

• West Coast/Left Coast
• California writers
• Mark Twain
• Diversity and ethnicity in the West
• Gold Rush imagination
• Food, food, food/urban farming
• San Francisco literary renaissance(s)
• Queer West

Submissions must include a 250-word abstract, name, affiliation, contact information and AV requests. Proposals for panels and roundtable discussions should include an abstract for each paper or presentation. Deadline June 15, 2013. Submit abstracts or questions to Richard Hutson.