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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><FONT color=#0000ff><STRONG><SPAN
lang=EN-GB style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Dear
Colleagues,</SPAN></STRONG></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><FONT color=#0000ff><STRONG><SPAN
lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></SPAN></STRONG></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><FONT
color=#0000ff><STRONG><I><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">The Literary
Encyclopedia</SPAN></I><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> was founded in 1998 and first
published in 2000. Its aim is to provide high quality scholarly reference
information on all literary work of interest in the English-speaking world. The
publication now comes around the top of Google rankings for resources on English
literature and is very widely read and respected. Its use has risen very
positively in the last few years and we currently have over 240,000 individual
visitors per month who view around 800,000 pages.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>We expect a minimum of 3 million
individual visits and 9 million page-views in 2005, confirming our standing as
one of the most widely consulted and respected websites in our field.
<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"
/><o:p></o:p></SPAN></STRONG></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><EM><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p><FONT
color=#0000ff><STRONG> </STRONG></FONT></o:p></SPAN></EM></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><FONT
color=#0000ff><STRONG><EM><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">The Literary
Encyclopedia</SPAN></EM><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> is edited by a distinguished
international board and published by The Literary Dictionary Company which acts
a holding company on behalf of the <EM><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Encyclopedia</SPAN></EM>'s editors and contributors,
all of whom will share in its profits and equity value. This equity structure
enables us to develop without incurring vast overheads and to pursue scholarly
and educational objectives free of the usual commercial pressures, albeit we do
intend to generate a respectable income for our editors and contributors by the
end of 2006. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></STRONG></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p><FONT
color=#0000ff><STRONG> </STRONG></FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><FONT color=#0000ff><STRONG>Our
business plan involves supplying basic entries freely to users and generating
revenue from a mixture of subscriptions, publishers' advertising and book sales.
Our "Bookshop" -- about to be rebranded as <I>The Literary Bookshop </I>--
currently integrates 3200 works published by Cambridge University Press, Ashgate
and the British Library with the <I>Encyclopedia</I> entries with a refinement
not seen in any other publication. We are in the process of adding titles
published by Northcote House, McFarland (USA), Routledge, Taylor and Francis,
and Faber & Faber, and are seeking relations with other publishers. We have
also licensed our data to EBSCO, the major US data supplier, for the new
Literary Resource Centre they will launch this year. This will do much to
enhance our public standing and will also generate a useful revenue. Later this
year we will add a literary-academic news magazine called <I>The Literary
Magazine </I>which will make <EM><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">The Literary
Encyclopedia</SPAN></EM> a very lively point of intervention in contemporary
culture. <o:p></o:p></STRONG></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p><FONT
color=#0000ff><STRONG> </STRONG></FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><FONT color=#0000ff><STRONG>Our
entries range from 100 to 2500 words and comprise biographies of authors,
philosophers and others who have made a significant contribution to world
culture, critical profiles of texts, or articles on literary terms, movements
and historical events. The latter are particularly valuable as they can be
called into relation with People and Works entries through user-defined
timelines. <I>The Literary Encyclopedia</I> should therefore enhance students'
abilities to understand literary contexts. To date our cadre of writers and
co-owners extends to over 1000 colleagues who have between them completed nearly
2800 entries. We have 600 entries commissioned for delivery this year, and in
total have basic records on over 5,500 writers and nearly 17,000 works. The
publication is therefore already a uniquely valuable resource for displaying
primary bibliographical lists of authors and works. We have also listed some
1400 topics which we are progressively writing up.
<o:p></o:p></STRONG></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p><FONT
color=#0000ff><STRONG> </STRONG></FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><FONT
color=#0000ff><STRONG><I><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">The Literary
Encyclopedia</SPAN></I><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> is also linked to <A
href="http://www.university-english.com/">www.University-English.com</A>, an
evolving set of databases which provide contact information for all university
departments of English, scholarly journals and other agencies of interest to our
profession. University-English assures us of very direct relations with all
students and scholars throughout the world. </SPAN></STRONG></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><FONT color=#0000ff><STRONG><SPAN
lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></SPAN></STRONG></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><FONT color=#0000ff><STRONG><SPAN
lang=EN-GB style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Searches can be done by
the names of playwrights, organising their works by date or title; or by the
titles of plays, organising them by playwright name or date. There are
both Simple and Advanced search modes. The lists of plays and playwrights
are conveniently divided into Major Figures and All Figures. It is possible to
bring up a list of other writers and their works (not only playwrights, but
those who have written in various genres) that have relevance to the work
of a given playwright: this is an especially useful contextualsing tool.
Links are provided for many playwrights: to sites that hold their papers (for
example, the University of Calgary); to the Playwrights Guild of Canada website;
to the catalogues of their publisher(s); to the Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia
website; to websites kept by playwrights on their works or kept by people
on their behalf; and to other materials of interest, such as important online
articles about the playwrights. </SPAN></STRONG></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><FONT color=#0000ff><STRONG><SPAN
lang=EN-GB style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">So far, there are 108
playwrights listed; profiles have been written for many of these; other profiles
are in train; and of course new contributors are being
sought.</SPAN></STRONG></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><FONT color=#0000ff><STRONG><SPAN
lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"></SPAN></STRONG></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><FONT color=#0000ff><SPAN
lang=EN-GB style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><STRONG>The website
address for <EM>The Literary Encyclopedia</EM> is </STRONG><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"><A
href="http://www.LitEncyc.com">www.LitEncyc.com</A></SPAN></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><FONT color=#0000ff><SPAN
lang=EN-GB style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"><STRONG></STRONG></SPAN></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><FONT color=#0000ff><SPAN
lang=EN-GB style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"><STRONG>The
Canadian editors in charge of the Canadian drama entries are Professors Glen
Nichols at the University of Moncton and Denis Salter at McGill
University. If you are interested in contributing to the
<EM>Encyclopedia</EM>, please contact Glen Nichols at <A
href="mailto:Nicholsg@umoncton.ca">Nicholsg@umoncton.ca</A> or Denis Salter at
<A href="mailto:Denis.Salter@McGill.ca">Denis.Salter@McGill.ca</A>. The
Canadian editor in charge of the Canadian non-dramatic entries is Professor
Wendy Roy. Her email is <A
href="mailto:wendy.roy@usask.ca">wendy.roy@usask.ca</A></STRONG></SPAN></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><FONT color=#0000ff><SPAN
lang=EN-GB style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"><STRONG>If
you are interested in contributing an article to <EM>The Literary Magazine,
</EM>you should email the Chief Editor of the <EM>Encyclopedia</EM>, Professor
Robert Clark, at <A
href="mailto:RobertClark@LitEncyc.com">RobertClark@LitEncyc.com</A></STRONG></SPAN></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><FONT color=#0000ff><SPAN
lang=EN-GB style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"><STRONG></STRONG></SPAN></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><FONT color=#0000ff><SPAN
lang=EN-GB style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"><STRONG></STRONG></SPAN></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><FONT color=#0000ff><SPAN
lang=EN-GB style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><SPAN lang=EN-GB
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"><STRONG>--Denis
Salter</STRONG></SPAN></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT
color=#0000ff>__________________________________________________</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT color=#0000ff>"To celebrate this award, and the work it
recognizes of those around the world, let me recall the words<BR>of Gandhi: My
life is my message. Also, plant a tree."--Wangari Maathai, winner of the 2004
Nobel <BR>Peace Prize.</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT
color=#0000ff>________________________________________________________________________________________</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT color=#0000ff>" . . . and they shall beat their swords into
plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks: <BR>nation shall not lift up
sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more."<BR> Isaiah
2.4<BR>___________________<BR>Denis Salter<BR>Professor of Theatre<BR>McGill
University<BR>853 Sherbrooke Street West<BR>Montreal, QC<BR>H3A 2T6<BR>Tel (514)
398 6550<BR>Fax (514) 398 8146<BR><A
href="mailto:d.salter@videotron.ca">d.salter@videotron.ca</A><BR><A
href="mailto:denis.salter@mcgill.ca">denis.salter@mcgill.ca</A><BR>__________________</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
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