WRITING AND READING BEYOND BORDERS

[Angela Rebeiro]

>>
>> Hope someone includes in their paper that the importance of publishing
>> plays is that as books cross borders, more easily, frequently, and 
>> less expensively than staged productions,
>> the visibility of Canadian playwrights and
>> their work has grown significantly in the past ten/fifteen years. And,
>> those borders are not just international,
>> they are provincial, academic, community theatre, schools, and for the
>> few readers drifting about who enjoy reading plays.
>> Recently I was invited to be part of a panel and as the only odd 
>> person
>> in the room talking about theatre, the question came up about
>> why publish plays.  When I observed the features, it was clear from 
>> the
>> expression on 20 people's face that
>> I'd hit a cord; none of them had given this a thought.  I believe 
>> quite
>> strongly, however, that a lot more Canadian drama is being
>> done in the US, because playwrights Canada Press is represented in 
>> the U.S. by Theatre
>> Communications Group for sales, marketing,
>> and distribution.  it's not just a distribution activity, which many
>> Canadian publishers have.  I think Albert Glaap, Ute Schafenberg,
>> Christian Horn and a few others who travel back and forth between 
>> Germany and
>> Canada, have been able to encourage an interest
>> in Canadian theatre in that country, because we send books to them on 
>> a regular basis. 
>> Were theatre not published, academics and other teachers would
>> not have easy access to plays to enhance their literature and drama
>> classes.  Community theatres would not know about as many of the
>> Canadian plays as they now do, and so on and so forth.  Theatrebooks 
>> now represents
>> about 30% of our annual sales, up from about 7 - 10%% 16 years ago, 
>> and I
>> suspect that's true for the other drama publishers.  None of what 
>> I've said here applies
>> only to this Press.  Talon's Modern Canadian Drama  does very well in
>> universities.  In fact I think these two volumes go along way to 
>> sustaining Talon's publishiisng
>> programme, which is also fiction, poetry and non-fiction. Ditto for
>> Scirocco, and so their books
>> cross provincial borders and increase the visibility of Canadian
>> playwrights and their work.

And, so someone will now challenge me to say that the internet is even 
faster, and I would not disagree with that,
but we're not there yet, and so in the meantime published plays slip 
across all kinds of borders much more
readily than staged productions.
>>
>>
>> Angela Rebeiro
>> Playwrights Canada Press
>> 215 Spadina Avenue
>> Suite 230
>> Toronto, Ontario
>> M5T 2C7
>> (416) 703-0013
>> (416) 408-3402 FAX
>>
>> On Jan 11, 2008, at 9:49 AM, Glen F. Nichols wrote:
>>
>> > From
>> > >>> Wendy Roy wendy.roy at usask.ca> 2008-01-10 15:30 >>
>> > Updated Call for Papers / Appel à communications
>> >
>> > The Association for Canadian and Québec Literatures (ACQL)
>> > Association des littératures canadienne et québécoise (ALCQ)
>> >
>> > Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences
>> > University of British Columbia
>> > 31 May-2 June 2008
>> >
>> > (Le texte français suit)
>> >
>> > Writing and Reading Beyond Borders
>> >
>> > The Association for Canadian and Québec Literatures invites 
>> proposals
>> > on borders and border crossings for its 2008 conference. Borders 
>> can be
>> > defined as geographical lines between countries, provinces, and
>> > regions, but can also suggest divisions between people in terms of
>> > gender, sexuality, ability, language, ethnicity, "race," and so on. 
>> How
>> > does literature in Canada and Québec both reflect and transcend 
>> these
>> > borders?
>> >
>> > In keeping with Congress's 2008 theme, "Thinking Beyond Borders," we
>> > welcome papers that cross the traditional boundaries of perspective,
>> > genre, and discipline. Possible topics include:
>> >
>> > * Transing genders and sexualities
>> > * Blending theoretical methodologies
>> > * Crossing the boundaries between genres (fiction and biography, 
>> prose
>> > and poetry, illustrated novels)
>> > * Comparison of literatures written in English and in French
>> > * Regionalism
>> > * Migration, dispersal, and settlement
>> > * Postcolonial perspectives
>> > * Diasporic literature in Canada
>> > * Writing and travel
>> >
>> > We also welcome member-organized sessions on topics related to any
>> > aspect of the study of Canadian and Québec literatures. All paper or
>> > session proposals can be written in French or English. Those who
>> > propose papers or sessions must be members of ACQL before the 
>> Congress.
>> > See the ACQL website (www.alqc-acql.ca) for membership registration
>> > information.
>> >
>> > Please also check the ACQL website for calls for papers for
>> > member-organized sessions on Dream Narratives in Canadian and Québec
>> > Literature, Zones of Tension: Theorizing Conflict in Contemporary
>> > Culture in Canada and Québec, and Comparative Literary Nationalisms.
>> >
>> > Send paper proposals (no more than 500 words) with a short biography
>> > and a 50-word abstract to one of the coordinators listed below by 15
>> > January 2008.
>> >
>> > COORDINATOR (English)
>> > Wendy Roy
>> > Department of English
>> > University of Saskatchewan
>> > 9 Campus Drive
>> > Saskatoon, SK  S7N 5A5
>> > Phone (306) 966-2132
>> > Fax (306) 966-5951
>> > Email: wendy.roy at usask.ca
>> >
>> > COORDINATOR (French)
>> > Jorge Calderon
>> > Department of French
>> > Simon Fraser University
>> > 8888 University Drive
>> > Burnaby , BC V5A 1S6
>> > Phone: 778-782-7638
>> > Fax: 778-782-5932
>> > Email: calderon at sfu.ca
>> >
>> > Appel à communications / Call for Papers
>> >
>> > Association des littératures canadienne et québécoise (ALCQ)
>> > The Association for Canadian and Québec Literatures (ACQL)
>> >
>> > Congrès des sciences humaines
>> > Université de la Colombie-Britannique
>> > 31 Mai-2 Juin 2008
>> >
>> > Écrire et lire au delà des frontières
>> >
>> > L’Association des littératures canadiennes et québécoise vous 
>> invite à
>> > proposer des communications sur le thème des frontières et de la
>> > traversée des frontières dans le cadre de son colloque de 2008 qui 
>> aura
>> > lieu à Vancouver. Les frontières peuvent être définies, en fonction 
>> de
>> > notions géographiques, comme étant des lignes qui divisent des pays,
>> > des provinces et des régions. Mais, les frontières peuvent aussi
>> > évoquer des divisions entres les individus en fonction de leur genre
>> > sexuel, leur sexualité, leurs habiletés, leur langue, leur 
>> ethnicité,
>> > leur «race», etc. Alors, de quelles façons les littératures du 
>> Canada
>> > et du Québec reflètent et transcendent ces frontières ?
>> >
>> > En respectant le thème du congrès de 2008, c’est-à-dire «Penser sans
>> > frontières», nous acceptons des communications qui remettent en
>> > question, traversent et fusionnent les limites respectives des 
>> genres
>> > littéraires et des disciplines universitaires. Parmi les sujets
>> > possibles, il y a les suivants :
>> >
>> > * Traverser les genres sexuels et les sexualités
>> > * Mélanger les théories et les méthodologies
>> > * Traverser les limites entre les genres littéraires (fiction en 
>> prose
>> > et biographie, prose et poésie, les illustrations visuelles des 
>> romans)
>> > * Comparer les littératures écrites en anglais et en français
>> > * Le régionalisme
>> > * La migration, la dispersion et la colonisation
>> > * Les perspectives postcoloniales
>> > * Les littératures des diasporas au Canada
>> > * La littérature de voyage
>> >
>> > Nous acceptons également des séances sur des sujets reliés à tous 
>> les
>> > aspects de l’étude des littératures du Canada et du Québec. Toutes 
>> les
>> > communications ou les propositions de séances peuvent être 
>> présentées
>> > soit en français, soit en anglais. Les personnes intéressées à
>> > présenter des communications ou des propositions de séances doivent
>> > être membres de l’ALCQ avant le début du congrès. Vous pouvez 
>> consulter
>> > le site Web de l’ALCQ (www.alqc-acql.ca) pour avoir plus 
>> d’information
>> > au sujet des demandes d’adhésion à notre association.
>> >
>> > S’il vous plaît voir le site Web de l’ALCQ au sujet des 
>> propositions de
>> > séances organisées par des membres de l’association: Le récit de 
>> rêve
>> > dans les littératures canadiennes et québécoise, Zones de tension:
>> > conflictualités dans les cultures contemporaines du Canada et du
>> > Québec, et Nationalismes littéraires comparatifs.
>> >
>> > Envoyez votre proposition (maximum 500 mots) accompagnée d’une 
>> courte
>> > notice biographique et d’une description de 50 mots de votre
>> > communication à l’un des deux organisateurs du colloque, dont les 
>> noms
>> > apparaissent plus bas, au plus tard le 15 janvier 2008.
>> >
>> > Organisatrice et responsable du programme en anglais
>> > Wendy Roy
>> > Department of English
>> > University of Saskatchewan
>> > 9 Campus Drive
>> > Saskatoon, SK  S7N 5A5
>> > Phone (306) 966-2132
>> > Fax (306) 966-5951
>> > Email: wendy.roy at usask.ca
>> >
>> > Organisateur et responsable du programme en français
>> > Jorge Calderón
>> > Department of French
>> > Simon Fraser University
>> > 8888 University Drive
>> > Burnaby , BC V5A 1S6
>> > Phone: (778) 782-7638
>> > Fax: (778) 782-5932
>> > Email: calderon at sfu.ca
>> > <Part.001>