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MLA 2017 will be in Philadelphia in January. The Margaret Atwood Society is proposing two panels–one in conjunction with The Doris Lessing Society.

Panel One: “Humor and/as social critique in Margaret Atwood’s novels, short stories and poetry.” 250-300 word abstract by 17 March 2016 to Eleonora Rao (erao@unisa.it).

Panel Two: “Boundaries of Life: Ageism and Aging in Works by Margaret Atwood and Doris Lessing.” This session, co-sponsored by the Margaret Atwood Society and the Doris Lessing Society, is inspired by the 2017 Presidential Theme, “Boundary Conditions.” By focusing on ageism and aging in the works of Atwood and Lessing, two of the twentieth century’s most prolific and influential women writers, this panel aims to explore the ways these writers depict the passing of time in relation to life experiences and self-consciousness. Some questions papers might answer include: What does it mean to come of age? How do age and the aging process affect how we see ourselves? When and how does one become old? How does age discrimination shape societies and individuals? In addition to examining individual works, papers may also look at the authors’ careers more broadly and discuss how their treatment of aging as a theme has changed as they themselves aged. Send abstracts to Lauren Rule Maxwell (lauren.maxwell@citadel.edu) by March 15.

I was simply going to post a link to Atwood’s new novel, The Heart Goes Last (a revision of her Byliner Positron series). However, when I went to Powells to grab the link, I discovered that they’re having an Atwood sale. Stock up on Atwood while the sale lasts: http://www.powells.com/promotions/margaret-atwood-sale.

–Karma Waltonen, Editor, Margaret Atwood Studies