Event Highlights
MLA Awards Ceremony
The awards ceremony will take place at 7:00 p.m. on 11 January in the Sheraton Grand Seattle (Grand A, second floor). MLA President Simon Gikandi will present the Phyllis Franklin Award to the founders of Cave Canem, Toi Derricotte and Cornelius Eady; First Vice President Judith Butler will present the 2019 MLA publication prizes; Executive Director Paula M. Krebs will announce the recipients of the seal of approval from the Committee on Scholarly Editions; ADFL Presidents Megan Ferry and Gillian Lord will present the ADFL Award for Distinguished Service to the Profession to Jayne Abrate; and ADE President Todd Wayne Butler will present the ADE Francis Andrew March Award to David Laurence. The session is open to the public.
Presidential Address
The Presidential Address will take place at 6:45 p.m. on 10 January in the Sheraton Grand Seattle (Grand A, second floor). Executive Director Paula M. Krebs will report on the association’s 2019 activities, and President Simon Gikandi will deliver the Presidential Address. The session is open to the public.
Humanities in Five
At 12:00 noon on 11 January in the Washington State Convention Center (4C-4, level 4), scholars from different fields present their research in five-minutes, aiming to do justice to the complexity of the research and at the same time to make its significance clear to a nonspecialist audience. This session is open to the public.
Just-in-Time Sessions
Be sure to explore these nine Just-in-Time sessions, which focus on topics that have come to light since the 1 April session proposal deadline.
Presidential Plenary
The Presidential Plenary will take place at 10:15 a.m. on 10 January in the Washington State Convention Center (6A, level 6). There are two linked sessions: The Human Caught in the Spinning of the Global will take place at 1:45 p.m. on 10 January (Washington State Convention Center, 6A, level 6), and Writers across Borders will take place at 3:30 p.m. on 11 January (Washington State Convention Center, 4C-4, level 4). These sessions are open to the public.
Human Rights and the Human
At 5:15 p.m. on 9 January in the Washington State Convention Center (6A, level 6), plenary panelists examine central but overlooked questions in the human rights campaign. This plenary is open to the public.
Keywords for the Future
At 3:30 p.m. on 10 January in the Washington State Convention Center (6A, level 6), junior, mid-career, and senior scholars present keywords related to race, ethnic studies, and the presidential theme. This plenary is open to the public.
MLA Benefit for the Humanities
Join Paula Krebs and the MLA Executive Council at 8:00 p.m. on 10 January for an evening in support of humanities education. This year’s Benefit for the Humanities features poetry readings by the Cave Canem cofounders Toi Derricotte and Cornelius Eady as well as a special reading by the Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen. Proceeds will go to the MLA’s Paving the Way campaign, which provides direct assistance to graduate students and adjunct faculty members and supports advocacy efforts on behalf of humanities education. For more details and to register, please visit the benefit Web page.
Delegate Assembly
Established in 1971 as an elected body representing the membership at large, the Delegate Assembly, composed of over three hundred delegates, debates issues of concern to the membership and advises the Executive Council on the association’s policies, direction, goals, and structure.
Formal deliberations of the assembly, at which any MLA member can speak (subject to strict time limits), are scheduled for 12:30 p.m. on 11 January in the Washington State Convention Center (6A, level 6). This meeting is open only to MLA members. Please remember to wear your badge.
Advocacy for the Humanities at the Statehouse and Beyond
At 3:30 p.m. on 9 January in the Washington State Convention Center (604, level 6), Government relations officers and advocates discuss how faculty members can contribute to universities’ advocacy for higher education at the statehouse and how they can help support the humanities on Capitol Hill. This session is open to the public.
Being Human, Seeming Human
At 5:15 p.m. on 10 January in the Sheraton Grand (Metropolitan A, second floor), Microsoft researchers and digital humanities scholars discuss the implications of their work. This session is open to the public.
A Celebration of Toni Morrison
At 1:45 p.m. on 11 January in the Washington State Convention Center (4C-4, level 4), writers and critics discuss the life and work of the novelist, critic, and Nobel Prize winner, Toni Morrison. This session is open to the public.
The Future of the Humanities
At 5:15 p.m. on 11 January in the Washington State Convention Center (4C-4, level 4), the heads of the National Humanities Endowment and the National Humanities Center, the president of the American Council of Learned Societies, and the heads of the University of Washington’s Simpson Center for the Humanities and Arizona State’s Project Humanities talk about what’s next for humanities in higher education. This session is open to the public.
MLA Style Workshop
At 8:30 a.m. on 10 January in the Washington State Convention Center (4C-1, level 4), MLA staff editors will lead a workshop on using the method for citing sources explained in the eighth edition of the MLA Handbook. The workshop is suitable for librarians and teachers as well as for students.
Values, Higher Education, and the Humanities
At 8:30 a.m. on 10 January in the Washington State Convention Center (6A, level 6), Patrick Methvin, head of postsecondary education initiatives at the Gates Foundation, discusses the work of the commission and the question of how we define value with the authors of The New Education (Cathy Davidson) and The Great Mistake: How We Wrecked Public Universities and How We Can Fix Them (Christopher John Newfield). This session is open to the public.
Special Events
This year’s events include a screening of Arwen Curry’s documentary film Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin (10 January, 7:15–8:30 p.m., Ravenna AB, Sheraton Grand), the world premiere screening of Keywords: The Film (11 January, 7:15–8:30 p.m., Aspen, Sheraton Grand), and a panel of Southeast Asian diasporic authors in conversation (12 January, 8:30–9:45 a.m., Skagit 3, WSCC). These events are open to the public.