FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 31, 2006
Contact: Anika Mitchell Perkins
(662) 329-7124

MUW to host James Hogg Society Conference scholars

COLUMBUS, Miss. – Scholars from the United States, Great Britain, Canada and Australia will attend the 12th annual James Hogg Society Conference at Mississippi University for Women April 6-8.
The James Hogg Society was established in 1981 to promote the study of the Scottish writer. This year’s theme is “Crossing Borders: James Hogg and the Global Context of British Romanticism.”

During the last conference held in Great Britain, Dr. Thomas Richardson, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, volunteered MUW to host the first Hogg Society conference in North America. The conference is normally held every other summer at a Hogg related site in Great Britain.

Richardson has attended and presented papers at a half dozen Hogg Society conferences over several years.

Sharon Alker of Whitman College, Holly Nelson of Simon Fraser University and Richardson serve as the North American liaisons for the Hogg Society. They have worked to gather papers and organize conference sessions for the event.

Approximately 25 conference participants are expected.

Dr. Gillian Hughes, the current James Hogg AHRB Research Fellow at the University of Stirling, will present her paper “James Hogg and Sociability.” The presentation will focus on material from the letters of Hogg.

A reception and dinner will be held the opening night of the conference at the Plymouth Bluff Environmental Center. Conference participants also will have the opportunity to attend Pilgrimage events, tour Waverley Mansion and dine with MUW President Claudia A. Limbert at her home.

The conference is supported in part by the MUW Foundation and the Southern Women’s Institute, which is funded by a $496,000 congressionally-directed grant received through the assistance of U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran. The grant is administered through the U.S. Department of Education.

More information about the James Hogg society can be found on-line at www.english.stir.ac.uk/centres/hoggpubs.htm.

For more information about the conference, please contact Richardson at (662) 329-7386.