Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship Annual Conference
October 12 – 15, 2017 — Chicago
The Program Committee of the Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship is pleased to announce that it is now accepting paper proposals for the 2017 annual conference in Chicago.
Anyone interested in presenting at the conference is asked to submit a 100- to 300-word proposal.
An early acceptance deadline of May 1 has been established with the committee announcing up to 60 percent of the speaker slots by June 1. A late deadline of June 15 will be in place for any remaining proposals with a final announcement of acceptance by July 1.
The Program Committee is also open to proposals from anyone for panel discussions on specific topics (ideally with suggested panelists).
The goal of all SOF conferences is to encourage the presentation of papers that address specific issues relating to the life and work of Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford, along with issues connected to the general Shakespeare authorship question. Proposals that address topics listed below will be given preference:
- Aspects of Oxford’s life that support the idea of alternative authorship of the Shakespeare canon, including new discoveries or interpretations of relevant documents and/or materials that throw light on the Oxford biography, Oxford’s travels, education, books or writings.
- Issues relating to Oxford/Shakespeare and the theatre, Italy, languages, music, law, history, medicine, etc.
- Ideas and arguments for the legitimization of the Authorship Question in academia, in secondary education, and in the media.
- Materials relating to Thomas Looney, who first identified Oxford as the real Shakespeare in “Shakespeare” Identified in 1920, and the 2020 Centennial celebrations of his life and work.
Generally, each accepted presentation will be given a 45-minute slot. Presentations should stop after 35-40 minutes to leave 5-10 minutes for open discussion. (Rarely, we may reserve a longer time slot for presentations that absolutely require additional time.)
Conference presenters must agree to follow our SOF Conference Presentation Guidelines (click here to download Guidelines).
N.B. — All presenters will be expected to register for the annual conference (see the SOF website for conference details) and are encouraged to participate actively in the proceedings.
— Proposals submitted by members of the SOF and/or the De Vere Society will be given special consideration.
— While we encourage first time presenters, it is rare for a first-time conference attendee to be asked to present.
Proposals can be sent by e-mail to any of the program committee members:
Earl Showerman, Chair – earlees@charter.net; Bonner Cutting – jandbcutting@comcast.net;
John Hamill, – hamillx@pacbell.net; Don Rubin – drubin@yorku.ca
* The SOF is not affiliated with Loyola University, which is not a sponsor or co-sponsor of this event.
