The twenty-seventh annual conference of the Association of Literary Scholars, Critics, and Writers—held right here at Catholic University, October 17-20—was a fantastic literary event. It was also an incredible show of force for our department.
2024 ALSCW Banquet. Left to right (Catholic University, unless noted otherwise): Bridget Matz, Sr. Maria Frassati Jakupcak (University of St. Thomas-Houston), Evan Hulick, Christopher Petter (University of St. Thomas-Houston), Annesley Anderson, Kevin Rulo, Rachel Daly, Sarah Zentner, Sophia Giudici, Megan Murton, Jane Pallares, Emily Fourie.
The 2024 conference met and exceeded expectations. We had nearly 200 attendees, the vast majority of which presented their work. Over two dozen students, faculty, and alumni of our department participated. Sessions featured the typical range of voices—those well established as well as those early or mid-career, not to mention a healthy number of graduate students; we had attendees from research universities, teaching colleges, and private and public K-12 institutions, as well as numerous independent scholars and writers—all in dialogue with each other.
Tom Smith, dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, delivered the welcome address. Robert Levine (University of Maryland) moderated a plenary panel on Frederick Douglass, Kenneth Warren (University of Chicago) moderated one on the end of modern literature, and Sarah Spence (University of Georgia) moderated one on David Ferry. Max Rudin, president and publisher of the Library of America (longtime partner of the ALSCW), also gave a presentation.
Taryn Okuma, Tobias Gregory, and Ernest Suarez (with Justin Mitchell) led seminars, respectively, on Teaching Writing Through Literature, John Donne and George Herbert, and the Sounds of the United States. Literary Matters hosted a powerful evening of poetry, with readings from Matthew Buckley Smith, Chris Childers, and Editor Emeritus Ryan Wilson. This year also saw the return of live music to the annual conference, with a terrific performance by Hungary-based Platon Karataev Duo. To close out the weekend, award-winning author Lysley Tenorio read from his debut novel at the annual banquet, which was held in the beautiful Heritage Hall.
2024 ALSCW Banquet. Left to right: Rebecca Rainof (University of California-Berkeley), Marco Antolin (Millersville University), Xiaofang Huang (University of Maryland), Lily Corwin (Virginia Tech), Tobias Gregory (Catholic University), Ernest Suarez (Catholic University), Taryn Okuma (Catholic University), Kevin Farrell (Radford University).
After an excellent conference in 2023 at the University of Houston, 2024 saw the return of the ALSCW to the east coast. Next year we will go to the Midwest, to The Ohio State University. We are already hard at work planning the program. The Call for Papers will be circulated early in the new year.
The national headquarters of the ALSCW is right here in our department, and this year’s conference suggests why that is the case—our faculty and students continue to shine!
Gratefully yours,
Matt Steinhafel
Office Manager, ALSCW