Conrad Society Awards for 2007
The Joseph Conrad Society of America was proud to award  their Bruce Harkness Young Conrad Scholar Award for 2007 to Lissa Schneider of the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. Professor Schneider is an assistant professor and is the author of Conrad's Narratives of Difference: Not Exactly Tales for Boys (Routledge 2003), as well as articles on other topics related to Conrad studies. We are fortunate to have such a talented young scholar in Conrad studies today.  

The Ian P. Watt Prize for Excellence in Conrad Scholarship for 2007 was awarded to Norman Sherry. Professor Sherry is author of Conrad's Eastern World (Cambridge 1966), Conrad's Western World (Cambridge 1971), and Conrad and His World (Thames & Hudson, 1972). He is also editor of Conrad: The Critical Heritage (Routledge & Kegan Paul 1973) and Joseph Conrad: A Commemoration, Papers from the 1974 International Conference on Conrad (Macmillan 1976). His books on Conrad's Eastern and Western worlds in particular have served as major resources to generations of Conrad scholars. The gracious generosity of the late Ruth Watt originally made this award possible.

The Adam Gillon Book Award in Conrad Studies 2005 for book published from 2001 through 2004 was presented to Michael Greaney for his book Conrad, Language, and Narrative (2002). The judges wrote: "Exploiting the insights of various theorists while coming to terms with Conrad's skepticism, Greaney's study incorporates various recent concerns, not least issues of gender, in an eminently informed but consistently lucid and purposeful examination of Conrad's fiction from Almayer's Folly to The Arrow of Gold." "[I]t combines an adventurous conceptual project . . . with a deft empirical feel for Conrad as a whole." Greaney writes "with wit and elegance often hard to attain when discussing the metaphysical issues involved. What could have been . . . merely a poststructural, Derridean thesis about writing vs. speech becomes an unexpected entre into the quandaries of society and art that have continually perplexed Conrad and his more sensitive readers alike." Second place went to John Peters for his book Conrad and Impressionism (2001). The judges wrote, "[S]uch is the rigor with which this study exfoliates the implications of Conrad's commitment to what Walter Pater famously calls the "relative spirit" in human perception that one finishes the study ready to call Pater Conrad's absent father as well as Woolf's." Third place went to David Adams for his book Colonial Odysseys (2003). The judges wrote that this is one of the top works "by virtue of its philosophical sweep . . . and also by the mix of subtlety and audacity that characterizes his readings of Nostromo and the neglected "Karain." Honorable mentions went to Martin Bock's Joseph Conrad and Psychological Medicine (2002), Lissa Schneider's Conrad's Narratives of Difference: Not Exactly Tales for Boys (2003), Andrew Mozina's Joseph Conrad and the Art of Sacrifice: The Evolution of the Scapegoat Theme (2001), and Stephen Ross's Conrad and Empire (2004). 

Conrad Society Elections
Christopher GoGwilt, Lissa Schneider, and Martin Bock were elected new trustees for the Joseph Conrad Society of America.  Our thanks to Ray Brebach, Mark Wollaeger, David Adams, and Debra Romanick Baldwin for their service as trustees during the past three years.  

Special Issue of The Conradian
The Conradian 34.1 (Spring 2009) issue will be a Special Issue of the journal devoted to Conrad biography. Contributions of original scholarship are welcome in the form of articles and notes. Please see the links page to access the website for the Joseph Conrad Society (UK).

Special issue of The Conradian: Under Western Eyes
A special issue of The Conradian: The Journal of the Joseph Conrad Society (UK) commemorating the centenary of the publication of Under Western Eyes is planned as the Autumn 2011 issue. The deadline for submissions for this issue is 30 April 2011. Details on submitting to the journal are to be found at www.josephconradsociety.org.

Joseph Conrad Foundation Looks for New Editor
Ed Bojarski, founder and President of the Joseph Conrad Foundation and editor of the on-line journal Conrad Concepts, is looking to retire and would like to transfer the editorship of the Foundation or at least the on-line journal.  Anyone interested in taking over for him should contact him at joseph_conrad_foundation@juno.com, or you can follow the link on the Links page to the Foundation's web page.

Sad News for Conrad Scholars
The Joseph Conrad Society of America is sad to report the recent death of Martin Ray, author and editor of several books on Conrad. His work will be missed.

Please send relevant news items to John Peters at jpeters@unt.edu