SMU to host Northern Plains Conference on Early British Literature

WINONA, Minn. — On April 8-9, Saint Mary’s University will host the 19th annual Northern Plains Conference on Early British Literature. The conference, funded this year by the college’s School of Humanities and Sciences and coordinated by Dr. John Kerr of the English Department, will bring advanced scholars, graduate students, and select undergraduates from the upper Midwest (and farther) to discuss literary-critical, theoretical, and pedagogical issues concerning the early literatures of the British isles.

The keynote speaker will be Dolores Frese of the University of Notre Dame. Dr. Frese will offer a talk titled “The Trace of Dante’s De vulgari eloquentia in Some Canterbury Tales, and Why It Matters.” Niki Ciulla, an SMU Literature major and Medieval and Renaissance Studies minor, will present a paper on Marie de France’s “Guigemar.”

For further information, contact Dr. Kerr at (507) 457-1673.