Please post the following announcement.

Symposium on Mark Twain and the Mississippi River

In 2007 Bruce Michelson, then Vice President of the Mark Twain Circle,
organized a roundtable discussion at the Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum in
Hannibal about the future of Mark Twain Studies.  Given the event's success,
the Museum is sponsoring a symposium this summer exploring the topic of
"Mark Twain and the Mississippi River."  The program is structured around
presentations by five speakers who will address the program's theme.  The
event will be held on July 19th in the auditorium of the Mark Twain Museum
Gallery at 120 North Main Street in downtown Hannibal.  The event will begin
at 1:00 and conclude by about 5:00.

Audience members will have the opportunity to engage with accomplished
scholars and professors who can offer insight into the works and ideas of
the country's greatest humorist and social commentator.  The keynote address
by Thomas Ruys Smith, Lecturer in American Literature and Culture at the
University of East Anglia in Great Britain will set the stage for the
following four speakers.   Smith will present from his work, River of
Dreams, and then open up the floor for questions.  After a brief break, four
speakers will offer their views on specific aspects of Mark Twain's life and

writing in relation to the Mississippi River with a break between the first
and last two.  They will also leave time for audience participation.

The speaker's list includes Bruce Michelson, Professor of English at
University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana and President of the Mark Twain
Circle.  Michelson is the author of Mark Twain on the Printer's Devil: Mark
Twain and the American Publishing Revolution and will talk about "Sam
Clemens and the Mississippi River Metropolis."  Also presenting will be Tom
Quirk, preeminent Twain scholar and Professor of English at University of
Missouri - Columbia.  Quirk is the editor of The Portable Mark Twain and
author of the recently released Mark Twain and Human Nature.  Professor
Quirk has recommended an undergraduate student as a presenter.  Conor Henley
from University of Missouri - Columbia will talk about his essay titled
"Mark Twain's River: A Semi-Technical Companion to Life on the Mississippi."
Associate Professor Lawrence Howe at Roosevelt University and author of Mark
Twain and the Novel: The Double-Cross of Authority will present his work
"Reading and Writing the Mississippi" to complete the afternoon's program.

The Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum is sponsoring this program in
partnership with the Missouri Humanities Council with support from the
National Endowment for the Humanities.  The event is free and open to the
public.  Light refreshments will be served.

Thank you

Regina Faden, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum
Hannibal, MO