Introduction
Welcome to the first English Graduate Student Association (E.G.S.A.) Conference Proceedings. Although the works presented here make up what we anticipate will be first of many future E.G.S.A. conference proceedings, this was in fact the second annual English Graduate Student Association Conference. As was the case last year, the association owes a great amount of thanks to the English Department of DePaul University for their generous support, and specifically to Dr. John Shanahan and Dr. Craig Sirles, directors of the Masters of Arts programs in English and Writing and Publishing, respectively.
The 2011 conference took place this year on the fifteenth of April and the papers presented were consistent in excellence. Thirty-five graduate and undergraduate students presented original works of literary criticism, creative fiction, nonfiction and poetry. From these impressive offerings, nine critical papers, six fiction pieces, eight poems, and two nonfiction submissions were chosen for publication. For the poetry submissions, the authors were asked to submit all work that was read at the conference from which two poems would be chosen. Overall, regardless of genre, the featured authors’ treatments of a wide range of concerns are pertinent and relevant, thought-provoking, and lingering. Please enjoy.
The proceedings are also available to download in PDF format.
E.G.S.A. Conference Committee Members
Kimberly Anderson, M.A. in English
Heath Black, M.A. in English
Steve Bogdaniec, M.A. in Writing and Publishing
Christopher Smith, M.A. in Writing and Publishing
Brianna M. Tonner, M.A. in English
Angel Woods, M.A. in Writing and Publishing