Inkshed Publications has joined with Parlor Press to publish future Inkshed books as part of a book series called Inkshed: Writing Studies in Canada. Information about this series and how to propose a book can be found here.

The first book in the series was Cross-Border Networks in Writing Studies by Derek Mueller, Andrea Williams, Louise Wetherbee Phelps, and Jennifer Clary-Lemon (2017), an examination of how writing studies scholarship has developed over the past several decades.

In the next few months, Inkshed Publications will publish the second book in the series: Uptake, Memory, and Genre: The Discursive Career and Social Effects of the “Housing First” Approach to Homelessness in Canada by Diana Wegner (2020).

Inkshed Publications has money to support the publication of several more books, so if you have an idea for a monograph, edited collection, or some other form of scholarly publication, please contact the publishers of Inkshed Publications, Heather Graves and Roger Graves.

1. The CASDW Award Presentations and Virtual AGM will be Monday, June 1 from 11 am to 1 pm ET:

Please mark your calendar; the meeting agenda and details will be announced soon.

2. Please renew your membership:

Please visit our website to renew your annual CASDW-ACR membership.

3. CASDW Conference Update from Dana Landry, Vice-President and Program Chair:

As you know, the CASDW 2020 conference and the 2020 Congress have been cancelled. Despite this disappointment, we are excited about next year’s conference, which will preserve and build on this year’s work. Program updates will follow the June 1^st AGM where we will elect the new Vice- President and Program Chair 2021-2023 and CASDW Executive.

It takes a village to raise a conference. Thank you to the many people who contributed to the 2020 program: Local coordinator (Boba Samuels) the program committee (Stephanie Bell, Shurli Makmillen, Brit Amell, Adrienne Raw, and Laura Baumvol), the proposal reviewers (Kim Mitchell, Brian Hotson, Sara Doody, Brit Amell, Adrienne Raw, Laura Baumvol, Boba Samuels, and JoAnne Andre).

We hope to connect with you on June 1st.

Best,

Andrea Williams, President, CASDW/ACR

In light of the ongoing COVID-19 situation, the board of CASDW-ACR has decided to postpone our 2020 conference, Visions for Writing Studies. We appreciate all the submissions and all the efforts that have already gone into organizing this conference. We look forward to holding a conference in the not-too-distant future. Thanks again for all the thoughtful engagement with the theme of the conference.

CASDW-ACR is seeking nominations for the following positions on our Executive. Self-nominations are welcome. If you wish to nominate yourself or someone else, please contact a member of the Nominating Committee: Boba Samuels, Shurli Makmillen, and James Corcoran. Nominations will be voted on (or acclaimed) at our Annual General Meeting, to be held during the 2020 CASDW-ACR Conference in London, Ontario (May 30–June 1). You do not need to be able to attend the AGM to join the Executive.

CJSDW/R Editor(s)

The journal editor(s) have the following responsibilities:  

• Prepare and publicize the Canadian Journal for Studies in Discourse and Writing/Rédactologie (CJSDW/R)
• Appoint an editorial board and a peer review board
• Appoint an assistant editor representing the official language other than that of the editor

VP/Conference Chair

The VP/Conference Chair has the following responsibilities:

• Organize the CASDW-ACR annual conference
• Following a two-year term as VP, take over as President

Communications Officer

The Communications Officer has the following responsibilities:

• Maintain and regularly update the CASDW-ACR website
• Share information through the CASDW-ACR listserv
• Publicize the annual CASDW-ACR conference
• Manage the CASDW-ACR Twitter account

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact a member of the Nominating Committee: Boba Samuels, Shurli Makmillen, and James Corcoran.

The deadline for the CASDW Award for Best Dissertation and the CASDW Award for Best Article is March 16. The calls for nominations can both be found below.

To make sure that we are aware of all the great work being done, we would like to encourage people to please let our Article Award committee know if they or their colleagues have published something in our field in the last year. This notification would allow us to consider these publications, even without formal nominations.

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The Joan Pavelich CASDW Annual Award for the Best Dissertation in Writing and Discourse Studies recognizes an outstanding PhD dissertation in Writing Studies, Discourse Studies, Rhetoric, or a cognate field for 2019. The award will be given to a student in a Canadian university or to a Canadian student studying outside Canada. To be eligible, dissertations must have been defended between January 1, 2019 and December 31, 2019. An announcement of the winning dissertation will be made at the CASDW Annual Conference. Nominees do not need to be CASDW members, and self-nominations are accepted.

The award includes a prize of $100 and a one-year free CASDW membership for the following year.

The deadline for nominations is March 16, 2020. The assessment criteria for the award are as follows: (1) the overall quality of the writing and thinking; (2) the significance of the question(s) addressed in the research; (3) the importance of the new knowledge presented in the thesis; and (3) and methodological rigour and/or innovation.

Applicants/nominators should send the following items to each member of the selection committee listed below: a PDF file containing the dissertation (or a link to an online repository), a CV, and a cover sheet with the applicant’s full name, citizenship, institution and degree program, and contact information for their primary supervisor.

Stephanie Bell

Ashley Mehlenbacher

Sara Humphreys

Diana Wegner

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The CASDW Annual Award for the Best Article or Chapter in Writing and Discourse Studies recognizes the best journal article or book chapter published during the 2019 calendar year by a CASDW member. Co-authored articles or chapters will be eligible as long as one of the authors is a CASDW member.

The deadline for nominations is March 16, 2020. The winner of the award will be announced at the CASDW Annual Conference.  Authors are invited to nominate their own publications as well as those of other CASDW members. In order to be eligible, nominees must have been CASDW members in both 2019 and 2020.

The assessment criteria for the award are as follows: (1) the overall quality of the writing and thinking; (2) the significance of the question(s) addressed in the research; (3) the importance of the new knowledge presented in the article; and (3) and methodological rigour and/or innovation.

The award includes a prize of $100 and a one-year CASDW membership for the following year.

Applicant/nominees should send a PDF of the journal article or book chapter, as well as a complete reference, to the committee listed below:

Boba Samuels

Sara Doody

James Corcoran