1. Le Groupe de recherches et d’études sur le Canada francophone (GRECF), Birkbeck College, University of London, University of Manchester, University of Glasgow

The local, the global, and interdisciplinary performance in the works of Robert Lepage/Proximité ouverture et relations interdisciplinaires dans l’oeuvre de Robert Lepage

Call for papers - Extended deadline 27 February 2006

Papers are invited for the first international conference on Robert Lepage’s work, to be held at Canada House, London, and Birkbeck College, University of London. The conference will be investigating the rich opus of Lepage’s practice. The area of interest reflects the diversity and flexibility of Lepage’s wide scope of engagements: from original projects to classic texts; from opera to film; from multimedia to new technology; as well as social, cultural and political interventions.
The proceedings of the conference will be published. Papers should be no longer than 20 pages (5000 words). The name of the author responsible for correspondence, mailing address, telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail address should be included with submissions.
Dates: Opening June 1, 2006
Conference days June 1-3, 2006
Each participant will have 20 minutes followed by 10 minutes for discussion

The conference will have three different segments:

Manchester, May 30th-31st: Practical Workshops on the interdisciplinary work of Lepage
London, Canada House, June 1-2: Academic Papers (20 minutes)
London, Birkbeck, June 3, film presentations and papers

Important deadlines:
Please send your abstracts (200-300 words) to Dr This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (University of Manchester).
Please include Conference: Lepage in your subject line
Abstracts due: January 31, 2006 Extended deadline 27 February 2006
Responses: March 15, 2006

2. BACS News

Migrations, BACS 31 Annual Conference 19-21 April 2006
Keynote speakers include: Professor Lord Bhikhu Parekh (LSE), Professor Marie McAndrew (University of Montreal) and film-maker Alanis Obomsawin. Registration forms for the conference are being circulated with the BACS Newsletter, and will soon be available to download from the BACS website at www.canadian-studies.net Please note the deadline for registration is 7 March 2006.

LCCS Website
The LCCS website is now being hosted by BACS and can be accessed at www.lccs.canadian-studies.net

Memberships renewals and call for nominations to BACS Council
Renewals and nominations forms are being circulated with the BACS Newsletter. Nominations are invited for the posts of Hon. Treasurer and three councillors, all to serve for two years. Additional forms may be requested from the BACS office.

New fax number
The BACS office has a new fax number: 020 7117 1875


3. Beyond the Book

Visit us:
www.beyondthebookproject.org
&
Open House 8th February @1-3pm
Strathcona Building, Rm 104
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston, Birmingham

Beyond the Book: Mass Reading Events and Contemporary Cultures of Reading in the UK, USA and Canada is an AHRC-funded project directed from the Department of American and Canadian Studies at the University of Birmingham. Mass reading events encourage people of the same city, region or nation-state to read the same book through programs of themed activities and the mass media.

Beyond the Book is a collaborative, interdisciplinary, transnational study across the UK, the US and Canada which investigates selected mass reading events using methodologies drawn from both the social sciences and the humanities. Our main objectives are to determine why and how people come together to share reading through a comparative study of selected mass reading events such as Canada Reads, Richard and Judys Book Club, and One Book, One Community programmes, including, but not limited to, One Book, One Chicago and Liverpool Reads. We also ask: do these events attract marginalised communities, foster new reading practices, enable social change? Our research aims to address a significant knowledge-gap about present-day readers and reading practices, the formation of reading communities, and the popular function of literary fiction.
We invite anyone with an interest in reading, readers, contemporary literary fiction and popular culture, cultural industries and creative communities to visit our website: www.beyondthebookproject.org and to keep in contact with us by emailing your own interests to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
A conference on reading and readers will be held in Birmingham in September 2007.
Visit us in person @ our Open House! For those in Birmingham and the surrounding area, there will be an Open House for three of the major research projects currently underway in the School of Historical Studies on Wednesday 8 February 2006 @ 1-3pm on the first floor of the Strathcona Building at the University of Birmingham. This will provide a chance to find out more about Beyond the Book at first hand, see some of the results of our fieldwork, and speak with the research team. Light refreshments & beverages will be served. Please come along!

Director: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , American and Canadian Studies, University of Birmingham
Co-Director: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , Mount Saint Vincent University, Canada

4. PRIX DU QUEBEC 2006

The Prix du Quebec consists of two awards of 1,000 (each) offered by the Quebec Government Office in London and administered by BACS. It is designed to assist researchers based in the UK to carry out research related to Quebec in the areas of the humanities and social sciences (for travel, etc). Projects that incorporate Quebec in a comparative approach (at least 50% of the focus must be on Quebec are also eligible.

One award will be given in each of the following categories:

• Masters and doctoral students
• Researchers and academic staff (including postdoctoral researchers)

Please note that non-academic members of BACS and its specialist groups may also apply. The award is not intended to be used to cover tuition fees for postgraduate study. Applicants are expected to be members of the British Association for Canadian Studies (they may join at time of application).

The awards will be presented during the 31st Annual Conference of the British Association for Canadian Studies at New Hall, University of Cambridge, 19-21 April 2006. Successful applicants will be expected to present a paper on the outcome of their research at the BACS annual conference in 2007. It is expected that the award will be acknowledged in any subsequent publication(s).

Application procedure

Applicants should provide a brief outline of their proposed research (including methodology, contextual background, plan and outcomes). Successful applications will have the following characteristics: (i) investigate issues concerning Quebec (includes comparative research where the focus on Quebec is at least 50%); (ii) constitute an excellent research proposal (originality, coherence of arguments and methodology); (iii) display applicants abilities to deliver research (previous relevant background, experience, publications, etc); (iv) is of value to potential users outside or within the research community.

Two letters of recommendation from appropriate referees are also required and should be sent with the application. Referees should address the merits of the proposal and the ability of the applicant to successfully carry out the research.

Deadline: 15 February 2006 (decision within 28 days).
Maximum Length: 1000 words.

Please send 5 copies of the proposal to: Jodie Robson, Administrator, British Association for Canadian Studies, 21 George Square, Edinburgh EH8 9LD. Proposals may be sent as Word attachments. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

5. THE GREAT DOMINION: Winston Churchill in Canada 1900-1954

UK Publication Date: 15 December 2005 Price: 20.00

I believe that some of the most interesting books about my father are those which are concerned with some specific period of his life or aspects of his character. I find it infinitely rewarding to look at some area of the whole when hitherto unnoticed details spring to life and colour. Such a book we have here in Professor Dilks engrossing study. Foreword by Lady Soames, Churchills daughter

The British Prime Minister never went to Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, or many of the other Commonwealth countries, and of those he did visit, he rarely returned. Yet he was repeatedly drawn back to Canada by the place, the people and the politics. Many works about him treat this fact as a mere appendix to his connections with the United States. But Dilks proves there was much more to it than that.
In The Great Dominion (Thomas Allen Publishers, 20.00) British author and historian David Dilks uses previously neglected material and sources to record what Churchill thought, said and did in Canada - sometimes on small subjects, but more often on great.
It was in Canada that Churchill began his life as a platform speaker, where he spoke enthusiastically about free trade and protection, and where Britain was granted the material with which to manufacture the hydrogen bomb. Dilks also provides greater insights into the nature of the Empire and the Commonwealth, Britains relationship with the USA, Russia and France, political campaigns in Europe and the Far East, plus a close look at Churchills style and substance as a Prime Minister.
The Great Dominion is a compelling mixture of comment, anecdote and historical facts, which provides us with a closer, more personal account of this aspect to Churchills life. His visits to Canada are vividly explained and enhanced through the use of extracts from newspapers, speeches, letters and diaries - many of which are Churchills own. The Great Dominion is a book in which Churchill and those closest to him at the time speak for themselves.
Churchills final farewell to The Great Dominion - in an era of post-war recovery and fading personal health - is poignantly described: Tears ran down his pink old cheeks, some in the crowd wept as openly and unashamedly. Defence Minister Claxton began singing For Hes a Jolly Good Fellow and more than 1,000 willing voices took it up. Then for a silent moment Sir Winston and the crowd stood staring at each other. It was the same old love affair it had always been; the people and their Winnie, and Winnie and his people.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Vice Chancellor of the University of Hull from 1991 to 1999
Professor of International History at the University of Leeds for over 20 years
Worked for a number of politicians and others close to Churchill, including Sir Anthony Eden,
Harold Macmillan and Sir Alec Cadogan
Served as President of the International Committee for the History of the Second
World War 1992 2000
Is the authorised biographer of Neville Chamberlain
Has written numerous historical books and articles