Dear colleagues,

            We write with an invitation to add your voice to the collection of resources we are building for the website anchoring “The Genius of Phillis Wheatley Peters” initiative, here: https://wheatleypetersproject.weebly.com/.

            We hope you have been connecting to the project already, whether by attending one of our numerous online events or by mining some of the material on the website, including feature stories, podcasts, and teaching materials. And we hope you will participate in some of our upcoming activities this fall. Given that 2023 is such an important anniversary for Phillis Wheatley Peters studies in connection with the1773 publication of her POEMS book, we will have events throughout the remainder of the calendar year, with some additional teaching and learning resources coming online early in 2024 once the program calendar winds down.

            Right now, we hope you might like to contribute to our scholarship section by sending us one or more of the following:

• Information about a conference presentation or invited lecture you have given in 2023 (the anniversary year) or will be giving between now and the end of the calendar year—preferably with an abstract or a copy of the presentation and/or media associated with it. 
• A citation (preferably including an abstract or even, if possible, a copy of your writing) from scholarship you have published in 2022-23 or have had accepted for upcoming publication. [Scroll down to articles and book chapters—the section we are now preparing to expand with individual essays; see the EAL special issue abstracts for how to prepare your submission.]
• A recommendation of a recent or forthcoming book (including children’s literature on PWP) you think would be useful to colleagues (in schools as well as universities) who are teaching or researching PWP, with a link to the book cover image and a blurb we can use to spotlight its contents as related to Wheatley Peters.

To submit a citation (again, preferably with an abstract or a copy of the piece) or a book blurb, send a mock-up in WORD. To see examples of how your submissions would be posted, and thus the formats we would appreciate your using, visit the sections of the website linked below.

–For information on conference presentations and lectures, here. 

–For news about publications, here and here.

We are also eager for teaching materials you might want to send and/or feature stories composed with web/digital reading audiences in mind. Here are some examples in different genres (e.g., two podcasts, a video, and a downloadable interview). To pitch a feature piece, send us a short description of what you have in mind. 

Please submit to our project email address at philliswheatleypeters@gmail.com.

Also, if you know of related upcoming events you would like us to highlight, or larger “sister projects” you would like to amplify, you will find some examples here. We welcome any news you wish to share, with the same Gmail address as your initial contact. 

With warm regards and hope that you will join us for events in the fall,

            Sarah Ruffing Robbins (with Barbara McCaskill [UGA] and Mona Narain [TCU])