107 MTSU WILL SERVE AS HOST FOR CONFERENCE ON POET MILTON

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sept. 24, 2007
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Lisa L. Rollins, 615-898-2919

MTSU WILL SERVE AS HOST FOR 9th BIENNIAL CONFERENCE ON POET MILTON
Oct. 25-27 Event Attracts Attendees from Across the U.S. & Beyond, Say Organizers

(MURFREESBORO)—The Department of English at MTSU will serve as the sponsor and host of the ninth biennial Conference on John Milton, renowned English poet, on Oct. 25-27 at the DoubleTree Hotel in Murfreesboro.
The conference, which was first held in Murfreesboro in 1991, attracts
scholars of the great English poet Milton, who is best known for his epic titled Paradise Lost. In fact, notes Dr. Kevin Donovan, MTSU English professor, past conference participants have traveled from throughout the U.S., as well as from Japan, Australia, Korea, Norway and Canada.
“Since its inception, the conference has attracted most of the leading American scholars in the field of Milton studies,” Donovan said. “(And) this year’s plenary speakers are Richard J. DuRocher of St. Olaf College and Laura L. Knoppers of Pennsylvania State University.”
Moreover, the MTSU-based Milton conference also has resulted in a series of collected essays, edited by Dr. Charles W. Durham and Dr. Kristin A. Pruitt, two of which have won the prestigious Irene Samuel Prize from the Milton Society of America, reported Donovan, who—along with MTSU professor emeritus Durham, past president of the Milton Society of America, and Pruitt, professor emerita of Christian Brothers University and the 2008 president of the Milton Society of America--will serve as co-directors of the event.
Past conferences have drawn participation from prominent American scholars in the field of Milton studies such as John Shawcross, Joseph Wittreich, Annabel Patterson, Michael Lieb, Stella Revard, Diana McColley, Barbara Lewalski, Stanley Fish, and Paul Stevens.
Registration and an opening reception for Milton conference participants will be 6:30-8:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 25, at the DoubleTree Hotel. The official welcome will be delivered at 9 a.m. Friday, Oct. 26, by Dr. Tom Stawman, MTSU English professor, followed by DuRocher’s opening address, “’Tears such as Angels weep: Passion and Allusion in Paradise Lost.” Knoppers’ concluding address is titled “’Hidden Lustre, Gems and Gold’: Excavating the Margins of Milton’s 1671 Poems.”
Throughout the two-day event, numerous Miltonists from across the U.S. will speak on the poet and his works, including within the areas of Milton and the Classics, Milton: Past and Present, Milton and the Visual Arts, Milton’s God, The Divorce Tracts, Milton in the Classroom, Milton and Ecocriticism, Milton in the Classroom, “Reading” Milton, Samson Agonistes, Milton and the Environment, Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, Miltonic Sources, Milton’s Sonnets, Milton in Print and Milton and Religious Issues, among other topics.
In addition to Donovan, Strawman and Durham, other MTSU English faculty participating in the conference will include Peter M. McCluskey, Warren Tormey and William Badley.
“We're expecting at least 120 people to attend the conference,” predicted Donovan. “There are about 100 named individuals on the program, and we always have people attend who are not on the program, including MTSU faculty and students as well as other Miltonists from the region.”
The registration cost of this year’s event is $120 per person. In addition to admittance to all conference session, this fee includes the catered Oct. 25 opening reception; coffee and pastry on Oct. 26-27; and dinner on Oct. Oct. 27.
For more information on the conference, including a full list of scheduled speakers and registration materials, please visit the conference Web site at http://www.mtsu.edu/~english2/milton.htm or contact Donovan directly at 615-898-5898.


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ATTENTION, MEDIA: For editorial needs, including interview requests with conference co-director Donovan, please contact Lisa L. Rollins in News and Public Affairs at lrollins@mtsu.edu or at 615-898-2919.