2008

Minutes of the Doris Lessing Society Annual Business Meeting, 2008

December 28, 2008

The meeting was called to order in President Sharon Wilson’s room at Hilton Hotel, San Francisco, site for the 2008 MLA Convention.

  1. Sharon Wilson announced that Tonya Krouse will serve as the next President of the Doris Lessing Society.
  2. Terry Reilly and Josna Rege volunteered for the by-laws committee. They will present their recommendations and new Bylaws at the 2009 meeting. Members will vote by mail on the new Bylaws.
  3. Yuan-Jung Cheng was appointed as the Secretary. Sharon suggested that a permanent secretary should be elected in the future and that the new Bylaws include a Secretary among the officers.
  4. Those present approved the minutes of the 2007 Business Meeting.
  5. Alice Ridout was nominated and elected as the next Vice-President of the Society. After serving three years, she will become President.
  6. Paul Schleuter reported on the student essay contests.  Paul and Emily Morgan disagreed on the winner of undergraduate essays; Anne Serafin was selected as the third judge.  Sharon suggested to publicize the contests more next year.  Sally Jacobsen suggested to give as many awards as possible in order to promote Lessing studies.
  7. Terry Reilly (graduate) and Anne Serafin (undergraduate) will serve as next year’s judges for the student essay contests.
  8. Virginia Tiger invited new and unpublished contributions to a special issue on The Short Stories of Doris Lessing for Journal of the Short Story in English that she will guest edit in 2010.  A 250-word abstract should be sent to her at vtiger@andromeda.rutgers.edu.
  9. Members present voted and selected Doris Lessing’s Short Stories and Doris Lessing and War for the 2009 allied sessions at the MLA Convention.
  10. Sharon reminded members to submit annual membership fees and corrected email addresses to Marilyn Seymour.