(Coe College)
Dear Friends of the Mark Twain Circle,
Jim Leonard has just emailed me and informed me that my first Mark Twain Circular deadline comes next week--as luck would have it this deadline coincides with our annual family vacation in Mexico--so I'm writing you rather hastily the day before we leave sunny Iowa for even sunnier Baja California.
This year the American Literature Conference was held in a new location, namely Long Beach, California. I'd say for the most part attendees accepted the change of venue, although I heard "it's just not the Bahia" numerous times. There was a truly impressive gathering of people involved in Mark Twain, and all of the panels were very well attended. The video by Sandy BradleyCfeaturing such august scholars as Hamlin Hill, Lou Budd, Vic Doyno, James Cox, and David Sloane, sharing what working on Mark Twain means to themCwas a wonderful, emotional, thoughtful way to begin the conference. At our business meeting on Thursday, we recognized Shelley Fisher Fishkin's excellent leadership over the past two years, and the torch was passed to yours truly. I am also pleased to report that Tom Quirk was voted in unanimously as our new vice president. We had an excellent turnout for the Mark Twain dinner, held on Friday night, with approximately 35 people in attendance--with all the milling around I never did get an exact count. Next year, ALA will again be in a new locale, namely Cambridge, MA, and I hope to see many of you there.
April 21, 2000 marked the 90th anniversary of Samuel Clemens' death, and interest in him only continues to increase. The highlights for the coming year include the Elmira conference, and soon Ken Burns' documentary on Twain will be released. Sam Clemens would have been most pleased to know that such a fuss is still being made over him.
That is all I have to report at this time. I'm very pleased and honored to serve as the association's president and look forward to all of the upcoming events.