Medieval and Renaissance Forum Comes to KSC

Keene State College has established itself as the focal point for Medieval and Renaissance studies in New England now that is is the new home of the Medieval and Renaissance Forum. The two-day academic conference, consisting mostly of scholarly panels, including several undergraduate presentations, will take place from April 24–25, primarily in Rhodes Hall.

English Professor Meriem Pages is the director of the forum, which has been held at Plymouth State University for the past 35 years. As a Medieval scholar, Dr. Pages has been involved with the forum since she came to Keene in 2006. When the director at PSU took on other responsibilities and could no longer manage the conference, it made most sense to move the forum to Keene under Dr. Pages’ direction.

“Karolyn Kinane, associate professor of Medieval and Early Modern literature at PSU was the forum director there, but she was the only Medieval scholar at Plymouth,” explained Dr. Pages. “So she argued that the forum should come here because we have several people besides myself who specialize in that era: Brinda Charry in the English Department is an Early Modernist; in the History Dept we have Susan Wade and Nick Germana, and Stephen Lucey in the Art Department is a Medieval-art historian. This multidisciplinary conference focuses on anything and everything Medieval or Early Modern, not just literature, but also music, history, art, sociology, theater, economics, and languages. We have a number of people who have expertise in these areas, and that should make for a very successful forum.”

Although this is a professional, academic conference, anyone can register and pay the registration fee. Most of the attendees come from neighboring states, but some come from across the US, and there should be some international visitors. Noted Shakespeare scholar Coppélia Kahn from Brown University will give the keynote address (which is also the Janet Grayson lecture this year), entitled “The Making of Shakespeares: Commemoration, Cultural Memory, and the Bard”, examining the practice of commemorating Shakespeare’s birthday—supposedly April 23. The keynote is free and open to the public and will be held in the Mountain View Room at 4:30 on Saturday, April 25. A Medieval feast that evening wraps up the event.

“This is the most important Medieval conference in the northeast,” Dr. Pages said. “It will help establish Keene State as a center for Medieval and Early Modern studies, especially in New Hampshire.”