The editors of Borrowers and Lenders: The Journal of Shakespeare and Appropriation, in conjunction with guest editor Deanne Williams, York University, extend a call for papers for B&L 9.2 (Fall 2014) on the topic of Girls and Girlhood in Adaptations of Shakespeare.

In 2012, the United Nations celebrated the first “Day of the Girl Child,” highlighting the treatment of girls and young women as the key moral issue of our time. As the advancement of girls becomes a global economic, medical, and social priority, literary scholars are turning their attention to cultural representations of and by girls and to historical and philosophical conceptions of girlhood. This special issue of Borrowers and Lenders initiates a scholarly conversation on girls and girlhood in adaptations of Shakespeare, seeking papers that address the process of adapting Shakespeare for girl actors, readers, patrons or audiences; adaptations of Shakespeare’s “girl” characters; and girls’ responses to and appropriations of Shakespeare. We encourage contributions that range from Shakespeare’s contemporaries and Restoration theatre to contemporary authors, playwrights, visual artists and directors, as well those that engage with newer or non-canonical literary genres such as on-line and Web 2.0 Shakespeares; fan fiction and the graphic novel; autobiography, memoirs and life writing; Shakespeare for children; and international, multicultural and post-colonial adaptations.

Please send inquiries and completed essays as Microsoft Word documents sent as email attachments to Deanne Williams: dmw@yorku.ca by October 1, 2013. Essays should make original contributions to the study of Shakespeare and of girlhood. We encourage authors to consult Richard Lanham’s Revising Prose or Joseph Williams’s Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace as they edit their work. Essays will be reviewed by the guest editor and then by the board of Borrowers and Lenders: The Journal of Shakespeare and Appropriation before final acceptance. Upon acceptance, we will ask authors to verify all citations and to put their essays into Borrowers and Lenders house style.

Borrowers and Lenders: The Journal of Shakespeare and Appropriation is a peer-reviewed, on-line, multimedia journal that welcomes original scholarship engaging with the afterlives of Shakespearean texts and their literary, filmic, multimedia, and critical histories. It encourages contributors to use the online format to its best advantage, in particular, by imagining how to enhance or illustrate their essays with multimedia (screen captures, sound clips, images, and so on). B&L won the CELJ’s “Best New Journal” Award in 2007. B&L is fully indexed in the MLA Bibliography. B&L is currently co-edited by Dr. Christy Desmet (cdesmet@uga.edu) and Dr. Sujata Iyengar (iyengar@uga.edu); correspondence should be addressed to lenders[at]uga.edu or to Managing Editor Ms. Maria Chappell (machapp@uga.edu).