Dear Colleagues and Friends,

I am very pleased to report that we have received over 65 abstracts for the Malta conference: Geographies of the Euro-Arab Encounter, Past, Present and Future, by  the final day for submission of abstracts (April 30, 2001).

This number far exceeds our original plan and our financial ability to subsidize such a large number of participants. Please note that no new abstracts will be accepted after this announcement is posted on the AWG website. Those abstracts that were received after the midnight of April 30 will unfortunately not qualify for a subsidy. The respective authors are kindly asked to pay the full registration fee at the rate of US$140. This does not apply to a small number of scholars who were in touch with the conference organizer before April 30 and whose circumstances prevented them from meeting the deadline.

Our decision to keep the conference at 50-60 participants was envisioned to provide each participant a 25-minute presentation and avoid holding parallel panels due to the complications inherent in provision of simultaneous translation.

POSTER SESSION: we are pleased to open the possibility for a poster session for new colleagues who are keen to attend the conference and share their research findings with others. Those interested in this later session should contact the AWG (e-mail: tawg@chass.utoronto.ca) as soon as possible but no later than May 30, 2001.

On behalf of the organizing committee of the Malta conference, I wish you all a pleasent summer and hope to see you in Malta in October.

With kind regards,

Ghazi Falah
Conference Organizer
3 May 2001