2025 RaceB4Race Second Book Institute

RaceB4Race Second Book Institute

While some supports exist for early career scholars, far fewer support structures are available for midcareer scholars, and almost none that directly advance the work of midcareer scholars of premodern critical race studies.  Because this crucial field of knowledge is still under-acknowledged and under-represented on publishers' lists, in bookstores, libraries, and syllabi, there is a pressing need to support midcareer premodern critical race scholars in writing their second books and getting them into print.  To further this goal, the RaceB4Race Second Book Institute provides midcareer scholars with the opportunity to focus on their second monograph with a group of invested fellow scholars and an expert institute leader.  

Participants will meet twice monthly to discuss and workshop their writing, and will participate in professional development opportunities organized by their institute leader.

The RaceB4Race First and Second Book Institutes are part of the fully virtual RaceB4Race Mentorship Network, a Mellon-funded initiative based at the Folger Shakespeare Library and directed by  Patricia Akhimie.

2025 Second Book Institute

This year’s Second Book Institute leader is Jean E. Howard.

Jean E. Howard is a George Delacorte Professor Emerita in the Humanities at Columbia University and an award-winning author and teacher. She is the author or co-author of six monographs, editor and co-editor of numerous collections, and is co-editor of The Norton Shakespeare (3rd Ed. 2015). Her book Theater of a City: The Places of London Comedy 1598-1642 (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2007) won the Barnard Hewitt award for Outstanding Theater History. She has decades of experience as a reader for journals and presses and as an outside reviewer for tenure and promotion cases.

Details

• The Second Book Institute runs from February through June each year.
• All participation in the Second Book Institute will be virtual via Zoom.
• Scholars working in premodern critical race studies who hold a PhD, have previously published a book, and are in the process of writing their second book are invited to apply, regardless of what stage in the process they are in.

Goals

• Make progress on the writing of a second book, starting from any stage
• Discuss what is unique about the second book, and how it differs from a first book
• Discuss publishers’ expectations of a second book project
• Discuss the unique challenges of writing a second book at a busy stage of professional life, and explore strategies for meeting those challenges

Expectations

• Attendance at all Institute sessions
• Faithfully reading the work of fellow members of the Institute and being prepared to discuss it in a constructive manner
• Writing and presenting a chapter, or part of a chapter, at one of the Institute sessions