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Dissertation to Book Workshop: Madison

ABOUT

Sponsored by AIIS, AIBS, AIPS and AISLS

AIIS holds an annual dissertation to book workshop at the Madison South Asia Conference every October. The workshop is intended to assist recent PhDs convert their doctoral dissertations into publishable monographs.  More detailed information on the workshop schedule is available below.

This workshop aims to help a select number of recent PhDs re-vision their doctoral dissertations as books.

LEARN ABOUT BOOKS PUBLISHED BY WORKSHOP PARTICIPANTS
View/download this flyer as a PDF

Application deadline is July 15, 2026

INSTRUCTIONS

Applications to participate are due by July 15, 2026. 

The interdisciplinary workshop begins with a “Secrets of Publishing” Q&A discussion from 7-8:30 pm on Tuesday evening (October 27th). During the day-long Wednesday symposium (October 28th), we will divide into three groups of eight authors and three mentors each, to work intensively together discussing each project. We conclude the workshop with an all-group dinner at a nearby Indian restaurant.

For selection: Please apply to AIIS Dissertation to Book Workshop Madison – CAORC & ORC Grant Application Portal by July 15, 2026. Applicants will need to submit the following information:

DETAILS

Senior Faculty Mentors

Faculty from a range of disciplines and areas of expertise will serve as mentors. In 2026, the senior faculty mentors will include:

  • Tarini Bedi (Anthropology, University of Illinois-Chicago)
  • Eric Beverly (History, SUNY Stonybrook)
  • Laura Brueck (convener, South Asian & Comparative Literature, Northwestern University)
  • Roanne Kantor (English, Stanford University)
  • Arsalan Khan (Anthropology, University of Tennessee-Knoxville)
  • Daniel Majchrowicz (Asian Languages and Cultures, Northwestern University)
  • Pavitra Sundar (Literature/Cinema and Media Studies, Hamilton College)
  • Anand Yang (History, University of Washington)

Schedule

All meetings will take place at the Madison Concourse Hotel

  • Tuesday evening, October 27, 7:00 to 8:30 pm: Secrets of Publishing: Introductions and Q&A regarding publishing, next steps, etc. Several faculty mentors with experience in recruiting manuscripts for presses and in publishing their own books will participate. Tea, coffee, cheese & crackers, and cookies will be served.
  • Wednesday morning, October 28, 8:30 am to 12:15 pm (with a coffee break from 10:15-10:30 am): We will divide into three groups of 8 authors and 2-3 mentors. Each project will be discussed for 23-25 minutes. In advance, everyone will read all of the materials for their group. For each 23-25-minute segment, one participant will make a 3-5-minute presentation on someone else’s project, and then the other participants will join in to discuss the project—except the project’s author, who is not allowed to speak. The author of the project under discussion can only listen, take notes, and record if desired, how their project is being understood, misunderstood, stretched, queried, critiqued, and praised by knowledgeable peers with closely related interests but working in varying theoretical perspectives, disciplines, settings, and time periods.
  • Lunch break (on one’s own): 12:15 to 1:45 pm
  • Wednesday afternoon, 1:45 to 5:30 pm (with a coffee break from 3:30-3:45): Each author is given a 25-minute time slot to respond to the more important queries, issues, and suggestions raised in the morning, and, most important, to seek feedback or further discussion of areas of their project with which they recognize they are having difficulty.
  • Wednesday evening at 6:30 pm: AIIS will host all participants at a group dinner at a nearby Indian Restaurant.

Conversations can carry over into Thursday, Friday and Saturday at the South Asia Conference!