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Literary maps have long been used to help students and readers learn about literature, writers and places. While we tend to think of such maps in connection with teaching and learning, they have served other purposes as well. In the 1950’s, for example, the publishing company Harris Seybold printed literary maps as part of calendars showcasing their printing capabilities. In 2000, some 50 years later, the Washington chapter of the Women’s National Book Association sponsored a literary map of Washington, D.C., for students, for other lovers of literature, and for visitors; proceeds from the four-color map funded the club’s charitable activities.  Not least, in 1999, the Library of Congress published the Language of the Land: The Library of Congress Book of Literary Maps, "an annotated, illustrated guide to more than 230 maps" in the Library’s collection. Educators were invited to participate with the library "in finding creative ways of using these educational tools."

But there are other kinds of maps, too, maps that engage readers directly in their creation. Perhaps the most recent example of this is the interactive literary map of New York City created in 2005 by readers of the New York Times.  At the invitation of Randy Cohen, the New York Times’ ethicist, readers were encouraged to identify and submit their favorite literary locations, and, as important, to imagine where literary places might be, reading closely to locate those that might be “approximated” (for instance, Seldin’s apartment in House of Mirth) and those, like Bartleby’s office, that are “truly elusive.”

Interestingly, Cohen invited readers to participate precisely because no one reader could account for the rich literary landscape of Manhattan:  “Since nobody is widely enough read -- I'm not widely enough read -- to know the haunts and houses, the offices and bars and subway stops of so diverse a population, I appeal to Book Review readers to send in their favorites.”

You Are Invited

Inspired by all these maps, the National Council of Teachers of English is sponsoring “21st Century Literacies and The 21st Century Literary Map Project.” Basically, the invitation is to you--and to your colleagues and to your students--to create a literary map of your specific locale, region, or state, designing  maps through (1) researching literature and (2) using the medium best suited to achieving your intended purpose.

Options for mapping are many; they include

• Print
• Print with audio commentary
• A set of posters mapping the same space
• Hypertext maps
• Hypertext maps with audio
• Video maps
• Video maps with live performances; and not least
• A gallery of different kinds of maps, with students providing live
  commentary.

We invite student teams, teacher teams, and combined teams to submit (1) their maps and (2) descriptions of their map-making processes for showcasing at the NCTE convention, in New York City in November 2007. Our goal is to have at least one map for every state in the country.

We believe that in creating these maps and in describing the processes that went into the making of them—that is, in working together as teams of creators; in researching to create both text and context; in considering which medium or media to use and why, and which images and words to use and why—students and teachers will put into dialogue the study of literature with their own perspectives as they engage in and model 21st century literacies. In addition, through showcasing at the NCTE convention both different maps and map-making processes, we will invite the 7,000 participants to take up similar projects with their students.

Please join us! Simply let Kathleen Yancey () know that you’ll be creating a map—with other teachers, with students, and/or with both. Once we have you signed up, we’ll be sending you additional information.