Chicago 26 – 28 April:
200 scholars meeting
to examine the Baltics

By Ellen Cassedy

More than 200 scholars from 15 countries are converging on Chicago – home to the largest population of Lithuanians outside of Lithuania itself – to present and respond to papers on Baltic history, literature, linguistics, political science, aesthetics, culture, sociology, psychology, economics, gender, anthropology, musicology, environment, education, and public health.

The 23rd biennial conference of the Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies (AABS) opens April 26 at the University of Illinois. Organizers expect the conference to be the largest ever for the scholarly association, which was founded in 1968.

Members of the public are invited to attend the opening session, where the Lithuanian, Latvian, and Estonian ambassadors to the U.S. will speak on the conference theme: “The Global Baltics: the Next 20 Years.”

The session will take place at 1:30 p.m. at the Forum at the University of Illinois, 725 West Roosevelt Road, Chicago, IL 60608.  For further information, contact Agnė Vertelkaitė, 312-397-0382, ext. 204, or e-mail: agne@ltconschi.org.

U.S. Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, who is of Lithuanian descent, will address the three-day conference on Friday, April 27, on the topic of “The Unbreakable U.S.-Baltic Partnership.”

Ellen Cassedy traces her Jewish family roots to Rokiskis and Siauliai. Her new book, We Are Here: Memories of the Lithuanian Holocaust, was published in March and will appear in Lithuanian in May.  She lives in Washington, D.C. Visit her website at www.ellencassedy.com.