About

West Virginia University is honored to host the 2021 Pearl S. Buck International Symposium to celebrate the life, legacy, and enduring impact of Pearl S. Buck from November 4-5, 2021. As a result of continued uncertainty about the COVID virus and travel, the 2021 Pearl S. Buck International Symposium will be held online using Zoom or a comparable program. 

The 2021 symposium will consist of five plenary sessions. Each session will feature one speaker who will have 45 minutes to present a paper related to the symposium theme to the online audience. The delegation of the People’s Republic of China will have two plenary sessions and will select the speakers for those sessions. The delegation from the Republic of Korea will have two plenary sessions and will select the speakers for those sessions. The delegation from the United States will have one plenary session and will select the speaker for that session. The United States delegation will arrange for the opening and closing remarks. To accommodate the 12-hour time difference between Morgantown and Beijing, Nanjing, and Zhenjiang, and the 13-hour time difference between Morgantown and Seoul and Bucheon City, the symposium itinerary schedules the sessions in the early morning and late evening

The Living Gateway Conference takes place biennially and is international in scope, capitalizing on global interest Pearl Buck and encouraging scholarship around the myriad facets of her life, literature, advocacy, and legacy.

 Any questions about the conference may be addressed to Brett Miller (miller_bt@wvwc.edu)