The Thailand-Laos-Cambodia Studies Group and New Mandala are planning a new initiative that will offer regular book reviews of important new texts (in English and other languages) on mainland Southeast Asia. The reviews will be jointly published on the TLC email list and on New Mandala. This will give authors, publishers and reviewers a very widely read new forum for featuring reviews without many of the delays associated with journal publication. Our goal is to publish regular reviews in an accessible and flexible format.

As a first step in this new initiative we are seeking a Book Review Editor. The Book Review Editor should have expertise in at least one of the relevant countries, be able to coordinate with publishers and reviewers, and demonstrate a willingness to champion online distribution of academic output. The Book Review Editor will play an important role in identifying (and receiving suggestions about) significant new books in the field and will also be expected to manage a simple database of books sent out for review.

Given the on-line nature of this activity the Book Review Editor can be located anywhere with good internet access. In most cases, books will be dispatched direct from the publisher to the chosen reviewer. As an indication of workload, our plan would be to publish about one review every two weeks.

This is an exciting opportunity for a young scholar to make a substantial contribution to mainland Southeast Asian Studies. Expressions of interest, including a brief CV, can be sent to [email protected] and
[email protected]

Applications close on 31 October 2009.