Loess Letter has been produced for nearly thirty years as a small hardcopy newsletter (with variable circulation ~100-200).  Loess Letter 60 (dated Oct.2008) is currently being circulated; LL61 is in preparation. It is planned that 61 (April 2009) should be a very special issue; it will celebrate 200 years since the birth of Charles Darwin, and 150 years since the publication of 'Origin of Species', and thirty years of continuous publication of LL.

61 will be a memorial issue for Andrei Dodonov (whose death was announced in 60) and it will mark the arrival of a new journal 'Aeolian Research' from Elsevier. The arrival of Aeolian Research marks a step forward in the study of airborne particulates and to celebrate the event LL is considering a spot of self-renewal. LL was essentially the newsletter of the INQUA Loess Commission but with the demise of the old Commission structure it is somewhat adrift. Perhaps some new links are required and perhaps a slight re-orientation of purpose. A name change is being considered - in the way that Earth Surface Processes became Earth Surface Processes and Landforms LL may become Loess Letter and Dust Digest (or Loess u.Staub Rundbrief) - indicating a widening of interest and a recognition of the growth in dust science. We do welcome the arrival of Aeolian Research and hope that it flourishes; we welcomed the arrival of Boreas many years ago and it has done well; the omens are auspicious.

Loess Letter Online is an additional initiative (additional to LL) to facilitate loess research world wide, supporting INQUA loess activities (supporting all loess activities). It is edited by Ian Smalley at Nottingham Trent University, comments and contributions are invited to: smalley@loessletter.com or ian.smalley@ntu.ac.uk. LL60 contains the latest report from the Loess Commission Biobibliographical Project; 12 more brief biographies and a tentative proposal for the first sixty important loess people. 60 people for LL60... 100 people eventually. The biobibliographical project is perhaps more ambitious than it first appears; it covers all aspects of loess, in all languages, in all disciplines; it sets out a backdrop for loess activity

INQUA loess groups are collaborating on a study of collapsing loess in the territory of the former Soviet Union, some initial thoughts and ideas are offered in "Russian Loess" above, and participation is invited - please contact Ian Smalley. A review of E.G. loess studies in Russian has appeared in Engineering Geology Vol 68 pp 333-351(2003) and some thoughts on loess in Uzbekistan have been published in Quaternary International QI 152/153, 59 - 69 (2006).

Danubian Loess: Loess in the Danube basin was highlighted in Loess Letters 56 and 57. The 2006 Novi Sad meeting of the Loess Sub-Commission has led to a special edition of QI; paper submissions were being completed in June 2008. Most of the papers for the QI Danube special are available online at the QI website. Loess Letter Online supports the proposed European Centre for Loess Research - which may be established in Novi Sad.

More news on the Danube Loess front: there was a special session at the DEUQUA 2008 meeting in Vienna devoted to Danubian Loess. This was a meeting of the INQUA SubCommission on Loess Stratigraphy- details from Ludwig.Zoeller@uni-bayreuth.de. The loess meeting was a great success- papers may be consulted in Abhandlungen Geologische Bundesanstalt Band 62, 279p- the title of this special DEUQUA volume is 'Veranderter Lebensraum - Gestern, Heute und Morgen.

Yet more news: LoessFest 2009 will be held in Novi Sad, Voyvodina, Serbia from 31st August to 4th September 2009. A Danubian setting for the 2nd LoessFest; contributions are invited; details from Slobodan Markovic at zbir@im.ns.ac.yu. LoessFest 2009 is carefully placed just ten years after the famous LoessFest 1999 of Heidelberg and Bonn.

DIRTMAP 2   see News & Events www.lec.lancs.ac.uk/research/LU_themes/inqua_working_group.php