Call for Papers
Children’s
literature and our understanding of it is becoming increasingly complex. The
assumption that young people benefit from stories that have characteristics
different from those read by adults is not something to be taken for granted.
Some have argued, for example, that the ease of access to wide ranging
knowledge via television and the internet has erased the division between adult
and child. Others contend that children’s literature is a misnomer because they
believe the texts labeled as such really only serve adults’ interests.
Certainly adults control the creation and dissemination of this literature. Meanwhile,
they seem to be increasingly enjoying it, so much so, that adults can now enjoy
“children’s books” written exclusively for them, as explored by Michelle Ann
Abate in No Kids Allowed: Children’s
Literature for Adults (2020).
Much of
the delight that children’s literature offers to readers of all ages comes
through creatively experimenting with format and multiple modes of
representation. Picturebooks and graphic narratives can make complex ideas
easier to understand, and add layers of visual complexity to seemingly simple
stories. Such features serve the interests of divergent age groups. Kenneth
Kidd, for example, finds that children’s books often do the work of philosophy
as well as contribute to the way philosophy is often learned by adults. Some of
the most poignant cultural critiques revolve around children’s texts and have
been presented through the perceiving eye of child narrators.
Children’s
books tend to be shorter than adult texts and linguistically simpler while still
employing rich, poetic language and exploring consequential issues. Such
features can stimulate meaningful foreign and second language learning for
students of any age. Children’s literature may never have been completely the
domain of the child. Still, scholars, educators, publishers, and readers
continue to find and reinvent ways in which texts broadly categorized as
children’s literature can be used and appropriated by people of all ages. This
conference seeks to explore the features and uses of children’s literature for
divergent ages, purposes, and people groups.
Possible topics may include, but are not
limited to the following:
· Crossover
literature
· Children’s
& YA literature in language education
· Changing
concepts of childhood in children’s & YA literature
· Appeal
of children’s & YA literature to adults
· Comics
and Graphic narratives (novels, biography, history, manga, etc.)
· Graphic
instructional literature
· Adaptations
of children’s & YA literature to film and videogames
· Children’s
literature meant for adults
· Inter-
and cross- generational relationships in children’s literature
· Challenging
and controversial topics in texts for children
· Children’s
& YA literature in cultural studies
· Fanfiction
· Use of children’s
& YA literature by scholars
· Radical
children’s & YA literature
· Teaching
literary criticism through children’s & YA literature
· Folk
literature and fairy tales
· Multicultural
and international children’s & YA literature
· Mainstream
literature used with or read by children
· Literature
written by child and young adult writers
Important Dates:
· 25 February
2024: Abstract submission deadline
· 18 March
2024: Notice of acceptance
· 15 October
2024: Revised abstract
· 23
November 2024: Conference Date
Important Points:
· Please
submit proposals of no more than 350 words (include 5 keywords) for 20-minute
panel presentations to the following email address: tclra2024@gmail.com
· Submissions should
be in .doc, .docx, or .pdf format.
· Include
a personal biography of no more than 100 words.
· It is
expected that all presentations will be made in person.
· Conference
Website: http://english.scu.edu.tw/tclra2024