Dear Colleagues,


Some of you will remember delightful and knowledgeable Gillian Avery, whose death has recently been announced. She was one of the founder-researchers in our field in the UK and so, like many members of IRSCL, generally worked as a lone scholar. Gill wrote several fine books, helped acquire the Opie collection for the Bodleian, was one of the editors of the Norton anthology of Children's Literature and was always a generous colleague. She will be missed. With his permission I am attaching the obituary that Nicholas Tucker wrote for THE TIMES.


Very best,

Kim


Professor Kimberley Reynolds
School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics
Newcastle University
Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU UK
Author of Radical Children's Literature (Palgrave 2007) and
Children's Literature: A Very Short Introduction (OUP 2012)


From: International Research Society for Children's Literature List <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Philip Nel <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: 27 January 2016 04:57
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [IRSCL] Call for Papers, MLA 2017: "Border Conflicts: Migration, Refugees, and Diaspora in Children’s Literature" (due 15 Mar. 2016)
 
Greetings!

I write to share a call for papers for the 2017 Modern Language Association conference (Jan. 2017, Philadelphia):

Border Conflicts: Migration, Refugees, and Diaspora in Children’s Literature (due 15 Mar. 2016)

In September 2015, photos of 3-year-old Alan Kurdi — his corpse washed ashore on a Turkish beach — came to symbolize the urgency of the Syrian refugee crisis. World leaders promised to do more, people debated whether printing the pictures was appropriate, and charities experienced a surge in donations. In children’s literature, the figure of the child as refugee, migrant, or displaced citizen has long been a powerful trope, disrupting the assumed connection between personal identity and national identity, exposing virulent racism and xenophobia, but also awakening compassion and kindness.  As Europe faces its largest refugee crisis since World War II, this guaranteed session (sponsored by the Children’s Literature Forum) will examine children’s literature’s response — both contemporary and historical — to refugees, migrants, and members of diasporic communities.

Subjects panelists might consider include (but are not limited to): the ways in which the term “migrant” can dehumanize people, whether persecuted minorities qualify for refugee status in their own countries, the many reasons for displacement (race, religion, nationality, ethnicity, religion, sexuality), questions concerning human rights, and how the vulnerable figure of the child brings these questions into sharper focus.

The panel will convene at the Modern Language Association Convention in Philadelphia, which will be held from January 5 to 8, 2017.

Send 1-page abstracts by March 15, 2016 to Nina Christensen <[log in to unmask]> and Philip Nel <[log in to unmask]>.

If you feel inspired to share this via social media, here’s a link: http://www.philnel.com/2016/01/24/mla2017cfp/

Thanks!


Phil and Nina

Philip Nel
University Distinguished Professor
Director, Program in Children's Literature
Dept. of English, 103 ECS Bldg.
1612 Steam Place
Kansas State University
Manhattan, KS 66506-6501
U.S.A.
www.ksu.edu/english/nelp   ::   [log in to unmask]

Nina Christensen
Associate Professor, Head of Centre for Children’s Literature
Department of Communication and Culture,
Langelandsgade 139, 223,Aarhus University
DK-8000 Aarhus C., Denmark
www.cfb.dk
http://pure.au.dk/portal/da/persons/nina-christensen(192ed750-f408-4605-9d2c-c2dd9bf97a14).html