Fostering collaboration among young scholars of children’s literature (Krzysztof Rybak)
Drawing from my experience as a co-initiator of Grow (with Rosalyn Borst and Chiara Malpezzi), an initiative that aims at stimulating transnational dialogue and collaboration among young scholars of children’s literature, I wish to invite young scholars – and their allies from various fields – to reflect on the ways early career members of academia may manoeuvre in these challenging times of their lives.
The workshop will begin by reflecting on the status of young scholars of children’s literature as seen through different national, geographical, economic, and cultural lenses. Next, we will review some initiatives and ideas that have been held so far. Finally, the participants will work on their ideas for fostering collaboration between young scholars, which we will discuss at the end.
The participants will leave the workshop with a broadened perspective on the challenges young scholars face and ways that may help them overcome these through collaboration initiatives.
Of Loupes, Mirrors, and Spyglasses: Reading for Ethnic-Cultural Diversity in Children's Books (Sara Van den Bossche)
Diversity and inclusion have become hot topics in children’s literature, both in the literary field itself and in the academic study devoted to it. Maybe you yourself in your capacity as a student or researcher of children’s books, or as mediator in the field have wanted to address questions related to diversity and inclusion. As a scholar, author, illustrator, teacher, librarian, reading promotor, or educator, maybe you have wanted to broach these subjects, but didn’t quite know how to.
To support you in these endeavours, this workshop offers four instruments that accommodate low-threshold analyses of children’s books with a focus on diversity and inclusion. The toolbox it provides contains a loupe, a mirror, a spyglass, and a compass. These instruments will serve as the basis for an analysis of a children’s book of your choice.
In the first part of the workshop, Sara Van den Bossche will explain the background for the reading method and introduce the tools. Subsequently, you are invited to try out the instruments for yourself. Sara Van den Bossche will guide you in applying the tools to a book of your choice.
To prepare for this workshop, select and bring along a book for your readers that you would like to analyse. The choice can be random; The book does not have to be geared towards the themes of ethnic-cultural diversity and inclusion specifically. Picturebook, middlegrade, YA – the target audience and format do not matter, anything goes.