NewsFlash - 16.11.07

The new IRSCL website is currently under development and will be available shortly.

Here are the results of the election at the IRSCL congress:

IRSCL Board 2007-9:
President, Clare Bradford (Australia)
Vice-President, Hans-Heino Ewers (Germany, convenor of the 2009 congress in Frankfurt)
Secretary, Katrien Vloeberghs (Belgium)
Treasurer, Mavis Reimer (Canada)
Board member, Helene Ehriander (Sweden, in charge of archives)
Board member, Pamela Knights (UK, IRCL Congress editor and assisting with website)
Immediate Past President, Kim Reynolds (UK)

Contacts
General enquiries:
Clare Bradford (clarex@deakin.edu.au)
Membership enquiries:
Mavis Reimer (m.reimer@uwinnipeg.ca)

NewsFlash - 22.09.07

The International Research Society for Children’s Literature (IRSCL) was established in 1970 and is a leading association for scholars of children’s literature. The study of children’s literature is increasingly being recognised as an integral part of literary studies, and the rapid expansion of the subject area highlights the need for a scholarly journal that is international in scope. Following our announcement at IRSCL’s 18th Biennial Congress in Kyoto, we are now inviting submissions for the inaugural issues of International Research in Children’s Literature.

This new journal, from Edinburgh University Press, aims to be essential reading for literary scholars in the field of children’s literature. It will publish material from the IRSCL conferences, along with other, open, submissions, subject to selection, rigorous peer review and possible revision; book reviews will also be an important part of the journal’s work. There will be four issues in a biennium: three will follow on from the biennial congress theme, with the fourth being a special issue. The first issue will be published in July 2008.

Read more here

NewsFlash - 17.07.07

The 18th biennial Congress in Kyoto will be a memorable one, not least because it is the first IRSCL Congress ever held in Asia.  The number of delegates reached 280 as of July 11th;  people from as many as 20 countries will get together at the Kyoto International Conference Center this August. The full and varied programme, which will shortly be available on the conference website, contains more than 150 presentations, including 3 panels and 13 poster presentations. A special feature is the Modern Japanese Picture Book Exhibition, where more than 300 picture books as well as the original pictures from Arai Ryoji's latest work, A Sound of Taiyo (Sun)-Organ, will be on display. Delegates will enjoy spending discussing the various conference themes, and exploring the old city, and the world of children's literature.

NewsFlash - 16.07.07

Some news that didn't make the newsletter:

1) A reminder from Canadian Children's Literature: Perry Nodelman has asked me to remind members about the 10%
discount that IRSCL members get when they order CCL/LCJ (though the discount doesn't exist if ordered online, unfortunately, but the form explains this). The URL where the subscription form can be downloaded here: http://ccl.uwinnipeg.ca/irscl.shtml.

2) Bettina Kümmerling-Meibauerhas been appointed as the second Astrid Lindgren guest professor at the University of Växjö (second guest professor after Astrid Surmatz, arriving in autumn 2008).

3) Betinna is also helping a Spanish colleague to organise an international conference "Cognitive and Aesthetic Aspects of Picturebooks",  in Barcelona in September 2007 (September 27 - September, 29). Invited speakers are among others Perry Nodelman, Maria Nikolajeva, Carole Scott, Isabelle Chevrel-Nières and Morag Styles. For further information please contact me: bettina.kuemmerling@t-online.de or María Cecilia Silva-Díaz: ceciliasd@telefonica.net.

NewsFlash - 15.07.07

Special Offer:

Divided Worlds: Studies in Childrens Literature

NewsFlash - 06.07.07

Spring/Summer 2007 Newsletter now available

NewsFlash - 20.02.07

New website: children’s literature in Italy
Professor Francesca Orestano of the Università Statale di Milano is pleased to announce the creation of a new website, Children’s Literature in Italy, entirely devoted to the study of children’s literature in Italy. The site is sponsored by the Università Statale di Milano, Dipartimento di Scienze del Linguaggio e Letterature Straniere Comparate, Sezione di Anglistica.  and stems from the work of Italian scholars who have been addressing the subject of children’s literature from within the field of English studies /departments, albeit from a wide range of methodological perspectives (cultural studies and gender studies, visual studies and film studies).

Mariangela Mosca Bonsignore teaches at Turin State University, Alessandra Petrina at the University of Padua, Laura Tosi at Ca’ Foscari in Venice, Carlo Pagetti, like Francesca Orestano, at Milan State University. Their work in this field, which besides publications includes research projects, courses taught at undergraduate and graduate level, dissertations, is documented by this website, whose aim is to provide information, encourage research, and grant visibility to the subject, with its distinct contextualization within the area of literary and cultural studies in English.

The website will be launched in March 2007: http://users.unimi.it/childlit

NewsFlash - 20.02.07

Marilyn Holinshead Visiting Scholars Fellowship:
Research grants

The Marilyn Holinshead Visiting Scholars Fellowship provides grants-in-aid for travel to the Kerlan Collection. These grants will be available for research study in 2007. The Kerlan Collection is one of the world's finest research collections in children's literature and contains over 100,000 books and original art and manuscript material for approximately 16,000 titles. For more information about our holdings, please visit the Kerlan Collection's website, http://special.lib.umn.edu/clrc/kerlan/index.php. 
 
Applicants may request up to $1,500. Send a letter with the proposed purpose, plan to use specific research materials (manuscripts and art), dates, and budget (including airfare and per diem) to:

Kerlan Grant-in-Aid,
113 Andersen Library,
222 21st Ave. S. Minneapolis,
MN 55455.

The deadline for receipt of all materials is April 27, 2007. Travel and a written report on the project must be completed and submitted in 2007. 

NewsFlash - 20.02.07

THE BATH FESTIVAL OF CHILDREN’S LITERATURE
21st-30th September, 2007

 One of the biggest new literary festivals announced in recent years will take place in Bath (UK) this Autumn. The Bath Festival of Children’s Literature is a 10-day celebration of children’s books and reading, and will feature some of the biggest and most creative names from the world of children’s publishing. Many very well-known and popular authors and illustrators make up the launch line-up.

Headlining guests include:

• Jacqueline Wilson, the current Children’s Laureate, who was born in Bath.
• Eoin Colfer, author of Artemis Fowl (his only UK festival appearance of 2007).
• Anthony Horowitz, author of the Alex Rider novels. Stormbreaker, the first title in the series, was made into a film in 2006.
• Louise Rennison, popular teenage author and creator of the Georgia Nicholson books.
• Darren Shan, whose Cirque Du Freak and Demonata series for young horror fans have earned him a worldwide audience.
• Lauren Child, creator of BBC TV’s Charlie & Lola.
• Julia Donaldson, author of popular picture book The Gruffalo.
• Francesca Simon, author of the Horrid Henry series.
• Tony Ross, illustrator of Horrid Henry and author of the Little Princess books, now a cartoon series on TV.
• Garth Nix, Australian Fantasy author, his only UK festival appearance of 2007).
• Brian Jacques, author of the Redwall series – which celebrates its 30th Anniversary in 2007.
• Geraldine McCaughrean, author of the official Peter Pan sequel, Peter Pan in Scarlet.
• Joanne Harris, author of the book Chocolat, which became a film starring Johnny Depp. Her first book for children is published in Autumn 2007.
• Lucy Hawking, daughter of Stephen Hawking, who has collaborated with her father on a new children's book, also published in the Autumn.

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT!

The proceedings of the last IRSCL congress in Kristiansand was launched at Dublin.

Children's Literature Global and Local: Social and Aesthetic Perspectives edited by Emer O'Sullivan, Kimberley Reynolds and Rolf Romøren. Oslo: Novus Press, 2005.

The volume contains 20 essays by the following contributors: Clare Bradford, Carole Carpenter, Valerie Coghlan, Mieke K.T. Desmet, Hans-Heino Ewers, Victoria Flanagan, Margot Hillel, Elwyn Jenkins, Lindsay Myers, Chie Mizuma, Sharyn Pearce, Jana Pohl, Beverley Naidoo, Mavis Reimer, Martina Seifert, Anna Karlskov Skyggebjerg, Margarita Slavova, Asfrid Svensen, Mary Shine Thompson, Elise Seip Tønnessen, Thomas van der Walt, Marina Warner, and Boel Westin, with an Introduction by the editors.

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