Despite our hopes, the “Controversial Dimensions of Children’s Literature” International conference, which we moved from March to September due to the coronavirus pandemic, cannot take place in 2020. It is forbidden to organise and participate in conferences at our university until further notice. The borders of many countries are still closed, and universities restrict the mobility of students and staff also in the winter semester of the coming academic year. The further postponement of the conference is therefore risky – also because some of the research that participants have carried out while preparing their papers may become obsolete.

For these reasons, we decided to cancel the conference, but we do not resign from the publication of the papers which were originally to be delivered at the conference.

Additionally, we would like to invite you to a series of the three keynote lectures, which were originally to be delivered at the conference. More details coming soon!

List of papers with abstracts

Keynotes

• Anna Czabanowska-Wróbel: Badacz literatury dziecięcej jako dwugłowiec (Hugha Loftinga i Davida Damroscha) / Children’s  Literature Scholar as a Two-Headed (Hugh Lofting’s and David Damrosch’s) Creature (referat w języku polskim z obszernym streszczeniem w języku angielskim) – Abstrakt
• Kimberley Reynolds: Beneath the Big Top: controversial dimensions of circus stories – Abstrakt
• Junko Yokota: Interpretive and Hidden Controversies in Literature for Children

Panel: The Secret Life of Things

• Joanna Dybiec-Gajer: “Look at me, here I stand.” Posthuman Transformations in Recycled Children’s Literature Abstrakt
• Anna  Kérchy: „I’m not a stick. I’m Stick Man.” Ecocritical Encounters with Plant Kin in Contemporary Picturebooks Abstrakt
• Anna Bugajska: “I’m not a teapot”. The Controversy of (Post)humanity and Sentient AI in Neil Shusterman’s Novels Abstrakt
• Beatrice Moja: A Human Sensibility Within the Animal Toy: Posthuman Reflections Upon Margery Williams’ The Velveteen Rabbit (1922), A. A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh (1926), and Russell Hoban’s The Mouse and His Child (1967)
  Abstrakt

Other papers

• Jen Aggleton: Teaching Controversial Topics through Illustrated Novels: The Role of Medium and Methods Abstrakt
• Charlotte van Bergen: A Case of Rewriting History: How Changing Attitudes towards Controversiality Influence the Treatment of Old Children’s Books, and How We Should Interpret this Treatment  Abstrakt
• Katarzyna Biernacka-Licznar: W jaki sposób włoscy wydawcy uczynili z Quo vadis Henryka Sienkiewicza „niekontrowersyjną” powieść dla młodzieży Abstrakt
• Talia Crockett: Ethical Representations of Trauma in Young Adult Holocaust Literature Abstrakt
• Hanna Dymel-Trzebiatowska: Being Controversial in Scandinavia. An Iconotextual Analysis of the Selected Norwegian and Danish Picturebooks Abstrakt
• Alicja Fidowicz: Controversy of Disability and its Reception in Children’s Literature Abstrakt
• Ewa Gomółka: Spanish Traditional and Literary Lullabies: What Makes Them Controversial? Abstrakt
• Łukasz Gregorowicz: Between the Book and the Movie: (Pupils’) Controversies around the Film Adaptations of School Readings Abstrakt
• Bożena Hojka, Elżbieta Jamróz-Stolarska: Kontrowersje na rynku książki dla dzieci jako odzwierciedlenie przemian kulturowych w Polsce Abstrakt
• Jones Irwin: More Lateral Than Didactic – Unobvious Controversials in the Poetics for Children of George Saunders and Matthew Sweeney Abstrakt
• Monika Janusz-Lorkowska: Destroy this Book – A Degrading Game with a Child as a Prosumer  Abstrakt
• Barbara Kaczyńska: Annotated Editions as a Misappropriation of Author’s Voice and of Children’s Reading Abstrakt
• Tzina Kalogirou: Controversial Language Issues in Greek Children’s Literature and Beyond Abstrakt
• Sylwia Kamińska-Maciąg: Pamięć o Wielkim Terrorze w powieści Eugena Yelchina Breaking Stalin’s Nose Abstrakt
• Meni Kanatsouli: Controversial Topics in Greek Children’s Books: The Painful Memory  Abstrakt
• Magdalena Kiełbowicz: Dziewczynka, czyli kto? – „KOSMOS dla dziewczynek i reszty świata”, jako próba konstrukcji nowego modelu postrzegania kobiecości Abstrakt
• Małgorzata Knast: Mormon and Queer – the Depiction of “Harnessed Queerness” in Christina Lauren’s Autoboyography Abstrakt
• Zofia Kolbuszewska: The Scandal of Edward Gorey’s Necrochildhoods and Children’s Literature Abstrakt
• Eva Maagerø, Marie Anne Øines: How to Represent Sex? Picture Books about Sex for Children Abstrakt
• Ewa Maciejewska-Mroczek, Magdalena Radkowska-Walkowicz: (In)visible and Strange: Parentless Children in Contemporary Polish Children’s Literature Abstrakt  
• Sara Mazzucchelli Quirico: Russian Children’s Literature in Italy between the Two World Wars Abstrakt
• Jennifer Mooney: Authorial Agenda and Political Responsibility: Examining Representations of the Controversial Concept of ‘Rape Culture’ in the Young Adult Literature of Irish Author Louise O’Neill Abstrakt
• Siobhán Morrissey: „A Sexist, Racist, Homophobe, and Not a Very Well Regarded Writer”: The Controversial Publications of Enid Blyton from 1930 to 2020  Abstrakt
• Ewa Nicewicz-Staszowska: Nóż w plecy, kij w mrowisko. Diabolik, czyli narodziny pierwszego włoskiego czarnego komiksu Abstrakt
• Wendy  O’Shea-Meddour: Silences and Censorship in Contemporary Children’s Publishing Abstrakt
• Magdalena Paul, Michał Zając: The Controversial Books and Polish Librarians Abstrakt
• Natalia Paprocka, Agnieszka Wandel: Kontrowersje a budowanie znaczeń w dyskursie popularnonaukowym – na przykładzie sposobów mówienia o masturbacji w książkach do edukacji seksualnej dla dzieci i młodzieży Abstrakt
• Halyna Pavlyshyn: Armin Greder and Challenging Ideological Messages of His Illustrations Abstrakt
• Dorota Pielorz: A Scratch on The Image of The Perfect World. Controversial Topics in the Portrety Youth Novel Series Abstrakt
• Carla Plieth: A Comparative History of Global Children’s Literature on Child Sexual Abuse  Abstrakt
• Krzysztof  Rybak: Is the Holocaust Still a Controversial Topic? Limits of Representation in Contemporary Polish Children’s Literature  Abstrakt
• Luz Santa María: Adolescents’ Online Literary Talk and the Controversial Challenges for Children’s Literature Scholars Abstrakt
• Maciej Skowera: The Impact of the Controversial Elements of Children’s Authors’ Mythobiographies on the Reception and Transformation of Their Works (Lewis Carroll, J. M. Barrie, L. Frank Baum) Abstrakt
• Katarzyna Smyczyńska: Ways of Showing: Brecht Evens’ Panther Abstrakt  
• Daniela Sorrentino: Rewriting the Myth of Orpheus and Eurydice for Young Readers. Analysis of an Example in German  Abstrakt
• Karolina Stępień: Sadyzm, masochizm i kanibalizm. Kontrowersyjne tematy i krytyka literatury dziecięcej w książkach Martína Sancii Abstrakt
• Sabina Świtała: Tęczowa literatura dla dzieci. Od kontrowersji do zrozumienia Abstrakt
• Katarzyna Anna Tunkiel: Navigating Translation of Picturebook Apps for Bilingual Preschool Children Abstrakt
• Dominique Ulma: From “Let Them Read” to “Let Them not Read”: Controversies on the Values and Virtues of Children Literature through its Development, its Legal Framework and its Schooling in France (20^th-21^st Centuries) Abstrakt
• Maryna Vardanian: Reception of Identifications in Genocide Writings for Children and YA by Ukrainian Diaspora: Imagological Aspect Abstrakt
• Vera Veldhuizen: The Blurred Lines of Consent in YA Abstrakt
• Monika Woźniak: Coming Out: LGBT Topics in the Polish Literature for Young Adults  Abstrakt
• Maciej Wróblewski: Children’s „Confessions” about World War II. Methodological Dilemmas Abstrakt
• Tomasz Wysłobocki: How to Create a Young Revolutionary Republican, or Moral and Political Literature for Children and Adolescents under the Jacobin Rule Abstrakt
• Angela Yannicopoulou: Two-Dad Families in Nonfiction Picturebooks Abstrakt
• Tomasz Zarębski: Astrid Lindgren and Philosophy: the Vexed Figure of Karlson on the Roof Abstrakt
• Snizhana Zhygun: What did it Mean to Be a Ukrainian Children’s Writer in the 1930’s? (Based on the Works by N. Zabila and O. Ivanenko) Abstrakt

Literature for children offers an ongoing challenge for creators, publishers, readers (of whatever age), educators, and researchers. Its functioning is inseparably connected with the historically changing system of social expectations towards children and childhood. The instability of these postulates and concepts remains a source of numerous controversies. It is these polemics and inconsistencies that we wish to make the subject of our conference.

Controversy seems to be the essence of literature for children, as reflected in its perception, for example, as a projection of the fantasies, fears, and desires of adults (Rose 1984), a form of child oppression and colonization of childhood (Nodelman 1992), an element of the aetonormative world ruled by adults (Nikolajeva 2010), or as a part of the pedagogical project of childhood that attempts to control the future (Beauvais 2015). Simultaneously, the importance of children’s literature as a bridge between childhood and adulthood (Waller 2019, Wróblewski 2019) or as a platform for the development of symmetrical relations between child and adult (e.g. Gubar 2016, Joosen 2018, Chawar et al. 2018) is being increasingly emphasized. These and other postulates remain open and worthy of further reflection. The research on children’s literature itself also invites reflective interest: what are its premises, goals, and expectations?

This conference aims to encourage joint identification and analysis of controversial decisions, practices, and attitudes concerning the cultural, social, and political significance of children’s literature, its place in the public, publishing, and academic spaces, as well as its involvement in the exploration of and dealing with contemporary problems. With what challenges of the modern world does it confront children and adults?

We invite you to submit papers on controversial issues related to children’s literature in terms of creativity, reception, publishing, and research:

THE CREATIVE DIMENSION

• controversial authors of children’s literature;
• controversial topics as a reflection of historically changing social norms and concepts of children’s literature;
• cross-over literature and the aestheticization of children’s literature;
• children’s literature authored by children (also in the context of new media);
• controversial choices and attitudes of translators of children’s literature;
• the phenomenon of polemical translation and children’s literature;

THE RECEPTIVE DIMENSION

• the reception of controversial works and their social impact;
• translation as an object of controversy in the target culture;
• criteria and norms against which works for children become controversial; children’s literature and censorship;
• the role of literature in modeling policies of sensitivity and management of ethical, social, and political responsibility in the field of children’s culture;
• the child as a prosumer;
• the controversial role of mediators between the text and the child audience;
• controversy over the educational role of children’s literature

THE PUBLISHING DIMENSION

• controversial editorial projects;
• the role of publishing houses in promoting difficult/controversial topics in children’s literature and culture;
• controversial transformations of adult novels into children’s novels – adaptation or distortion?
• controversial decisions made by publishers of translations of literature for children;
• controversy in advertising and promotion of children’s literature and in prizing children’s books

THE SCHOLARLY DIMENSION

• controversial theories of translation in the context of children’s literature;
• controversial methodologies in children’s literature studies;
• research on children’s literature as a scholarly discipline.

References:

1. Beauvais, Clémentine. The Mighty Child: Time and Power in Children’s Literature. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2015.
2. Chawar, Ewa et al. Children’s Voices in the Polish Canon Wars: Participatory Research in Action. International Research in Children’s Literature 11.2 (2018): 111-13.
3. Gubar, Marah. The Hermeneutics of Recuperation: What a Kinship-Model Approach to Children’s Agency Could Do for Children’s Literature and Childhood Studies. Jeunesse: Young People, Texts, Cultures 8. 1 (2016): 291-310.
4. Joosen, Vanessa. Adulthood in Children’s Literature. London, New York, Oxford, New Delhi, Sydney: Bloomsbury, 2018.
5. Nikolajeva, Maria. Power, Voice and Subjectivity in Literature for Young Readers. London: Routledge, 2010.
6. Nodelman, Perry. The Other: Orientalism, Colonialism, and Children’s Literature. Children’s Literature Association Quarterly 17.1 (1992): 29-35.
7. Rose, Jacqueline. The Case of Peter Pan, or the Impossibility of Children’s Fiction. London: Macmillan, 1984.
8. Waller, Alison. Rereading Childhood Books: A Poetics. London, New York, Oxford, New Delhi and Sydney: Bloomsbury, 2019.
9. Wróblewski, Maciej. Doświadczanie dzieciństwa. Studium z antropologii literatury. Toruń: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Mikołaja Kopernika, 2019.

We kindly ask you to confirm your intention to participate in the conference and the banquet by paying the fee to the bank account indicated below. The conference fee (entry fee) of 450 PLN / 100 EUR includes conference materials, coffee breaks and two lunches. The remaining costs are covered by the participants.

The fee for the banquet is an extra 130 PLN / 30 EUR, so you may pay the fee of 450 PLN / 100 EUR (conference fee only) or 580 PLN / 130 EUR (conference fee plus banquet fee).

If you want to receive an invoice confirming the payment, please fill in the attached “Invoice” application form. Your invoice will be issued for the amount paid to the conference account.  

The name of the bank: Santander

Account number:

• PLN: 68 1090 2503 0000 0001 1131 0115
• FOREIGN CURRENCY ACCOUNT: 41 1090 2398 0000 0001 1131 5074
• Account holder: Uniwersytet Wrocławski (University of Wrocław)
• University of Wrocław address: pl. Uniwersytecki 1; 50-137 Wrocław
• Transfer purpose (title): in the title of the transfer, please enter the conference number 7003/2790/19 and the participant’s name.

The payment should be made no later than January 15, 2020.

Please pay attention to the correct title of the transfer.

Also, please note that it is not possible to pay the conference fee or the fee for the banquet in cash during the conference. Should you resign from the participation in the conference after March 1, 2020, we will not be able to refund the costs incurred.

Failing to meet the payment deadline will be considered as a resignation from the participation in the conference.