Homelessness in Children's Literature: Call for Articles

Call for Articles

Barnboken journal is accepting submissions on the theme of homelessness.

To be homeless is to be vulnerable. Homelessness implies exclusion, poverty and exile; it conjures up images of rootlessness and marginalization. Yet homelessness does not always lead to exclusion and social deprivation. Seekers and free thinkers who feel “homeless” in contemporary culture can still be part of society. Child homelessness is in this context much more threatening and dangerous. The stakes are higher. But even for the child homelessness can sometimes lead to freedom and growth beyond an oppressive home, community and school. Still, homeless children - whether they are victimized or liberated by it - challenge our conceptions of the good society and the nature of the child. Maybe precisely because of this, homeless children and youth are common in children’s literature. Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist, Laura Fitinghoff’s The Children from Frostmo Mountain, Astrid Lindgren’s Rasmus the Vagabond, and Henning Mankell's Comedia Infantil are just some examples from different periods.

We welcome articles on the topic of homelessness. The purpose of Barnboken’s theme is to identify the various depictions of homelessness in children's literature from different angles and perspectives.

Extended deadline: 1 December 2012. Articles submitted for consideration may not have been previously published or presented in any other context.

Barnboken – Journal of Children’s Literature Research is the only scholarly journal in its field published in Sweden. The main language of the journal is Swedish, but articles written in Danish, Norwegian and English are also welcome. All articles accepted for publication have been peer reviewed by at least two peers and will be published online under an Open Access.

The editorial committee consists of Björn Sundmark, Associate professor, Malmö University, Sweden, Åsa Warnqvist, PhD, Stockholm University, Sweden, and Mia Österlund, Associate professor, Åbo Akademy University, Finland. Barnboken is published with financial support from the Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet).

Articles accepted will be published in 2013. A guide to our reference and note system may be found at www.barnboken.net.

For more information, please contact:
Svenska barnboksinstitutet/Swedish Institute for Children’s Books
Åsa Warnqvist, editor
Odengatan 61
SE-113 22 Stockholm
SWEDEN
Tel: + 46 8 54 54 20 51. E-mail: barnboken@sbi.kb.se