Community Event with Children's Literature Librarian Linda Salem

Hello, Children’s Literature scholars! 

We want to invite you all to join Children’s Literature Librarian, Linda Salem, in a public reading of author and illustrator Takeo Takei’s Aruki Taro. Takeo Takei is well-known by manga artists for his 139 kampon books and children's illustrated works. Aruki Taro has been somewhat forgotten, but Linda has translated it, giving us an introduction to Takei’s other works. Besides this introduction, the presentation will also include a history of Japanese illustration. The event is this upcoming Wednesday, October 20th, at 6:30 pm in the Shiley Special Events Suite at Central Library. The event is hosted by the San Diego public library and will be in-person. 

To learn more and register for the event please follow this link: 

https://sandiego.librarymarket.com/events/takeo-takei-aruki-taro-and-japanese-childrens-literature-illustration 

We hope you can attend!

-NA

Michael Heyman is Visiting SDSU... Come Join the Adventure!!

Michael Heyman

Public Lecture

Alice in Wonderland One Hundred Fifty Years Later: A New Magic Lantern Phantasmämphigory

March 4, 2015

5:00PM- 5:50 (followed by questions and discussion until 6:30PM)

Love Library, SDSU

Leon Williams room (LL 430-431)

The National Center for the Study of Children’s Literature, with support from the Instructionally Related Activities fund, the Departmentof English and Comparative Literature, and the SDSU Library, is happy to announce a lecture by Professor Michael Heyman, noted poet, scholar, and musician. Michael's lecture concerns Lewis Carroll’s Alice and his Alice books—the first of which, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, is celebrating its one hundred and fiftieth anniversary this year!

Michael Heyman travels to sunny San Diego all the way from Boston, where he is a professor at Berklee College of Music. At Berklee, Michael teaches courses on Children’s Literature, Poetry, Arthropodiatry, and Nonsensical Nunchaku. When not teaching, he writes poetry, plays saxophone, and carries out scholarly investigations in various areas of esoterica—including the parararational, pataphysical, and nonsensical). 

Professor Heyman is a world-renowned scholar and writer of literary nonsense and children’s literature. He has edited The Tenth Rasa: An Anthology of Indian Nonsense (2007), and his poems and stories for children can be found in The Puffin Book of Bedtime Stories (2005), The Moustache Maharishi and other unlikely stories (2007), and This Book Makes No Sense: Nonsense Poems andWorse (2012), which he also edited.

Of his talk, the good doctor writes: “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland lives one hundred fifty years after its publication not because Alice is a princess in a literary fairy tale, not because of our own flirtation with Charles Dodgson and Alice Liddell, and not because Alice has become embedded in our culture as innocent, vixen, or queen of psychedelia; rather, Alice in Wonderland lives because of its uneasy balance of all of these things and more. Its genius lies in what it does more than what it is. And what it does is nonsense. This talk, part magic lantern show and part paean to Lewis Carroll’s nonsense literature, does the unthinkable: it separates analysis from interpretation, it values the cart over the load. It offers the greatness of Alice as a teasing and tempting nonsense process, in its ability, like Humpty Dumpty, always to leave egg on our faces.”

Sounds neat! 

The lecture is open to the public and we encourage students, community members, and faculty to join us! 

Jungle Book Production and Pre-Show Discussion

Jungle Book is currently appearing on the stage until May 4 as part of the SDSU's Theatre, Television and Film season of plays. This Friday (May 2) at 6:30 pm, you can join the National Center for the Study of Children's Literature in "Conversations with Children's Literature," a pre-show discussion on Rudyard Kipling’s stories as well as the process of adapting them to the stage. Building on the tradition forged by a similar discussion held last year for Peter Pan & Wendy, this conversation will be led by Director Margaret Larlham, Dramaturg Megan Abell, and a panel from the NCSCL: Dr. Joseph T. Thomas, Jr., Dr. Mary Galbraith, and Graduate students Alya Hameed, Paloma Hoyos, and Alixandria Lombardo.

Discussion Info:
Friday May 2, 6:30 pm 
Dramatic Arts Building, Room 101
Open and Free to the Public
Plan to join our discussion and continue the experience by attending the play directly after!

 About Jungle Book:
Margaret Larlham has created an action-packed version of Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Books stories performed in the Don Powell Theatre. The story is set in a secret jungle in our own Balboa Park, a magic place between the leaves and vines bounded by park, zoo, and the freeways. Here Mowgli, a lost child, has many adventures and learns the “laws” of the jungle from a pack of wolves, Bagheera the panther, Baloo the bear, and the unscrupulous tiger, Shere Kahn. Larlham’s updated version sets the adventure in a modern jungle where the impact of global warming escalates the danger of drought and disaster for the animals. 

Remaining Performance Dates:
Thursday May 1 - Friday May 2 at 7:30 pm
Saturday May 3 - Sunday May 4 at 2:00 pm

More details and ticket information can be found on the SDSU Theatre Website
You can also check out the production's blog: http://junglebooksdsu.com/

Reminder: Dr. Kate Capshaw to speak on April 23

Don't forget that Professor Katharine Capshaw of UConn is joining us at SDSU to speak this Wednesday!

Her lecture, titled "Freedom (and Fury) Now: Civil Rights Photographic Picture Books for Children" will be held on April 23, 2014 at 5 pm in the Leon Williams room of Love Library.

Free and open to the public.

Check out all the details here!

Announcing a New and Exciting Event: Devouring Children's Literature 2014!

Brought to you by SDSU's ChildLit GSA:

Website: http://sdchildlitgsa.wordpress.com/devouringchildlit/

What is it?: Devouring Children's Literature is an event that naturally focuses on children’s literature — from picture books to young adult novels — in order to highlight both the playfulness of literature for young people as well as the importance of examining it as literature itself. To that end, we also have a fabulous program planned, including the display and competition of children's lit themed Edible Books, readings from some of our esteemed professors of children’s literature and talks from local children’s book authors. Be prepared to experience childhood texts like never before, and get some insight into the place of children’s literature in San Diego and beyond.

What are Edible Books?: Edible Books are book-themed art pieces made out of food. For a some visuals (and you really do need to see them!) visit Staley Library's Edible Book Pinterest page, or see some of the albums at Books2Eat.com, website of the International Edible Books Festival. 

Can I make an Edible Book?: Please do! We are looking forward to many participants creating Edible Books to display at the event- and we'll be awarding prizes to crowd favorites! Visit our Registration page for detailed info on entering your Edible Book in the competition (and make sure to register by April 10th). Whether or not you decide to enter an Edible Book, everyone who attends the event will be able to vote on their favorites. 

More info coming: Check the website and return to this blog for detailed info about the program!

Reminder: PAMLA Forum on Stages of Life: Age, Identity, and Culture

First day of PAMLA, everyone! 
 
Just a reminder that the special event sponsored by the NCSCL will take place tomorrow! 

As part of PAMLA, the forum discussing "Stages of Life: Age, Identity, and Culture" will be held on Saturday, November 2 at the Bahia Hotel. This forum should be of aprticular interest and appeal to anyone who researches or just dabbles in the study of childhood, children's literature, and cultural studies more broadly.

When: Saturday, November 2, 2013 - 5:00pm - 6:40pm (Mission Bay Ballroom C) 
Chair: Cheryl Edelson, Chaminade University of Honolulu
Three fabulous talks, including:

• The Age of Beginners, by Kenneth Kidd, University of Florida
• Aging Badly: The Exemplary Case of Marlon Brando, by Katherine Kinney, University of California, Riverside
• The American Renaissance Enters the Iron Decade: Melville and Company on the Voyage of Life, by Martin Kevorkian, University of Texas, Austin

Once again, the forum is open SDSU students and faculty, with no expense. More details about the event can be found here.

And all the conference information can be read at: http://www.pamla.org/2013/

NCSCL Colloquium Wednesday

Children's Lit folks will gather in HH 150 from 2:30-3:50pm on Wednesday, October 30th to share recent scholarship. Children's Lit grads and faculty welcome!

First, guest and Children's Lit scholar Lei Wang will talk about her work in China. Next Alya Hameed, Alixandria Lombardo, and Kelsey Wadman will preview papers they plan to present at PAMLA this weekend.

Alya Hameed will present "Circular Innocence: Locating the Children's Tale in Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Tales for Children.'' 

Alixandria Lombardo will present: "JonArno Lawson Subverts the Traditional in His Children's Poetry"

Kelsey Wadman will present: "The Interior Landscape of Kinship in Russell Hoban's The Mouse and His Child"

See you there!

PAMLA Forum Sponsored by NCSCL - Stages of Life: Age, Identity, and Culture

The Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association Conference (PAMLA) is less than a week away! This week we'll be highlighting some of our own that will be presenting and featured in the conference, but for now I wanted to share a special event sponsored by the National Center for the Study of Children's Literature.

In conjunction with PAMLA and Executive Director Craig Svonkin, the NCSCL is excited to sponsor a forum which should greatly appeal to anyone involved in or fascinated by the study of childhood, children's literature, and cultural studies more broadly. It's a free and open to the public too, so join us for this insightful off-campus event!

PAMLA Forum: Stages of Life: Age, Identity, and Culture 

When: Saturday, November 2, 2013 - 5:00pm - 6:40pm (Mission Bay Ballroom C) 
Chair: Cheryl Edelson, Chaminade University of Honolulu

The Age of Beginners
Kenneth Kidd, University of Florida
The beginner has long been a dominant trope in education, literature, and popular culture, associated with the idiot/dummy, the student, and the child. The beginner may or may not be a child or child-like, thereby bringing to mind Robin Bernstein's proposed term "agequeer," used to refer to temporally non-conforming subjects. Drawing on children's literature, the children's philosophy movement, and select theory, this paper explores the "age of the beginner"—both an era and a developmental conceit.

Aging Badly: The Exemplary Case of Marlon Brando
Katherine Kinney, University of California, Riverside
Marlon Brando presaged the youthful rebellion that came to exemplify the culture of the baby-boomers. As his icon thrived in the 1960s, Brando began to age badly. His successes and failures over the next three decades tell us much about post-WWII narratives of masculine identity, maturity, success, and the richer pathos of failure.

The American Renaissance Enters the Iron Decade: Melville and Company on the Voyage of Life
Martin Kevorkian, University of Texas, Austin
As the major authors of the American Renaissance embarked upon their sixth decades, their writing took a turn away from the prophetic confidence that characterized their greatest hits. Focusing upon Melville, along with Stowe, Longfellow, Emerson, and Hawthorne, this presentation explores these authors's late fascination with both preaching and silence.

Once again, the forum is open to everyone, including SDSU students and faculty, with no expense. In fact, all the conference sessions are free for those interested in visiting and listening. So, come! Drop by! Attend! Keep in mind that presenters and chairs still have to pay the registration fees.

All the conference information is here: http://www.pamla.org/2013/

Comics Overload with Comic Fest and Comic Day

The first weekend of October is all about superheroes, villains, and the graphic wonder of comic books. First, the Second Annual San Diego Comic Fest starts today and runs all weekend long (Oct 4-6). I talked about it last year, as an endeavor to reconnect with the folks who created what has now become the SD Comic Con (though this event is not affiliated with Comic Con). For a more "friendly, intimate" experience, you really should consider checking this out. I was happy to see that among the artists to participate in Artist Alley is Eric Shanower, who Dr. Griswold mentioned in his interview with The Unjournal this summer.

Secondly, evidently the first Saturday of October has been dubbed "24-Hour Comics Day", wherein people around the world accept the challenge to create a full 24-page comic in 24 consecutive hours. First dreamed up by Scott McCloud, this event has spawned into a global phenomenon. The very idea of it astounds me. In fact, those who in some way succeed in these timed challenges to create work, such as NaNoWriMo, humble me in their confident and determined purpose; I simply cannot find the time to write a novel in a month, or even conceive a full comic in a day. It's the process that must be so invigorating, and I'm sure allows people to then reflect on what they've created to see if it can be developed beyond that time. Anyway, it's cool stuff, so I'm sharing.

Banned Books Week 2013

It's that time of the year again: Banned Books Week (Sept 22-28, 2013), which too appropriately is coming on the heels of last week's news that Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man would be banned from school libraries in a North Carolina county.

A cool new feature of the Week, especially in its attempt to connect people to the voices that at times must fight to be heard, is ability to virtually "hang out" with banned authors via Google Hangout, including some fabulous young adult authors. Sherman Alexie was available yesterday, but 13 Reasons Why author Jay Asher will chat today and many more are on the list. Our society continues to struggle with censorship, unable to always strike that balance between evocative ideas and ideas that trouble one's belief set. A good challenge is healthy for anyone and anything; it only makes things stronger and thus demonstrates the resilience of so many of the "banned" books we love.

You can read some more about the importance of Banned Books Week here. And if you know of any local events, do share.

Childlit GSA Forum: The Paranormal and Supernatural this Friday the 13th!

First ChildLit GSA Forum of Fall 2013 

When: Friday, September 13 @ 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Where: Living Room Cafe @ 5900 El Cajon Blvd 

Topic of the Night: "Paranormal and Supernatural in Children's Lit"

The GSA Discussion Forums reconvene for the new school year, hoping to bring an energetic community together for lively and fright-filled discussions on spooky spirits, spine-chilling species, and more.

The GSA Forums are a chance to engage with like-minded folks on all realms and levels of Children's Lit. This month we feel like starting off with a journey into unsettling and haunting territory, and what better day then Friday (September) the 13th to do that! We hope to dive into such topics as the popular Goosebumps series, Paranormal YA's strange success, myth/folklore/legends, the influence and longevity of Frankenstein and Dracula, issues of spirituality (angels and demons galore) and yes, even the star-crossed combo of Werewolves and Vampires. We could even spend the evening talking Neil Gaiman: Coraline, Good Omens, and The Graveyard Book pretty much cover all the spook and spirits for me, that's for sure. If you're a fan of horror, come and share with us your insights on the genre or why B-rated horror films attract so many kids. Love the recent spooky kids' films like Paranorman or Frankenweenie? Come by and tell us why!

In fact, feel free to bring anything to share, whether on or off topic--the forum is meant to be a welcoming and casual gathering. But don't worry! The GSA officers will come prepared with topics too, as well as a of fun activities... and who knows, maybe another prize cupcake or more.

This Forum is open to all folks interested. That means faculty, grad students, undergrads, and you! So whether you have tons to discuss or you just feel like listening in, please drop by! It also provides an excellent opportunity to meet like-minded peers and scholars of the field.

We'll be holding the event at The Living Room Cafe from 7 pm to about 9 pm, so stop by any time and stay for as long as you like.

Looking forward to meeting up, hanging out, and exploring the paranormal with you.

For more information about the ChildLit GSA, please visit us at:

The GSA Website: http://sdchildlitgsa.wordpress.com/

Our Facebook Page

On Twitter: @SDSUChildLitGSA

SCBWI (San Diego Chapter) Meeting September 7 (Saturday!)

Below are several important announcements from SCBWI San Diego Chapter as they begin the 2013-14 Season:

 

FIRST, The September meeting will be held THIS Saturday, Sept. 7 from 2- 4 pm at the Hahn School of Nursing (USD), Room 106. (map)  Please note this location has been confirmed but is subject to change, so please look for the signs on Saturday to get you to the correct place.

 

Playwright and set designer Mike Buckley and children's author Patricia Morris Buckley will discuss how to bring together dialogue, character and setting to create scenes that absorb the reader and make a story something memorable long after the last page is read. Saturday's discussion will include, scene vs. narration; a 'must' list for characters; setting do's and dont's; and a chance to practice combining all three elements for greatest effect. You don't want to miss this.

 

SECOND, Each September, we update our records so we are able to get you info about chapter events and programs and to gather info that helps us plan for the chapter. This year we've created an online form to make the process quick and easy. Please paste the following link into your browser to access the online form: 

 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1mTPl91hTRMJqQ9TmehxSWR7bOhtjTsMmQv9guCtpr0A/viewform

 

If you can complete the form prior to the meeting - that will certainly speed things up so we don't waste any of our time with Mike and Patricia.

 

THIRD, Season Tickets will be available at the meeting for $50 for SCBWI members and $70 for nonmembers. Season Tickets include the cost of monthly chapter meetings, discounts on the Spring conference and other chapter events, and a free pass to a chapter meeting for a friend, for a total savings of over $30 over the course of the year.

 

FOURTH, Critique groups will meet at the Hahn School of Nursing at noon prior to the chapter meeting. Please email Gigi for MG/YA at critique@sandiego-scbwi.org, Karen for PB/Chapter books and Nonfiction at critiquePB@sandiego-scbwi.org, or Katrin for Illustrators at draw@sandiego-scbwi.org to RSVP so they can plan ahead. Thanks.

 

FIFTH, We could use some help rearranging tables to accommodate everyone at the Hahn School of Nursing, so if you can arrive at 1:30 to help move chairs it would be appreciated and help you get a jump on registration as well.

 

Looking forward to seeing you there!

2nd Annual Lecture on Childhood Studies at Rutgers-Camden

"Trayvon Martin and So Many More: Racial Innocence Today"

Thursday, September 19th 2013, 7pm

Reception at 6pm 

Professor Robin Bernstein

When George Zimmerman saw Trayvon Martin, he didn’t see an innocent kid with candy.  He saw a criminal.  And he wasn’t the only one: even after Zimmerman killed Martin, who was proven to have been unarmed, some members of the press rushed to attach guilt to Martin, not Zimmerman.  As African American blogger Mia McKenzie recently wrote, “Why don’t our children get to be children? Why don’t they ever get to be innocent?”  Robin Bernstein’s talk answers this question.  She unearths the history of how white children came to be understood as innocent–and how children of color, especially black children, became seen as tough, non-childlike, and definitely not innocent.  And she shows how this history remains vivid today–for Trayvon Martin and so many more.

http://childhood.camden.rutgers.edu/annual-lecture/

*For those in the area who can attend it, I would love to hear your thoughts and feedback on the lecture. Not only is the subject matter far too relevant for our current socio-political situation, but it also adds to the conversation about the intermingling of childhood studies with children's literature studies.

21st IRSCL Conference: Children's Literature and Media Cultures

21st IRSCL conference

10th-14th August 2013

2013 Congress, Maastricht, The Netherlands

Theme: Children’s Literature and Media Cultures

The 21st biannual IRSCL conference will be be hosted this year by the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences of Maastricht University in Maastricht, the Netherlands, on August 10th -14th, 2013.

Contemporary children and adolescents divide their time over many different media. These media do not develop in isolation. Rather, they shape each other by continually exchanging content and modes of mediation. This conference addresses the exchanges between children’s literature and adjacent newer and older media (oral narrative, theatre, film, radio, TV, digital media).

Media are best defined as cultural practices that forge specific links between senders and receivers of messages, facilitating certain types of communicative behavior. As newer media tend to imitate if not absorb older media, they force older media to continually reassert their uniqueness and indispensability in a rapidly changing media landscape. How has children’s literature staked out its own niche in these historically variable ‘mediascapes’ in the course of time? How do electronic and digital media affect children’s emergent literacy and literary competence? How have children’s books and the newer electronic and digital media impacted on children’s play? What sort of communicative behaviors are facilitated by the diverse media available to children and adolescents nowadays? Which ethical and political issues are raised by the fact that children’s literature has to share its claim to the audience’s attention with a whole gamut of alternative media? These questions are central to the 21st biennual conference of the IRSCL.

The aim of the conference is to strengthen the ever closer ties between children’s literature scholars and media experts, and to bridge the gap between hermeneutic methods from the humanities and empirical, experimental methods from the social sciences.

 
The conference will include the following tracks:

I Historical Perspectives:

• orality and literacy
• the changing place of children’s books within shifting media ecologies
• adaptations of children’s literature to other media
• remediation (the absorption and reorganization of older media in newer children’s media)
• children’s media and children’s play
• narratives across media (picture books, comic strips, graphic novels, games etc.)

II Sociological, Ethnographic and Cultural Studies’ Perspectives

• children and online communities
• fan practices (fan videos, comics, fiction, role play and costume play)
• age and media: how do media solidify and destabilize distinctions between age groups?
• the circulation of social stereotypes (class, ethnicity, gender, nationality, religion) between children’s media
• migration, globalization and children’s media

III Pedagogical Perspectives

• emergent literacy and literary competence  in a multimedia  world
• the dynamic acquisition of media literacy
• the acquisition of cultural literacy through diverse children’s media
• online contexts for promoting children’s literature
• digital environments  for researching children’s literature

IV Ethical and Political Perspectives

• strategies of (dis)information in children’s media
• children’s media and issues of  age-appropriateness (media moral panics)
• the ethics of social media
• children’s media and global inequality (digital divides)

V  Other related topics

Talk & Book Signing with illustrator/artist Susie Ghahremani in La Jolla, June 27

If you're in San Diego and have some time this evening, consider making a trip to La Jolla to attend this event:
Join illustrator and artist Susie Ghahremani tonight as she shares her work and the secrets behind the making of the artwork for her picture book, What Will Hatch? (written by Jennifer Ward).

When & Where: Thursday, June 27th at 6 pm at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego in La Jolla.
The museum is located at 700 Prospect St. in La Jolla, CA and the talk is part of the “Shore Thing” evening event series. The talk will be followed by Q&A and book signing.

Talk begins promptly at 6:30 pm, so arrive early!

Reading Fictions One-day Symposium

A One-day Symposium on Representations of Books and Readers in Children’s Literature

Friday 11 October 2013
School of Education, University of Glasgow
 

Confirmed Speakers:

Dr Evelyn Arizpe, Senior Lecturer, University of Glasgow
Julia Eccleshare, The Guardian's Children's Books Editor
Dr Maureen Farrell, Senior Lecturer, University of Glasgow
Prof Kim Reynolds, Professor of Children's Literature, University of Newcastle
Dr Vivienne Smith, University of Strathclyde
Prof Morag Styles, Professor of Children’s Poetry, University of Cambridge
Prof Maria Nikolajeva, University of Cambridge
Dr Sylvia Warnecke, The Open University
Prof Jean Webb, Director of the International Forum for Research in Children's Literature, University of Worcester

*A joint project of the University of Glasgow and the University of Strathclyde, funded by the British Academy.
Registration: £10.00 donation to UKLA Books for Africa project.
Places are limited. RSVP to evelyn.arizpe@glasgow.ac.uk and send cheque, made out to UKLA,  to Evelyn Arizpe, School of Education, St Andrew's Building, 11 Eldon St., Glasgow G3 6NH

Children's Book Editor Discusses What Makes a "Good Book" on Saturday May 11

The San Diego Chapter of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) will feature Kira Lynn from Kane Miller Books on Saturday, May 11 at 2 p.m.

Ms. Miller will share her definition of a “good book,” offer tips on what writers and illustrators can do to make sure that they’ve submitted their best work, and discuss the state of the children’s book market in general. The event will be held at the University of San Diego in the Hahn School of Nursing building. (See a map of campus here.)

* Contact: 619-713-5462 or pr-sd@sandiego-scbwi.org
* Age limit: 18+
* When: Saturday, May 11, 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
* Where: USD: University of San Diego, 5998 Alcalá Park, San Diego, 92110 (Directions)
* Cost: $7 - $9 (Buy Tickets)

Reminder: Professor Lissa Paul to Give Lecture Tomorrow, May 1

Date and Time: Wednesday, May 1, 5:00-6:30 PM

Location: Student Services East, Room 1401
Free and Open to the Public

"In Search of Eliza Fenwick (1766-1840): Or, the Trials and Tribulations of Writing a Life"

The National Center for the Study of Children's Literature and the Department of English & Comparative Literature are proud to co-sponsor Professor Lissa Paul's lecture on Eliza Fenwick.

Paul's lecture concerns her latest book project, which she originally intended to be a standard biographical “life” of Eliza Fenwick (1766-1840), what one might call a literary biography. However, over the course of her research and writing, Paul realized that a Possession-like narrative, something that entwines Fenwick's life story with Paul's own search for that life, provided the better structure.

As Fenwick’s story is an adventure story, an immigrant’s story, a mother’s story, a writer’s story, and the story of an abolitionist slave-holder, its narrative structure is fraught, especially as there are missing pieces and complicated ethical questions to negotiate. Paul's talk is an attempt to navigate the Scylla and Charybdis of writing Eliza’s life. It is a public lecture, for students, faculty, and our community.

Professor Lissa Paul to Give Lecture on May 1st

"In Search of Eliza Fenwick (1766-1840): Or, the Trials and Tribulations of Writing a Life"

Wednesday, May 1, 5:00pm – 6:30pm
Location: SSE 1401

Open to the Public

The National Center for the Study of Children's Literature and the Department of English & Comparative Literature are proud to co-sponsor Professor Lissa Paul's lecture on Eliza Fenwick. Paul's lecture concerns her latest book project, which she originally intended to be a standard biographical “life” of Eliza Fenwick (1766-1840), what one might call a literary biography. However, over the course of her research and writing, Paul realized that a Possession-like narrative, something that entwines Fenwick's life story with Paul's own search for that life, provided the better structure. As Fenwick’s story is an adventure story, an immigrant’s story, a mother’s story, a writer’s story, and the story of an abolitionist slave-holder, its narrative structure is fraught, especially as there are missing pieces and complicated ethical questions to negotiate. Paul's talk is an attempt to navigate the Scylla and Charybdis of writing Eliza’s life. It is a public lecture, for students, faculty, and our community. 

Lissa Paul (Ph.D. York University) is a professor of education at Brock University. She is the author of Reading Otherways (1998), which was a finalist for the F. Harvey Darton Award for historical criticism. Her work on children’s literature has appeared in Signal, The Children’s Literature Association Quarterly, and The Horn Book, among others. Paul is a former co-editor of the children’s literature journal The Lion and the Unicorn and recently, with Philip Nel, co-edited the essay collection Keywords in Children's Literature (NYU Press). 

ChildLit GSA Forum: Field Trip!

Next Week: Final ChildLit GSA Forum of Spring 2013 

When: Saturday, April 20, 10:00 am

Where: Bowers Museum, 2002 N. Main Street, Santa Ana, CA 92706

Topic: "Maurice Sendak: 50 Years, 50 Words, 50 Reasons"

The SDSU ChildLit GSA is at it again, transforming our Discussion Forums into a fun and stimulating excursion for all. This time, we are planning our own little field trip! If you have ever read (and consequently loved) a book written or illustrated by Maurice Sendak, then you really will want to join us this coming Saturday.  We are going as a group to visit the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana to see the Maurice Sendak art exhibit: 50 Years, 50 Words, 50 Reasons (it ends April 28th! Not much time left!).

I blogged about the exhibit recently, so you can find all the details about it there. The GSA plans to visit the museum and then have a light lunch in the area to talk shop about Sendak, picture book illustrations in general, and the next wild thing in the horizon.

If you are interested in joining us, please comment on this post or email sdchildlitgrads@gmail.com ASAP; we hope to obtain funding for travel and tickets (looking forward to a fun train ride up the Amtrak possibly!). We do need to know by Wednesday April 17th if you will come with us so we can have tickets arranged and finalize meeting times. Of course, you are welcome to come separately and meet us there too.

For more Information about the ChildLit GSA, please visit us at:

The GSA Website, Our Facebook Page or on Twitter