Conference Registration, Panelist List, and Programme Up!

Conference registration for the Place and Space in Children's Literature Conference, organized by the CLYCC, is now open at http://placeandspace.org/. This conference will take place on 27 -28 March, 2009 in Keble College, University of Oxford, and will feature the work of established academics and young scholars from around the world. Panels range from the place of Oxford in children's literature to text/image interplay in picture books to themes of postcolonial identity and cultural displacement in works for young people. There will also be a special session on working in the field of children's literature studies. More information on the panels, panelists, and conference programme can be found at http://placeandspace.org/programme/.

Late registration fees will apply after 15 February, 2009.

*There are a limited number of individual tickets available for the keynote speech, which will take place at 17:30 on Friday, 27 March in Keble College’'s O’Reilly Theatre. For those people that would like to attend Pullman’s talk only, these tickets are £3 each. For more information, go to http://placeandspace.org/registration/pullman-keynote/.

Hilary (Winter) Term 2009 Schedule

Thursdays, 5:00 PM in Room 11 of the English Faculty Building. All are very welcome!

Thursday, 29 January (week 2):
Rogue Heroes in History: Tricksters in William Godwin's
Early-Nineteenth Century Children's Books
Dr. Malini Roy, Keble College Oxford
Recent graduate of Keble College Malini Roy discusses her doctoral work on Romantic-era political theorist William Godwin. Roy considers how underdog figures in Godwin's books for children challenge and undo structures of oppressive authority, reflecting his anti-establishment politics in the post-French Revolutionary context.


Thursday, 12 February (week 4):
Exploratory Play and the Bid for Freedom in Arthur Ransome's
Swallows and Amazons
Hazel Sheeky, Newcastle University and the National Maritime Museum
Responding to concept of play as a rehearsal for later life, AHRC Collaborative PhD student Hazel Sheeky considers how far play in Ransome's series challenges the notion of inevitable progression from child to adult.


Thursday, 26 February (week 6):
Big Book News or Big Bad Wolves?: 21st Century Children’s Publishing
Dr. Claire Squires, Senior Lecturer in Publishing,
Oxford International Centre for Publishing Studies, Oxford Brookes University
Dr. Squires explores some of the key issues around children’s publishing today, including how publishers harness the powers of social networking, multimedia synergies and character licensing; concerns about literacy and reading enjoyment (particularly among boys); distaste about celebrity ‘authorship’; and anxieties that the sector has been hijacked by big corporate publishers.


Thursday, 12 March (week 8):
Dreaming the World: Mirror worlds in Neil Gaiman's
Coraline and Mirrormask
Iain Emsley, Independent Researcher
Independent researcher Iain Emsley considers how Neil Gaiman reworks and develops Carrollesque looking-glass worlds in the mirrors of Coraline and Mirrormask, focusing on the girl protagonists’ roles in constructing such universes through curiosity and imagination.

Hilary Term CLYCC CfP

The University of Oxford CLYCC is now soliciting paper proposals for its Hilary (winter) term seminar series. The CLYCC is a welcoming, exciting community in which to present your current work on topics in children's literature and youth culture studies. Academics, graduates, and high-level undergraduates from Oxford and beyond are all very welcome to send brief (200-300 word) proposals or informal statements of interest in the body of an email to maria[dot]cecire[at]keble[dot]ox[dot]ac[dot]uk by 19 December 2009.

Areas of study may include (but are not limited to) literary criticism, children's / young adult publishing, youth culture, and media studies.

CLYCC talks take place on Thursdays at 5:00pm, and papers are usually 20-40 minutes long, followed by a discussion.

*Please note that the CLYCC seminar series is different from the CLYCC's Place and Space in Children's Literature Conference, which will run 27-28 March, 2009 at Keble College, Oxford. Abstract submissions to the conference is now closed. For registration information, see http://placeandspace.org*

Lecture: Children's Literature and the Academy

On Monday, 17 November at 4:00PM, Keble Fellow and Tutor Diane Purkiss will give a lecture entitled "Children's Literature and the Academy" in Lecture Theatre 2 of the English Faculty Building. This talk is aimed primarily at undergraduates, and will discuss the place of children's literature in academia. The lecture will be particularly pertinent to those students that are interested in pursuing children's literature studies at any point during their academic career, including during their time at Oxford. DPhil candidate and Keble Lecturer Maria Cecire will also be on hand to weigh in on working in this unique field.

Mrs. Leicester and Ulysses

The Charles Lamb Society presents a half-day seminar in London on December 4, 2008 – at which CLYCC co-founder Malini Roy will be a key speaker. The seminar will especially appeal to anyone with an interest in eighteenth-century/Romantic/early nineteenth-century children's literature. For complete information, see http://mrsleicesterandulysses.blogspot.com/

(For those staying in Oxford, the CLYCC will also meet that day for Ryan Richard Thoreson's talk on the Disney Pre-Teen Empire--see termcard below for more information.)

Place and Space Conference

The website for our March 2009 conference is now up and running: for the Call for Papers, registration information, and more, see www.placeandspace.org

Michaelmas Term 2008 Schedule

Welcome back to another exciting term of talks and discussions with the University of Oxford Children's Literature and Youth Culture Colloquium. We meet every second week on Thursdays at 5:00 PM in Room 11 of the English Faculty Building. All are welcome!



WEEK 2 (October 23rd):
De-Gnoming the Garden: Colonialism, Xenophobia, and Little People in The Chronicles of Narnia and Harry Potter
Maria Cecire, Keble College
Keble graduate student and CLYCC convener Maria Cecire presents a segment of her doctoral thesis on Oxford-based children’s fantasy and the medieval tradition, drawing from one of her chapters on race and multiculturalism.


WEEK 4 (November 6th):
Meet the New Boss....Same as the Old Boss: Narratives, Strategies, and the Children’s Literature Police
Dr. Diane Purkiss, Keble College
Keble Fellow and children’s author Diane Purkiss discusses how writing for children and young adults is increasingly directed by a central consensus among authority figures while being presented as liberal. Addresses the work of C.S. Lewis, Philip Pullman, and Jenny Downham.


WEEK 6 (November 20th):
Pullman’s Land of the Dead
Dr. Margaret Kean, St. Hilda’s College
St. Hilda’s Fellow and Milton scholar Margaret Kean considers Philip Pullman’s depiction of Hell in His Dark Materials.




WEEK 8 (December 4th):
Adolescence and Ideology in the Disney Pre-Teen Empire
Ryan Richard Thoreson, Hertford College
Hertford graduate student Ryan Richard Thoreson examines the ideology of the Disney Channel's pre-teen lineup, paying special attention to the way that programs like Hannah Montana, The Suite Life of Zach and Cody, and High School Musical develop and supplement traditional Disney themes for children growing into adolescence.