History of the Graduate Student Conference
The MACL students, working with graduates students in other departments at the University of British Columbia,  have planned, organized, and presented at four peer-reviewed, multidisciplinary, Graduate Student Research Conferences on Children’s Literature. Presenters include graduate students across academic disciplines and creative writing from other institutions across Canada and the United States. Plenary speakers have included internationally recognized academics in the field of children’s literature and authors such as Aidan Chambers, Eliza Dresang, Philip Nel, and Maria Tatar. The conference has been held every two years since 2006.

The students have created an online journal, The Journal of Graduate Research in Young People’s Materials and Culture, to publish a selection of presentation papers and creative writing pieces after each conference.

Past Conferences:

Many Worlds to Walk In: Exploring Diversity in Children’s Literature, Librarianship, and Education
This one-day conference was held on 30th April, 2016. The conference showcased graduate student research and creative writing that explores, questions and analyses issues surrounding the topic of diversity in children’s literature. This included research on narratives that depict diversity as well as the diverse formats we use to create and share narratives. The conference welcomed Dr Naomi Hamer (University of Winnipeg) and Dr Renee Hill (Syracuse University) to UBC as keynote speakers.