The conference was a success and we would like to thank everyone who helped make it one. We would also like to thank all the attendees who showed up with such enthusiasm. Here are some pictures from the day of the conference:

Door prizes ready to be handed out. Thanks to Bonnie, Inti and Nadine for wrapping them so beautifully.

Decorations by Kathie Shoemaker. Lunchroom flair.

Kathie’s art is memorable.

Our wonderful MC, Margot Filipenko, before the event begins.

Kathie in action!

Kathie, Bonnie, Jane, Laura and Margot – ready to set up!

These were seriously awesome. I was tempted to take one home!

Aline Frederico, looking over her presentation before the panel began.

This is the last one, I think! But feast your eyes!

Laura and Kristy, Judi and Kathie and Janet’s back.

Russell Hirsch and Kathleen Forrester (thanks for the wonderful program, Kathleen! and Matthew)

According to Saeyong, these muffins fulfilled their muffin-duty by being delicious.

Margot in action.

And the audience is entranced.

The morning panels!

Yash and Kristy and a lovely attendee cheese for the camera.

We only get to see the back of Laura’s head but she’s definitely enjoying the conference!

Aline helping another presenter set up.

Presentations!

Dr. Phillip Serrato, our keynote speaker, giving his wonderful talk. I enjoyed it.

Allison Taylor-McBride talking about the Elizabeth Mrazik-Cleaver Award Canadian Picture Book Award.

Allison presenting the Cleaver award to Julie Morstad for her book How To.

Audience listening intently at a panel.

Waving hello at the camera person!

We only get to see the backs of Phillip Serrato and Inti but Inti worked really hard as the guardian angel for Dr. Serrato! Thank you, Inti!

Judi talking about the Russell-Grant Scholarship award.

Bonnie waiting with bated breath!

Judi presenting Bonnie Tulloch with the Russell-Grant scholarship certificate.

Clara Kumagai sharing an excerpt from her piece “Sadie.”

Hello!

We are less than 24 hours away from the conference and I realized that we probably should let you know the address of the building where the conference is going to be held.

Irving K. Barber Learning Center

1961 E. Mall
Vancouver, B.C

Google Maps

Registration at the Door!

We will be selling tickets at the door. Tickets will be $20.00/student and $40.00/professionals. We will be providing receipts at the conference.

We look forward to seeing you tomorrow!

We ran a bake sale at the Sarah Ellis colloquium on the 26th of February in the Dodson Room of the IBLC building to fundraise for the conference. The response was amazing and we met a lot of people who encouraged us and wished us luck with the conference. Thank you Kathleen (and her partner), Bonnie, Janet, Megan and Chris for baking some deelish goodies. Thanks Kathie for the amazing decorations and Judi for giving us the chance to do a bake sale. Thank you also to Yash for the awesome pictures you have taken (and which the world will be seeing following this)!

Kathie’s personalized decoration

More of Kathie’s amazing work!

Kathleen’s partner deserves an award for these cupcakes. They were delicious.

Credit goes to Kathie Shoemaker.

Chris and I cheesing it up for Yash.

An awesome picture of Chris, one of the co-chairs!

We are on Facebook! You can also follow us on Twitter.

EXTENDED: Deadline for submission February 1st, 2014

“I Will Be Myself”: Identity in Children’s and Young Adult Literature, Media and Culture is a one-day conference showcasing graduate student research that explores, questions, and analyzes the issues surrounding identity in various elements of children’s and young adult literature. You are invited to submit an academic paper proposal or a creative writing submission that contributes to the existing body of literature and research in the area of children’s and young adult literature studies, which includes novels, films, apps, and picturebooks, as well as other culturally produced modes of children’s literature. We are particularly interested in research and creative pieces that draw upon broadly interpreted themes of identity, which can include liminality, hybridity, Otherness or Othering, gender, and transformation.

Topics may include, but are not limited to:

• Identity as a critical lens for reading children’s and young adult literature
• The child or young adult choosing or combining identities
• Issues of hybridity: hybridity of genre, multimodality, cultural identity, racial identity, sexual identity
• How ‘otherness’ shapes identity in materials for children and youth
• Negotiation of self and Other as represented in cultural texts
• Liminality and other states of ‘being in between’
• Indigenous identities
• National identities
• Boundaries, their creation and transgression
• Multiple, cross-cultural, and/or transnational identities
• The role of identity in constructing literature and literacies
• Reconstructive identity and multiple selves
• Imagined identities: dreams, fantasy and desire
• The cultural markers of childhood and adolescence
• Identity and performativity: a gendered discourse
• Fluid subjectivities; multiplicity of selves
• The pedagogical implications of identity in various stages of literacy
• Virtual selves in virtual worlds
• The ‘coming of age’ trope in 21^st century literature
• Neoliberal capitalism and the individualistic ‘I’
• Identity embodied: mixed abilities represented in YA and children’s literature
• Marginalised identities represented in works of fiction for youth
• Eco-critical understandings of subjectivity
• Interwoven subjectivities and the individualistic ‘I’

Academic papers on any children’s or young adult genres are welcome, as are papers that discuss other children’s texts such as film, virtual texts, or graphic novels.  The topics above are a guideline for the proposals we would like to see, but we are eager to receive and review paper proposals on any topic related to children’s and young adult texts.

Please send a 250 word abstract that includes the title of your paper. A list of works cited and references in MLA format is optional. In a separate document please include a 50-word biography, your name, your university affiliation, email address, and phone number. Please send both documents to the review committee at submit.ubc.gradcon@gmail.com. Please include “Conference Proposal” in the subject line of your email.

Creative writing for children and young adults in any genre is welcome, including prose, poetry, picture books and graphic novels. The topics above are a guideline for the proposals we would like to see, but we are eager to receive and review submissions on any topic.

Please send a piece of work no longer than 12 pages double spaced, anything shorter is welcome (poetry, for example, might only be a page). A chapter, a short story, a poem (a set of poems), a picturebook manuscript, a play script, anything is welcome! The submission should include the title of your piece, a list of references in MLA format (if you have any), a 50-word biography, your name, your university affiliation, email address, and phone number to the review committee at submit.ubc.gradcon@gmail.com. Please put “Creative Conference Proposal” in the subject line of your email.

Deadline for submission: January 15th, 2014

“I Will Be Myself”: Identity in Children’s and Young Adult Literature, Media and Culture is a one-day conference showcasing graduate student research that explores, questions, and analyzes the issues surrounding identity in various elements of children’s and young adult literature. You are invited to submit an academic paper proposal or a creative writing submission that contributes to the existing body of literature and research in the area of children’s and young adult literature studies, which includes novels, films, apps, and picturebooks, as well as other culturally produced modes of children’s literature. We are particularly interested in research and creative pieces that draw upon broadly interpreted themes of identity, which can include liminality, hybridity, Otherness or Othering, gender, and transformation.

Topics may include, but are not limited to:

• Identity as a critical lens for reading children’s and young adult literature
• The child or young adult choosing or combining identities
• Issues of hybridity: hybridity of genre, multimodality, cultural identity, racial identity, sexual identity
• How ‘otherness’ shapes identity in materials for children and youth
• Negotiation of self and Other as represented in cultural texts
• Liminality and other states of ‘being in between’
• Indigenous identities
• National identities
• Boundaries, their creation and transgression
• Multiple, cross-cultural, and/or transnational identities
• The role of identity in constructing literature and literacies
• Reconstructive identity and multiple selves
• Imagined identities: dreams, fantasy and desire
• The cultural markers of childhood and adolescence
• Identity and performativity: a gendered discourse
• Fluid subjectivities; multiplicity of selves
• The pedagogical implications of identity in various stages of literacy
• Virtual selves in virtual worlds
• The ‘coming of age’ trope in 21^st century literature
• Neoliberal capitalism and the individualistic ‘I’
• Identity embodied: mixed abilities represented in YA and children’s literature
• Marginalised identities represented in works of fiction for youth
• Eco-critical understandings of subjectivity
• Interwoven subjectivities and the individualistic ‘I’

Academic papers on any children’s or young adult genres are welcome, as are papers that discuss other children’s texts such as film, virtual texts, or graphic novels.  The topics above are a guideline for the proposals we would like to see, but we are eager to receive and review paper proposals on any topic related to children’s and young adult texts.

Please send a 250 word abstract that includes the title of your paper. A list of works cited and references in MLA format is optional. In a separate document please include a 50-word biography, your name, your university affiliation, email address, and phone number. Please send both documents to the review committee at submit.ubc.gradcon@gmail.com. Please include “Conference Proposal” in the subject line of your email.

Creative writing for children and young adults in any genre is welcome, including prose, poetry, picture books and graphic novels. The topics above are a guideline for the proposals we would like to see, but we are eager to receive and review submissions on any topic.

Please send a piece of work no longer than 12 pages double spaced, anything shorter is welcome (poetry, for example, might only be a page). A chapter, a short story, a poem (a set of poems), a picturebook manuscript, a play script, anything is welcome! The submission should include the title of your piece, a list of references in MLA format (if you have any), a 50-word biography, your name, your university affiliation, email address, and phone number to the review committee at submit.ubc.gradcon@gmail.com. Please put “Creative Conference Proposal” in the subject line of your email.