CfP (HOLLINS UNIVERSITY): Immigration in Children’s Literature
CFP: Immigration in Children’s Literature
The twenty-first century has seen a world-wide immigration crisis to which Children and YA authors have responded with a wonderful explosion of literature capturing immigrant and refugee experiences. From picture books to YA novels, authors present stories about immigrants from South America, the Caribbean, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. Each author explores the reasons for leaving “Home” (politics, economics, religious oppression, adoption, etc.) and youths’ experiences adjusting in their new “homes.” These writers present readers with stories concerning the joys and sorrows that immigrants experience, challenge dehumanization, and deepen reader empathy.
An upcoming 2028 Forum in Children’s Literature, guest edited by Deborah De Rosa, seeks contributions on the topic of immigration in children’s literature. Papers may consider the literature of any genre and age range (picture books, middle readers, Young Adult, historical fiction, memoirs, graphic novels). Contributors may write from any theoretical perspective.
Please direct questions or preliminary proposals to Deborah De Rosa: derosa@niu.edu
Please send completed essays of 20-30 manuscript pages in Word document format by e-mail attachment to child.lit@hollins.edu. Please refer to https://www.childlitassn.org/children-s-literature for submission guidelines.
Submissions received between now and July 1, 2027, will be considered under standard peer review.
Topics and Representative Titles (not exclusive):
· How do authors depict the traumas that predicate the departure from their home country? How do they cope, recover, or fail to recover? What Is a Refugee? by Elise Gravel, Enrique’s Journey: The True Story of a Boy Determined to Reunite with His Mother by Sonia Nazario
· How do authors of historical-fiction depict the political, religious, social, or cultural factors that prompt departure from their home country? To what extent do the authors recreate a complex context such that the allusions become an integral part of the narrative and enhance reader understanding? Or does the historical context prove secondary? Across a Hundred Mountains: A Novel byReyna Grande, Worm: A Cuban American Odyssey by Edel Rodriguez
· How do authors represent the adjustment to the new landscape with respect to language acquisition; reception by the community; friends, enemies, or frenemies;, etc. A New Kind of Wildby Zara Gonzalez Hoang, Count Me In by Varsha Bajaj, Counting Kindness: Ten Ways to Welcome Refugee Children by Hollis Kurman
· In texts focused on America, how do authors represent those living in the shadows, “dreamers,” DACA youth, asylum seekers, separated families, detainees, or deported family members? Areli Is a Dreamer by Areli Morales, When Stars Are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed, Indivisible by Daniel Aleman
· How do authors represent attempts to preserve or remember birth culture? To what extent do authors celebrate or mourn a loss of birth culture? Dreamers by Yuyi Morales, All the Way to America: The Story of a Big Italian Family and a Little Shovel by Dan Yaccarino, You Bring the Distant Near by Mitali Perkins
· How do authors use narrative to break silences about and/or give voice to the complex young refugee experience? If I Tell You the Truth by Jasmin Kaur, Gringolandia by Lyn Miller-Lachmann
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