writes about war from a young person's view #bannedbyrussia
Honoured to have contributed a chapter in this important book by Sarah J. Donovan. My chapter references Russia’s ongoing genocide in Ukraine. The chapter is titled, Creating With Empathy: Witnessing Genocide Through Historical Fiction
Honoured to be included in this book! Here is the press release from Mateusz Świetlicki:
Together with Dagmara Drewniak, Sylwia Kamińska-Maciąg, and Izabella Kimak, we are happy to announce that our book, “Central and Eastern Europeans in North American Literature and Culture: Under Western Eyes,” will be published in the fall in Routledge’s Research in American Literature and Culture series. We gratefully acknowledge the University of Wrocław (Poland) for its support, as this publication was partially funded by the “Excellence Initiative—Research University” (IDUB) program.
The volume examines how Central and Eastern Europe and its peoples have been imagined, represented, and reinterpreted in North American literature and culture. We would like to thank all the contributors: Cecilia Woloch, Steven Seegel, Marsha J. Skrypuch, Erin Litteken, Gabriele Goldstone, Eva Stachniak, Amanda McCrina, Marina Scott, Norman Ravvin, Małgorzata Rutkowska, Marta Koval, Mariya Shymchyshyn, Elżbieta Tyszkowska-Kasprzak, Dorota Żygadło-Czopnik, Lukáš Perutka, Joanna Kula, Natalia Vysotska, Janusz Pasterski, Maciej Laskowski, Anastasia Ulanowicz, Gabriela Zimkowska-Wisłocka, Anna Boginskaya, Regan Lipes, Dominika Ferens, and Anita Jarczok.
Bringing together interdisciplinary scholars from several countries, the volume explores fiction, non-fiction, poetry, children’s and young adult literature, comics, film, television, the press, the internet, and video games. Its chapters address migration, diaspora, memory, identity, Jewishness, religion, war, gender, ethnicity, Indigenous relations, and stereotypes, placing literary and cultural representations within broader historical and political contexts. The collection also features original vignettes by bestselling and award-winning American and Canadian authors Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch, Eva Stachniak, Amanda McCrina, Erin Litteken, Marina Scott, Norman Ravvin, and Gabriele Goldstone, along with a foreword by Cecilia Woloch and an afterword by Steven Seegel containing unpublished poetry. Combining critical scholarship with creative voices, the book offers a wide-ranging account of the presence, influence, and representation of Central and Eastern Europe in North American cultural life.
Under Western Eyes / W oczach Zachodu
At the Hans Christian Andersen Awards and Dinner with LE Carmichael, Joan Marie Galat and Margriet Ruurs — #IReadCanadian powerhouses!
My husband picked me up at the Ottawa airport in our itty bitty plane and we dodged weather the whole way back. At least it makes for pretty clouds.
It was so meaningful to meet my fellow panelists for the War and Trauma panel. I was particularly struck by the work that Hooria Rezaei is doing with children in Tehran during this current war, using books as a refuge and a way of dealing with trauma in kids who are in the midst of the unimaginable.
I very much enjoyed listening to the session about Bookbird through the decades. This journal publishes reviewed academic articles on children’s literature with an international perspective.
It was also great to catch up with Margriet Ruurs, Deborah Ellis, Julien Chung — but alas no pics!
I’m still in the midst of processing the jam-packed days of IBBY World Congress in Ottawa last week at Carleton University. I wish I could have cloned myself in order to attend more sessions. I came in on my own and stayed on campus. From the wealth of topics, I concentrated on those about children in war, refugees and immigration and it was fascinating to listen to so many perspectives and experiences from around the world.
Even though I am an extreme introvert by nature, I made a point of sitting beside a person I didn’t know over meals, at the lectures, during breaks, and I’m really glad that I did this because I met so many people who were involved in different facets of children’s literature, and from so many countries!
I also had the opportunity to visit in person with a number of my Canadian children’s book friends, particularly Joan Marie Galat and Lindsey Carmichael.
The last time I saw Joan in person was about twenty years ago, yet we recognized each other from across a packed room, and it was as if no time had passed at all! She was doing a poster session on Stories, Science and Dark Skies, and here’s a pic!
Lindsey and I had been working together on some communities initiatives, yet this was the first time we’d met in person. She also was doing a poster session on her upcoming book, The Matilda Effect, about women who’ve been hidden from history.
So honoured to have two articles referencing my novel, Stolen Child (Stolen Girl) in the newest edition of Bookbird! Thank you Mateusz Świetlicki and Sharon Smulders for writing such interesting pieces. Stolen Child holds a special place in my heart. It was the first of my Scholastic WWII novels, and is the only one set in Canada. It was written as a tribute to my dear late mother-in-law, whose own WWII experiences inspired the story. Here’s a pic of her as a child:
