The Caucus Race
News, Announcements and Paper Calls


CBCA logoThe Children's Book Council of Australia
All the Wild Wonders - The 9th National Conference and EXPO
May 1-5, 2008 @ The Melbourne Convention Centre,
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Theme:
This conference sets out to explore the various dimensions of children’s books from the craft of the writing, to the illustrator’s art, to the importance of the publisher’s final production. All the Wild Wonders is the title of a song from a capella group Coco’s Lunch, encapsulating the art, and the heart, of books for young people.

Keynote Speakers:
Jack Zipes, Neil Gaiman, Wendy Cooling, Shaun Tan, Jan Ormerod

More information


Children's literature New England logo
CHILDREN'S LITERATURE NEW ENGLAND

The Opening Page - a CLNE Colloquy
May 8-11, 2008 @ The Inn at Essex,
Essex Junction, Vermont, USA

Children's Literature New England, Inc., is pleased to announce a new venture in a new setting.

At THE OPENING PAGE, a half-week colloquy, speakers and participants will convene to consider opening pages from the points of view of reader and writer. How is the author’s invitation extended, and to what destination does the invitation imply? The opening page refers to the opening lines or pages of a book, but the phrase can also refer to the opening of a chapter or the introduction of a character, or even suggest the threshold crossed when the child or adult reader enters the text.

For four days in May, 2008, CLNE will consider these questions in the light of the solitary and communal welcome that the opening pages of a book can offer. Time for rest, conversation, reflection, and walking will extend the investigations begun in plenary lectures and in optional small discussion groups.

Speakers: Tobin Anderson, Susan Cooper, Janice Harrington, Arthur Levine, Katherine Paterson, Pam Muñoz Ryan, Brian Selznick

More information


ChLA logo
ReImagining Normal - The 2008 ChLA Conference
June 12-15 2008 @ Illinois State University,
Normal, Illinois, USA

Call for Papers:
Proposals and papers are invited that explore the potential for change in children’s literature and celebrate expansive (and even explosive) redefinitions of normativity in the twenty-first century. Investigations of historical and contemporary modes and formations are welcome.
We anticipate a conference that problematizes commonly held assumptions and investigates the changing status of childhood, children’s and adolescent literature and culture, verbal and visual representation for/about young audiences, and constructions of diversity.

Please send abstracts of 250-500 words via email to ChLA2008@ilstu.edu or by regular mail to:
Professor Roberta Seelinger Trites
Department of English 4240
Illinois State University
Normal, IL 61790-4240

The deadline for abstracts is January 15, 2008.

More information


Seven Stories logo
SEVEN STORIES CHILDREN’S LITERATURE WEBSITE NOW LIVE

Seven Stories, the Centre for Children’s Books, is proud to announce the launch of its new website, giving access to records of its extensive collection of artwork and archives.  The site is accessible from the main Seven Stories website www.sevenstories.org.uk http://www.sevenstories.org.uk/ – just click on the collection tab on the home page.  
 
Authors such as Philip Pullman, Robert Westall, Peter Dickinson, Jan Mark and Berlie Doherty, illustrators including Edward Ardizzone, Harold Jones and Jan Ormerod and editors such as Kaye Webb and Miriam Hodgson, are well-represented in the Seven Stories Collection. Original material held by Seven Storis includes draft manuscripts, sketchbooks and notebooks, correspondence and finished artwork.
 
The archives are being been made accessible as a result of an extensive cataloguing and preservation project, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund.  To date, the catalogue contains over 4000 records and 300 images. The catalogue provides a wealth of information, and can be searched extensively in a variety of ways. As the Seven Stories collection continues to grow the catalogues will be updated on a regular basis.
 
The new website also includes an interactive game, exploring items from the collection, and information on how to access the collection for research purposes.
 
For further information, please contact collections@sevenstories.org.uk.


The Looking Glass

The Looking Glass always welcomes submissions for the following sections and columns:

Volume 12.2 - May 2008
Issue theme - Censorship
Deadline for submissions - February 29 2008

Submissions to editor@the-looking-glass.net