“CAN CHILDREN’S LITERATURE CHANGE THE WORLD?” – PUBLIC LECTURE BY DR. JULIA MICKENBERG & DR. PHILIP NEL ON JUNE 11TH
InstituteThe Institute for Theatre, Film, Radio and Television and the UNESCO Chair in Cultural Policy and Management of the University of Arts in Belgrade are pleased to announce the open lecture by Prof. Dr. Julia Mickenberg of the University of Texas at Austin and Prof. Dr. Philip Nel of Kansas State University, entitled “In Dreams Begin Possibilities: Can Children’s Literature Change the World?” to be held on June 11 at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts.
Prof. Mickenberg and Prof. Nel will open a two-day event dedicated to cultural production for children and young people, with a focus on literature and playwriting, starting on June 11th afternoon and continuing on June 12th at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts.
The lecture, as well as the entire gathering, is intended for doctoral and master’s students in both scientific and artistic fields, as well as undergraduate students interested in culture for children and young people, literature and literary history, self-education, and utopian studies. The event is open to colleagues from other institutions and organizations, as well as independent researchers, activists, producers, and artists engaged with these topics.
Julia Mickenberg is Professor of American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin and author of „Learning from the Left: Children’s Literature, the Cold War, and Radical Politics in the United States“ (Oxford University Press, 2006), which won awards from the Children’s Literature Association, the Society for the History of Children and Youth, the Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association, and the University of Texas Cooperative Society. She’s also co-editor (with Philip Nel) of „Tales for Little Rebels: A Collection of Radical Children’s Literature“ (NYU Press, 2008), which inspired the “Little Rebels Book Award” from the UK’s Society of Radical Booksellers. In addition, she co-edited (with Lynne Vallone) „The Oxford Handbook of Children’s Literature“ (2011), which won the Children’s Literature Association’s edited book award. Her most recent monograph is „American Girls in Red Russia: Chasing the Soviet Dream“ (Chicago University Press, 2017), which was named a Best Book in History by the „Financial Times“ of London. In addition to co-editing „More Tales for Little Rebels“ (with Philip Nel) her current book project is tentatively entitled „The Way We Were: Eve Merriam and the Hidden History of American Feminism“.
https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/scjs/faculty/jlm05150
Philip Nel is University Distinguished Professor of English at Kansas State University. He is the author or co-editor of fifteen books, including: “Was the Cat in the Hat Black? The Hidden Racism of Children’s Literature, and the Need for Diverse Books” (2017), five volumes of Crockett Johnson’s “Barnaby” (co-edited with Eric Reynolds, 2013-2025), a double biography of Crockett Johnson and Ruth Krauss (2012), “Keywords for Children’s Literature” (2nd edition co-edited with Lissa Paul and Nina Christensen, 2021), and “Tales for Little Rebels: A Collection of Radical Children’s Literature” (co-edited with Julia Mickenberg, 2008).
The gathering will also include the presentation of the book “The Unpredictable Past of the Future: The Political Potential of Utopia” edited by Ivana Momčilović and published by Edicija Jugoslavija.
The gathering is organized by Dr. Milena Dragićević Šešić, Professor Emerita and Head of the UNESCO Chair at the University of Arts, and Dr. Tatjana Nikolić, Research Associate at the Institute for Theatre, Film, Radio and Television. The event is part of the guest lecture series organized by the Institute “Works in Progress: Towards New Research Topics”, in cooperation with the UNESCO Chair in Cultural Policy and Management of the University of Arts, the Centre for Theoretical Research in the Humanities at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of the University of Zagreb, Edicija Jugoslavija, the Les Orangeries de Bierbais Residency in Belgium, and the collective PhD in One Night.
http://edicijajugoslavija.org/
www.instagram.com/orangeriesbierbais/
To help us organize the event as successfully as possible, we kindly ask interested attendees to register with Mag. Gorana Vencl at the Institute, at: gorana.vencl@fdu.bg.ac.rs.
