Call for Papers: Translation Studies and Children’s Literature –

 Current Topics and Future Perspectives

Since the publication of pioneering works by Göte Klingberg, Riitta Oittinen and Zohar Shavit in the 1970s and 1980s, the translation of children’s literature has attracted the attention of many scholars in various fields. On 19 and 20 October 2017, KU Leuven and the University of Antwerp (Belgium) will organise an interdisciplinary conference on Translation Studies and Children’s Literature that aims to investigate the intersection between translation studies and children’s literature studies, offer a state of the art of current trends in the study of children’s literature in translation, and consider future perspectives for this field. How can the concepts, methods and topics used to study children’s literature contribute to the field of Translation Studies? What research questions are opened up by studying children’s books from a Translation Studies perspective? And what potential avenues have only recently been opened up, or remain as yet uncovered? The conference will take place on the occasion of the academic retirement of Prof. dr. Jan Van Coillie (University of Leuven), a pioneer in this area of study.

We welcome proposals on topics relating to promising lines of research integrating Translation Studies and Children’s Literature Studies, including:

• globalisation/localisation/glocalisation (including English as a lingua franca)
• ideological shifts in the translation process
• ethical aspects of translating children’s literature
• the reception of translated children’s books
• the role of institutions and mediators (translators, publishers, agents, critics etc.)
• intermedial translation (including digital picturebooks)
• the benefits of applying literary approaches such as digital humanities or cognitive sciences to the study of children’s literature in translation
• new impulses from established approaches such as stylistics, memory studies, genetic criticism or reception studies

The conference will be held in Brussels (19 October 2017) and Antwerp (20 October 2017) and will be preceded by a master class on translating Children’s Literature (for Dutch-speaking students) on 18 October 2017 in Brussels. The working language of the conference will be English although simultaneous interpreting can be provided upon request (please indicate in your proposal).

Keynote speakers are:

Gillian Lathey (University of Roehampton London, UK)

Cecilia Alvstad (University of Oslo, Norway)

Emer O’Sullivan (University of Lüneburg, Germany)

Jan Van Coillie (University of Leuven, Belgium)

Please send your proposals (300 words) by March 15th 2017 to Jack McMartin. We will give notice by April 30th 2017.

The organizing committee

Elke Brems (University of Leuven)

Jan Van Coillie (University of Leuven)

Vanessa Joosen (University of Antwerp)

University of Leuven (Campus Brussels)

Hilde Catteau

Theresia Feldmann

Ellen Lambrechts

Jack McMartin

Erwin Snauwaert

Myrthel Van Etterbeeck

Ann Vlasselaers

University of Antwerp

Katrien Liévois

Frauke Pauwels

For More Information: 

https://receptionstudies.be/2017/01/09/translation-studies-and-childrens-literature-current-topics-and-future-perspectives/