Upcoming Events

March 23, 2012

University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA

“Harry Potter: A Cultural Biography.”

March 26, 2012

Illinois State University, Normal, IL

“Crockett Johnson and Ruth Krauss: How an Unlikely Couple Found Love, Dodged the FBI, and Transformed Children’s Literature.”  Lois Lenski Lecture.  7 p.m., 138 Schroeder Hall.

August 24, 2012

Nordic Children’s Literature – A New Research Question?  Oslo, Norway

“Keywords for Children’s Literature” (keynote), with Lissa Paul.

September 26-30, 2012

Children’s Literature and the European Avant-Garde, Scandic Linköping Väst, Linköping, Sweden

“Surrealism for Children: Paradoxes and Possibilities” (keynote).

October 27, 2012

Children’s Literary Salon, New York Public Library, New York, NY

“Crockett Johnson and Ruth Krauss: How an Unlikely Couple Found Love, Dodged the FBI, and Transformed Children’s Literature.”  2 p.m., Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, South Court Auditorium.

PAST EVENTS

January 7, 2012

Modern Language Association, Seattle, WA

“Not Genres, but Modes of Graphic Narrative: Comics and Picture Books” (as part of a panel session on “Why Comics Are and Are Not Picture Books”). 5:15 p.m., 303 Washington State Convention Center.

January 5, 2012

Modern Language Association, Seattle, WA

“Filling the Gaps: The Future of Keywords for Children’s Literature”: panel session co-chaired with Lissa Paul, and featuring Jack Zipes (on “Fairy Tale”), Karin Westman (on “Genre”), and Kelly Hager and Talia C. Schaffer (on “Family”).  1:45 p.m., 205 Washington State Convention Center.

November 11, 2011

Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN

“Accidental Experts: Strategy, Serendipity, and the Places You’ll Go,” with Karin Westman.  2:10-3:45 p.m. Buttrick Hall 309.

October 26, 2011

Cambridge Festival of Ideas, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK

“Keywords for Children’s Literature,” with Lissa Paul.  (Lissa will be there, physically; I’ll be participating via Skype.)  5:00-7:30 pm GMT.  East Road, Lord Ashcroft Building, LAB 107.

October 23, 2011

American Studies Association, Baltimore, MD

“Re-Imagining America: Jeff Smith, Herman Melville, and American Dreamscapes,” co-presented with Jennifer A. Hughes (as part of a panel session on “Transforming Melville”), 8 a.m., Hilton Baltimore: Douglass.

July 5, 2011

International Research Society for Children’s Literature, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia

“Erasing Race to Keep Kids Safe?: The Ideological Effects of Bowdlerizing Children’s Literature” (second paper on panel session), 5 p.m., room Z306.

June 25, 2011

Children’s Literature Association Conference, Hollins University, Roanoke, VA

“Radical Children’s Literature Now!” (keynote), co-presented with Julia Mickenberg.  10 a.m., Babcock Auditorium, Dana.

November 20, 2010

American Studies Association, San Antonio, TX

“The Hope in the Joke: The Politics of Laughter in Dr. Seuss” (as part of a panel on “Laughing at Power: Subversive Humor in American Visual Culture”), 12:00 p.m., Grand Hyatt: Presidio C.

October 19, 2010

Young Harris College, Young Harris, GA

“Q&A,” 3:30 p.m., Wilson Lecture Hall.

“Harry Potter: A Cultural Biography,” 7 p.m., Wilson Lecture Hall.

October 11, 2010

Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, MI

“Dr. Seuss, American Icon: The Legacy of Theodor Seuss Geisel,” 7 p.m., Park Library Auditorium.

Older Invited Talks and Conference Papers are listed on my CV.