Children's and young adult literature, under study at URJC

Daniel Blazquez

Rey Juan Carlos University will host, at the beginning of next week, the first edition of an international conference on children's and young adult literature (LIJ), the term adopted for the literary genre encompassing both children's and young adult literature. The event, promoted by several professors in the Department of Language and Literature Didactics at the university, will be a conference on children's and young adult literature. FCEDEIThe congress was created to open a space for dialogue that defines the artistic status and social value of this type of literature. Vicente Calvo Fernández, the congress director, emphasized that “for the field, this is a very important launch, as it is the first congress of this scale that we have organized.” In this regard, the professor at URJC also highlighted that “members from many Spanish and international universities will participate, with presentations coming from countries such as Portugal, Argentina, Italy, and Croatia, among others.”

Following the inauguration, which will take place early Monday morning, Jaime García Padrino, former professor of Language and Literature Didactics at the Complutense University of Madrid and current president of the Spanish Association of Friends of Children's and Young Adult LiteratureLucía Cancelas-Ouviña will lead a plenary session entitled "Does Young Adult Literature Exist?". Following this, the congress will divide into two panels, one in the auditorium and the other in the library building of the Fuenlabrada campus. The first panel will discuss children's and young adult literature (YA) and adaptations, while the second will focus on promoting reading and developing reading habits, with a particular emphasis on mediation initiatives. In the afternoon, the second panel will continue exploring the chosen topic, while the auditorium will host a discussion on the concept of "Miscellanea". To conclude the day, Lucía Cancelas-Ouviña will speak. Cadiz University, will give a lecture on 'Reading Children, Sustainable Futures: The Transformative Power of Literature'.

Tuesday's session will begin with a round table discussion on the publishing world and the concept of translation. Following this, the conference will return to the same format as the previous day: in the auditorium, participants will discuss experiences with children's and young adult literature in the classroom, while in the library, they will discuss the history of children's and young adult literature. Finally, the symposium will conclude with the lecture "Children's and Young Adult Poetry in the Formation of Critical Thinkers," presented by Begoña Regueiro Salgado. Complutense University of Madrid.

A topic to study

As Vicente Calvo Fernández states, “conferences and studies on children's and young adult literature are not widespread in Spanish universities.” In this regard, the event director himself has pointed out that “our goal is to position URJC as a leading institution in this field of study.” It is also worth noting that the Congress will serve as the launch of 'Ciudad Esmeralda' (Emerald City), a journal published by the Department of Language and Literature Didactics, which will focus specifically on children's and young adult literature studies.

Those interested in attending the congress can register throughout this week, completely free of charge. here.