18th edition: Making, Building, Mending: Creativity and Craftsmanship in Children’s Literature and Culture 

Date: May 2-4, 2024
Venue: Faculty of Law, Economics & Management | 3 avenue Pasteur, Rouen

Each year, the network of European childhood studies scholars, The Child and the Book Conference (CBC), set up 20 years ago, organises a major international conference. The 2024 edition is convened by Virginie Douglas (University of Rouen Normandy), Cécile Pichon-Bonin, University of Burgundy/CNRS, and Rose-May Pham Dinh (Sorbonne Paris Nord University) from Thursday 2 to Saturday 4 May at the University of Rouen Normandy (Pasteur Campus), with the support of colleagues from the universities of Burgundy, Artois, Reims-Champagne-Ardenne, Paris 8-Saint-Denis and Sorbonne Paris Nord. 

The project has also formed partnerships with the Association Française de Recherche sur les Livres et les Objets Culturels de l’Enfance (Afreloce), the SEAC (Société d’Études Anglaises Contemporaines), the French branch of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY), as well as the City of Rouen and its network of libraries, the Rouen metropolitan area, the Musée National de l’Éducation (Munaé), association Lis-moi les mots and the Lycée Jeanne d’Arc.

The conference theme, ‘Making, Building, Mending: Creativity and Craftsmanship in Children’s Literature and Culture’, brings together a wide range of angles and approaches, and is open to both thematic and more metaphorical interpretations of children’s literature and culture (picture books, novels, adaptations for the big and small screens, toys, etc.).

The conference will be held entirely in English, but the plenary keynote address and lecture hall sessions will be streamed. Each of the 3 days will open with a keynote speech by a French author or artist in order to highlight the creative work in children’s literature in France. The keynote speakers will be Marie-Aude Murail (children’s author and winner of the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Prize in 2022), Clémentine Beauvais (children’s and Young Adult author, academic and translator) and Christian Voltz (children’s author and illustrator). 

This will be followed by the panels, each comprising four papers selected by the scientific committee and grouped by theme. 

The detailed programme is available here:

https://cbc2024.sciencesconf.org/administrate-user/register

On Friday at 7pm, at the Halle aux Toiles (Rouen), there will be a public event in French with the guests of honour of the 2024 conference – Marie-Aude Murail, Clémentine Beauvais and Christian Voltz.

On Saturday from 2pm to 6pm on the esplanade outside Pasteur Campus, in partnership with the Rouen library network and associations specialising in children’s literature, there will be events aimed at the general public, families in particular. 

REGISTRATION

Registration is required for all those wishing to attend at least one day of the conference. (Module d’inscription CBC 2024).

PROGRAMME & INFORMATION
Site de la CBC 2024