Children’s Literature Association (ChLA) Annual Convention, “Diverging Diversities: Plurality in Children’s and Young Adult Literature Then and Now,” University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC,June 19-21, 2014

In March 2013, Chicago Public School officials generated controversy when they removed Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel, Persepolis, from inclusion in 7th grade curriculum and classrooms. Over the past decade, however, Persepolis has increasingly appeared in college-level courses, such as freshman composition, religious studies, women’s and gender studies, and children’s/YA literature, among others. For the upcoming ChLA conference, I am interested in forming an interdisciplinary roundtable discussion on different pedagogical approaches to teaching Persepolis in the undergraduate classroom; I also welcome submissions about the inclusion and/or exclusion of Satrapi’s novel from secondary school curriculum and related controversies. I encourage submissions from scholars and educators across a variety of disciplines and fields, including English, children’s/YA literature, world literature, secondary education, women’s and gender studies, rhetoric and composition, and others. Presenters will offer short papers and contribute to a discussion about the role of Persepolis in the classroom. Please send a 250-word abstract and a short bio or CV to Kristen Proehl, Assistant Professor of English, SUNY-Brockport,kproehl_at_brockport.edu, by Dec. 15, 2013.