Organizers: Sarah Sahn (U. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) and Kristen Proehl (SUNY-Brockport)

Children’s Literature Association Annual Convention

Richmond, VA, June 18-20, 2015

In response to the 2015 ChLA conference theme, “the high stakes of children’s literature,” we are looking for one or two additional paper proposals that explore the role of queer friendship in children’s and/or YA literature for a proposed panel. We are open to a diverse array of approaches to this topic, as well as a wide range of different texts and genres. Possible topics include friendships between gender non-conforming children; friendships between LGBTQ adolescents and youth; race, sexuality, and same-sex friendships; friendships that complicate or defy categories of romantic and platonic love; friendships across differences in age and generation; the politics of queer friendship; and other topics. Please send 100-150 word abstracts and short bios to Kristen Proehl (kproehl_at_brockport.edu) and Sarah Sahn (sahn10_at_illinois.edu) by November 20, 2014.