‘Children’s literature in translation: a window into the cultural changes of ‘68’, online public lecture by Dr Sophie Heywood

Children’s literature in translation: a window into the cultural changes of ‘68

Public event co-hosted by The Centre for Literacy and Multilingualism (CeLM) and the Centre for Book Cultures and Publishing (CBCP) celebrating International Mother Language Day at the University of Reading.

Books play an important role in our understanding of how society changes, both at the time of the change and in the long view of historical events. In this public lecture Dr Sophie Heywood will illustrate how the global upheaval caused by the protest movements of 1968 fuelled an explosion of radical creativity in children’s literature. By tracing the journeys of key books such as Where the Wild Things Are and The Little Red Schoolbook as they travelled across different countries, Dr Heywood will explore the crucial role that translations and cultural exchange played in the ‘children’s ’68’. How did concepts of what was ‘radical’ in children’s books change across time, place and context? And what were the long-term legacies of this watershed moment on children’s culture in Europe?

Sophie Heywood is Associate Professor in French at the University of Reading, and co-director of the CBCP. For more information on the Children’s ’68 project, click here.

This online event is free and open to all. Please register your interest here to receive a personal invitation.