2023 International Committee Panelists

The ChLA International Committee is pleased to announce the panelists for the 2023 sponsored panel, focusing on Islands in Children's Literature. Please join the International Committee on Friday, June 16, 2023 from 3:00pm - 4:15 pm in Larch to hear this excellent panel.

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Letterio Todaro is Full Professor in History of Education and Children’s Literature at the University of Catania (ITALY). His research field mainly deals with the history of Children’s Literature and educational publishing from the Twentieth Century to the current times. He was the editor of collected volumes on Dino Buzzati’s literary creation for children (2018) and Gianni Rodari’s production (2020). He was speaker in different international academic meetings in Children’s Literature studies, as The Child and the Books conferences held in Malta (2022) and Zadar / Croatia (2019). Lately he is working on the engagement of the current Children’s Literature and Young Fiction in the promotion of the ecological awareness and activism.

Yoo Kyung Sung is an associate professor at the University of New Mexico. She teaches a range of children’s literature and literacy courses. Her research focuses on critical content analysis of global and international children’s literature, including global diaspora and immigrants’ representations in children’s literature. Her most recent book chapter is entitled “Transnationalism and Play in Mexican Children’s Childhood and Multicultural Children’s Literature in the United States” in Rulers of Literary Playgrounds Politics of Intergenerational Play in Children’s Literature published by Routledge in 2021.

Dr. Devika Mehra is a research fellow at the School of Advanced Study, University of London and an associate lecturer in the School of English Literature, Language, and Linguistics at Newcastle University. Her current research project combines two interconnected strands: exploring the importance of Black British children's literature archives and the role of young people's voices in increasing representation in children's prize culture. Her areas of interest include twentieth-century middle-grade children's fiction (British, American and South Asian), Indian and global children's cinema, children's publishing in India, children's literature archives, and digital texts for children. She has presented internationally and published in these areas. She is the current recipient of the Inclusion, Participation, and Engagement fellowship grant (School of Advanced Study, University of London) for a research project investigating the role of children's archive centres and libraries in promoting diversity.

Gustavo Velázquez Lazcano is a third-year PhD candidate of Literature and Culture Studies at the University of Florida where he has been awarded the Graduate School Funding Award (GSFA), the most prestigious graduate student award available in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese Studies. He holds a B.A. in Literary Studies with a concentration in Creative Writing from Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro (Mexico) and an M.A. in Spanish from Ohio University. His current research interests focus on Children’s and Young Adult Contemporary Mexican Literature and its connection with Chicanx Literature. His secondary research interests include Children’s and Young Adult Latinx literature, Translation, and Comparative Children’s Literature. In his free time, he enjoys traveling, reading American and British literature, and working on his creative writing.

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For more information about the 2023 panel and conference, please visit the conference page. To register to attend ChLA's conference, please visit the ChLA website.

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