#GivingTuesday 2020

2020 has, of course, been beset with challenges, none more relevant to scholarship than COVID-19. The necessity of sheltering in place and limiting gatherings caused many conferences to be cancelled this year, ChLA included. Although plans are moving forward to safely host future conferences, either in person or online, the costs to do so responsibly create a significant impact. With that in mind, we encourage our readers to lend support to ChLA when participating in #GivingTuesday.

#GivingTuesday, taking place December 1st, is a global day of giving that harnesses the collective power of individuals, communities, and organizations to encourage giving and to celebrate generosity worldwide. Every year, on #GivingTuesday, millions of people across the globe mobilize to show up, give back, and change their communities. The goal is to create a massive wave of generosity that lasts well beyond that day, and touches every person on the planet.

In 2019, ChLA raised over $2,400 in donations; this year we hope to raise $5,000. These donations help to support diversity initiatives, international initiatives, graduate students, and research. With your help, we hope to raise even more this year.

To find out more about how the international committee in particular utilizes such funds to support children’s literature scholars and graduate students in the international community, please read the testimonials below.

"One of the primary goals for the International Committee this year is to provide more opportunities for scholars and students of youth literature from the global south to connect with the children's and young adult literature community in North America and Europe. Your support during this Giving Tuesday will go a long way in helping us establish a community with researchers in the global south and engage meaningfully with their work."

— Nithya Sivashankar, 2020-2023 International Committee Chair

"The International Committee is striving to create a truly global community. In order for our conversations and inquiries to attend meaningfully to the world’s rich diversity of cultures and traditions, we need not only to study international children’s books but also to support international scholars in this field."

— Maria Truglio, 2020-2023 International Committee Member

"One of the major contributions of the international committee is to understanding children’s literature as world literature and children as world citizens who participate in literature in different cultures, through different languages and by translation, and may be influenced by different national curriculums and discourses. Many children around the globe have roots in more than one culture, and scholars around the globe need to reach beyond their own cultural context(s) and learn more about various cultures in order to respond to the contemporary world. The international committee of the ChLA helps to make visible the various influences, traditions, and developments in children’s literature around the world, and encourages the dialogue across the community."

— Ada Bieber, 2019-2022 International Committee Member

"To write, to read, to study global children's literature is an act of resistance against a prevailing narrative that says that stories from other cultures and in other languages are of little interest to Western readers. Supporting international children's literature research helps create new narratives that demonstrate how arbitrary the borders are that separate us—that reach across barriers of language and culture to establish a connection that is at once universal and very personal."

— Tanja Nathanael, International Committee Blog Editor and 2015-2018 International Committee Member

1 | DONATE

Donate to ChLA and fund the International Sponsorship Grant, which supports scholars from around the world in sharing their research at the annual ChLA conference. Learn more about the program here and read testimonials from former and current International Committee members about the importance of global collaboration in children’s literature research.

2 | CLICK

We understand that not everyone is able to make a monetary donation but may still be interested in contributing to our financial goals. Every time you click on a ChLA journal in Project Muse you help raise money for ChLA, so click and ask your friends, colleagues, and students to access our journals through Project Muse. All ChLA members have access to Children's Literature and the Children's Literature Association Quarterly through Project Muse in the Member Center.

3 | LEARN

Read the blog and browse the resources to learn more about children's literature around the world. Join us in June 2021 for a special focus panel on Korean children’s literature at the annual ChLA conference in Atlanta, Georgia.

4 | WRITE

Write a post for the International Committee's blog and/or nominate a colleague or student to contribute a post. Learn more here and email us at chlainternational@gmail.com today!

5 | SHARE

Share your favorite blog posts with friends, colleagues, and students and encourage them to share their research on international children's literature using the hashtag #ChYALit. You can also show your support for international children’s literature research by spreading the message with a #UNselfie. Get inspired and download your template today.

Consider giving to the ChLA International Committee today to support international research initiatives and scholars. In past years, the generous support of our donors has helped the International Committee bring world-renowned authors and distinguished scholars such as Patrice Lawrence (2019 BAME Literature from the UK), Ute Dettmar (2018 Germany), Luis Cabrera Delgado (2017 Cuba), Fumiko Ganzenmueller (2016 Japan), and Rio Alma (2012 The Philippines) to ChLA conferences in the United States. Help us continue this global dialogue that responds to contemporary issues and discourses in children’s literature.