EXTENSION: Call for Papers

Children’s/Young Adult Culture

Southwest Popular / American Culture Association (SWPACA)

2024 SWPACA Summer Salon

June 20-22, 2024

Virtual Conference

https://www.southwestpca.org

EXTENDED Proposal submission deadline: April 22, 2024

 Proposals for papers are still being accepted for the SWPACA Summer Salon. SWPACA offers nearly 70 subject areas in a variety of categories encompassing the following: Film, Television, Music, & Visual Media; Historic & Contemporary Cultures; Identities & Cultures; Language & Literature; Science Fiction & Fantasy; and Pedagogy & Popular Culture. For a full list of subject areas, area descriptions, and Area Chairs, please visit https://southwestpca.org/conference/call-for-papers/

The Children’s/Young Adult Culture area covers a wide variety of possible mediums: traditional book/literature culture, but also comics, graphic novels, film, television, music, video games, toys, internet environment, fan fiction, advertising, and marketing tie-ins to books and films, just to name a few.  Proposals on fiction, non-fiction, poetry, or cross-genre topics are welcome.  Interdisciplinary approaches are especially welcome, as are presentations that go beyond the traditional scholarly paper format.

Topics may include, but are not limited to:

• The art and industry of the Picture Book – both historical and current trends (I’d love to see more presentations on picture books, including wordless picture books)
• The Creative Process in Children’s and YA lit (from inspiration to composition to finished published product)
• Diversity in children’s and YA literature (gender, race/ethnicity, disability, body image, sexual identity, language)
• Use of innovative or “novel” formats for both children’s and YA literature
• The next “big” thing in children’s and YA literature
• Film adaptation issues
• Historical approaches to and the history of children’s and YA literature and culture
• New approaches to reading children’s and YA literature and culture
• Re-imaginings of myth, fairy tale, and other traditional stories
• Explorations of specific authors in the children’s and YA areas
• Fan fiction and fan followings of books, films, and authors
• Beyond books and films
• The pedagogy of children’s/YA culture (K-12 and college)

Proposals on other topics related to Children’s and YA Culture will be read with interest.

Extended Proposal Submission: April 22, 2024

All proposals must be submitted through the conference’s database at https://register.southwestpca.org/southwestpca 

For details on using the submission database and on the application process in general, please see the Proposal Submission FAQs and Tips page at https://southwestpca.org/conference/faqs-and-tips/ Registration information for the conference will be available at https://southwestpca.org/conference/conference-registration-information/ 

Individual proposals for 15-minute papers must include an abstract of approximately 200-500 words. Only one proposal per person, please; no roundtables.

Submissions Extended to April 22, 2024

If you have any questions about the Children’s/Young Adult Culture area, please contact its Area Chair, Diana Dominguez, UT Rio Grande Valley, drdvd2014@gmail.com OR Assistant Area Chair, Ashley Johnson, Independent Scholar, ashleycheyennej@gmail.com. If you have general questions about the conference, please contact us at support@southwestpca.org, and a member of the executive team will get back to you.

We look forward to receiving your submissions!