Events
Upcoming events
We are working on the programming for 2024/25. To stay up to date, follow us on social media!
Past events
REIYL 2022
Safe Passage: Trauma Recovery and Community Restoration in Inclusive Youth Literature and Beyond
12-13 August 2022 | Online and Glasgow, Scotland
Keynote Speaker: Author, educator and activist Renée Watson
Trauma recovery and community restoration is not just a theme for this conference; it is also an essential form of care necessitated by our collective experiences over the last three years. With ongoing political and civil unrest, a worldwide pandemic, economic uncertainty, and environmental crises, we have to take a breath – even for just a minute – to lay down our tools and to take stock of what it means to move through and from tragedy and violence.
This is a time to listen and to learn from the experiences of those who came before us. To be considerate of the needs of those around us. To form systems of protection, solidarity, support and joy. This conference is an invitation for us to gather and heal as a community, with compassion for ourselves and others, so that we can reflect on this journey in our research philosophies, interests, and practices.
Find out more about REIYL 2022:
Sponsors:
REIYL Lite 2022
Safe Passage and Self-Care: Navigating Academia and Publishing for BIPOC New Researchers and New Professionals
14 April - 5 May 2022, Thursdays at 6 PM (BST) | Online
Facilitators: Faye Bi, Aimée Felone, Dr Sonia Alejandra Rodríguez, Anastasia ‘Stacy’ Collins
A free symposium for 15 BIPOC participants to help facilitate conversations on navigating academia and the world of children’s book publishing as safely as possible.
Find out more about REIYL Lite 2022:
REIYL Spaces 2021
June-July 2021 | Online
Speakers: Dr Zetta Elliott, Danielle Jawondo, Rita Faire
A series of virtual conversations about race and racism in depictions of museum spaces in youth literature, presented in collaboration with the Manchester Museum's ‘Black History Month and Beyond’ programme.
Find out more about REIYL Spaces 2021:
Coming Into View 2020
June-August 2020 | Online
Developed by Rita Faire
Do I belong in books? Do books belong to me?
Presented in collaboration with SCOREscotland, Coming into View 2020 was a six-week programme that sought to learn about children of colour’s sense of belonging in the books they read, while also advocating for their increased agency and active participation in the discourse around representation in youth literature.
The online programme, which took place in the summer of 2020, encouraged children to self-determine and express themselves through the power of poetry (Week 2: Seeing you, Seeing Me), to qualify what makes a hero by looking at real-life people in non-fiction (Week 3: My Hero and Me), and to make themselves the heroes of their favourite narratives through the magic of fanfiction (Week 4: Becoming a Hero: Restorying and Reclaiming). Finally, we invited them to further heroism in the world by asking for the change they want to see in books and beyond through a session focused on activism and agency (Week 5: Coming into View). This all culminated in a zine made by our participants for their fellow children to be disseminated online and in-print.
The writing and illustrating activities were all facilitated by authors of colour.
As part of this programme, we also presented 30 families with a collection of books from the authors in the programme.
Sponsors:
REIYL 2019
Transatlantic Conversations in Research on Inclusive Youth Literature
8-10 August 2019 | Glasgow
Opening Keynote: Melanie Ramdarshan Bold, Darren Chetty, Farrah Serroukh
Through this first conference, we wanted to bring together like-minded students and established academics in the UK and abroad, who are dedicated to the study and analysis of current research in the field of inclusive youth literature.
We invited submissions for papers or presentations on inclusive youth literature publishing and scholarship with a particular focus on transatlantic conversations.
Find out more about REIYL 2019:
Sponsors: