Education Blog

Reconciling Difficult Colonial Truths:  Literature for Children and Youth 

4:00-6:00 pm.  Wednesday, October 26, 2016
Irving K. Barber Center, Chilcotin Board Room, Rm 256

Given the legacy of 500 years of colonization, sharing and telling stories for children and young adults about difficult truths is important in moving forward towards reconciliation.  As part of the journey,  increased sensibilities and approaches are needed and give rise to many questions. How can children’s literature be decolonized and made appropriate for 21^st century learners? What role do writers, illustrators, teachers, teacher-librarians and children’s librarians play in the process? What ethical and respectful approaches are employed to decolonize the creation, dissemination and use of literature, especially about issues that readers find stressful and upsetting? Who should tell the stories? What are the risks and benefits of appropriation and commodification of cultural heritage?  And what critical analysis skills are essential when promoting and sharing literature that is both historic and an ongoing expression of colonization? Join our School Library Day conversation, to hear from our panelists.

Maggie De Vries will talk as a writer and editor.  She edited Fatty Legs and A Stranger at Home and wrote the teen novel, Rabbit Ears.

Gordon Powell will provide insights as a teacher, teacher-librarian and district principal for Aboriginal Education in Surrey about First Nations collections and integrating aboriginal content.

Julie Flett will speak about her work as a Cree-Metis Canadian author and illustrator and how she indigenizes picture books for children.

Arushi Raina will comment about apartheid and growing up as a teenager in South Africa and how that influenced her debut young adult novel, When Morning Comes.

Free event, featuring light food and refreshments.

Videopodcasts of past National School Library Day Events are available at http://www.ikebarberlearningcentre.ubc.ca/category/webcasts/library-and-information-science/
2010 Video Games and Youth Eric Meyers and Kathy Sanford
2011 Project Information Literacy Michael Eisenberg
2012 Engaging Youth with Indigenous Materials   Debra Martel and Allison Taylor-McBryde
2013 BC’s New Education Plan School Libraries at the Centre of Learning   Gino Bondi, Patricia Finlay
2014 Connecting Authors and Readers   Vivian Howard
2015 The Place and Space for Canadian Children’s Literature in Our Lives and Libraries Maggie de Vries,  Jan Hare, Judith Saltman and Yukiko Tosa