Edwidge Danticat Society: ALA 30 (2019)
May 23-26, 2019
Westin Copley Place
Boston, MA 02116

The Edwidge Danticat Society invites papers for our affiliate panel at the 30th Annual American
Literature Association conference in Boston, Massachusetts. Danticat has published six books for children and young adults – Anacaona, Behind the Mountains, Eight Days, The Last Mapou, Mama’s Nightingale, Untwine – and plans to release a new picture book in Spring 2019. We seek papers that explore the accomplishment of Danticat’s work for the young, especially in light of cultural pressures on immigration and the ascendance of youth activism.

The Edwidge Danticat Society invites proposals for 15-minute presentations; possible topics
addressing her work for young people include but are not limited to:

● Telling history to a young audience
● Depiction of immigration, displacement, and family separation
● The role of folklore and memory to cultural re-creation
● Children’s literature as a site of political intervention
● Danticat as a picture book author / her collaborations with illustrators
● Generic boundaries on Danticat’s work
● Gender, child rearing, and narrative in the children’s texts
● Representing the earthquake, loss, and grief to young people
● Childhood as a site of resistant cultural archiving

By December 10, 2018 please submit a 150 word biography, 300 word abstract (including working title) and any a/v needs to Katharine Capshaw (capshaw@uconn.edu). Membership with the Edwidge Danticat Society (www.edwidgedanticatsociety.org) is required for panelists, but it is not required to submit proposals for consideration.

Membership dues to the Edwidge Danticat Society (www.edwidgedanticatsociety.org) and ALA
conference registration (www.americanliteratureassociation.org) must be paid by April 15, 2019, or papers/panels will not appear in the conference program.