Accommodations:

II. 2023 IRSCL Congress Theme

ECOLOGIES OF CHILDHOOD:

In addition to discounted hotel options nearby, housing options were provided through the university, including affordable housing in student resident halls by the ocean (which also included all meals), apartment style accommodations on the edge of campus suitable for groups booking together, and hotel style rooms at The Club and Guesthouse by the lagoon, ocean, and conference venue. Lunches were provided in a university dining hall by the ocean, apart from one box/picnic lunch provided outside for the mentoring lunch or a picnic, while there was also a wine and cheese reception, a reception with heavy hors d’oeuvres, and a final buffet banquet.

The concept of the “Anthropocene” brought attention to the profound impact humans have had on our ecosystems, as mediated by cultural concepts of nature, while posthumanism rejects a dichotomy between nature and culture and understands the human as entangled with the environment. An intersectional focus on children’s literature and culture reveals how children are cast as both vulnerable to environmental destruction and as powerful agents of environmental change. As humankind faces environmental challenges of terrifying scale, the 2023 IRSCL Congress theme, “Ecologies of Childhood,” sought to bring out the ways in which childhood and ecology prove mutually imbricated in language, literature, and education. 

From a historical perspective, ‘ecologies of childhood’ in literature are not new. In China, Japan, and Korea, the concept of the ‘child mind’ drove philosophers and poets to suggest ways of interacting with the world that were deemed more ‘natural.’  In Europe, Rousseau and Romanticism reconceptualized the child’s relationship to nature, which nonetheless remains problematic from an ecocritical perspective, while subsequent Robinsonades for children demonstrate an exploitative colonial attitude toward nature and Indigenous experience. Decolonial perspectives in the Global South reveal how environmental history is intertwined with colonial history, while Indigenous voices worldwide offer alternative childhood ecologies. Around the world, national literary traditions have unique formulations of children’s relationship to nature and the environment, rooted in philosophical traditions both steeped in the local and transformed by the transnational and global.

The 2023 IRSCL Congress invited papers that engage in historical and global perspectives on ‘ecologies of childhood’ in children’s literature and culture, as informed by environmentalism, ecocriticism, ecofeminism, decolonial environmentalism, posthumanism, environmental justice, environmental activism, and environmental education, or that explore the prehistory of the Anthropocene, energy humanities, or climate change. The Congress suggested that ecologies of childhood are best approached from the vantage point of diverse international traditions, while its theme seeks to expand the critical conversation around contemporary issues along global parameters. This topic aimed to be broadly inclusive over space and time, while tackling climate crisis as a contemporary and truly global problem. In this vein, the 2023 IRSCL Congress suggested, but was not restricted to, the following topics:

NATURE, PLANT, AND ANIMAL STUDIES:

• Childhood and nature in the history of children’s literature and culture

• Nature in genre writing (nonfiction, online, fantasy, dystopia, or cli-fi) for children

• Animal studies, overlapping child/adult or human/animal identity and their complications

• Critical plant studies or trees, plants, and seeds in children’s literature

• Water ecologies or drought in children’s literature and culture

• Fire and wildfire in children’s literature and culture

• Pacific Coast ecologies and childhood (Americas, Asia, Oceania, and the Arctic)

• Discourses about children’s alienation from nature

• Children and nature in the digital age

ECOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENTALISM:

• Ecology and environmentalism in children’s literature and education

• Eco-criticism, eco-feminism, and children’s literature and culture

• Posthumanist views of the child as entangled with the environment

• The environment and global anthropologies of childhood culture

• Science and ecology in writings for children and children’s education

• Environmental literacy and environmental education in children’s media

• Island and oceanic ecologies and other endangered environments and ecosystems

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE AND ACTIVISM:

• Indigenous cultures and environmental themes in children’s literature

• Environmental justice and decolonial environmentalism for children 

• Globalization and sustainable social environments for children

• Children’s voices and agency in relation to environmentalism or climate change

• Youth culture, environmental activism, and environmental education

• Social, emotional, and environmental effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on children

• Language ecologies, endangered languages, children’s literature, and language revitalization

THE ANTHROPOCENE AND CLIMATE CHANGE:

• Children’s literature and the Anthropocene

• Climate consciousness and climate change in children’s literature, culture, and media

• YA literature, speculative fiction, dystopias, cli-fi, and science fiction responding to environmental/climate crisis 

• Fictional landscapes of climate change

• Discourses about children and the climate crisis

• Climate literacy and literary and educational materials for children

III. Location, Venue, Accommodations, and Meals 

Location:

The 2023 Congress was held in Santa Barbara, on the Central Coast of California. Santa Barbara's airport is within walking distance of the university and is around two hours from Los Angeles Airport by Santa Barbara Airbus airport shuttle or rental car. Santa Barbara is known as one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

Vene:

The Congress itself took place at the University of California, Santa Barbara, which is one of the ten campuses of the University of California system, which has a claim to be “the world’s leading public research university system.” UC Santa Barbara is also designated a Hispanic-Serving Institution with a strong record of educating diverse and first-generation college students and had recently been named the #1 Hispanic-Serving research institution in the USA. The campus is situated north of Santa Barbara on a peninsula jutting out into the sea with lagoons, beaches, and other natural habitats right on its campus. The campus also includes an Art and Architecture Museum and outdoor spaces, including outdoor courtyards and sand beaches, the ocean-side venue for the conference banquet. The University Center, where the conference was held primarily, is located at the center of the campus and also includes a variety of services. Advance practicalities of the conference were arranged in coordination with staff from UC Santa Barbara’s Conference and Hospitality Services and Catering. Conference events took place primarily at the University Center, which offered 7 parallel meeting rooms, and in Corwin Pavilion, which has capacity for over 300, as well as space in the back for exhibits and water service. The congress also partnered with the adjacent Multicultural Center, whose Lounge was used as an exhibit hall and for book signings and sales with local independent bookstore Chaucer’s Books and whose theater was used for the Chumash storytelling event. The Congress also reserved space in the Interdisciplinary Humanities Center for 2 days before the congress, for use for IRSCL Board Meetings and preparations. Outdoor space near Manzanita Hall was also used for the banquet.

Climate:

Santa Barbara has a temperate climate due to its location on a peninsula jutting out into the Pacific Ocean and bordered by the Santa Ynez mountains, which together keep the temperature, even at its hottest, more moderate than other southern or central California regions. Ocean mist, the marine layer, and summer haze further moderate the temperature on a daily or seasonal basis, especially in the summer. Indeed, the Santa Barbara peninsula has a far more moderate climate than other California regions, while 2023 proved to be a cool and wet year in general in California. We hoped the conference rooms would not be too warm and provided fans and insulated water bottles and ice water service to help keep people cool in case of need. Fortunately the temperature during the congress was quite moderate. Despite it being a very hot summer in much of the northern hemisphere in 2023, the Santa Barbara region had been unusually cool. Since it was summer term during the conference, it was fairly calm on campus.

In addition, organizers arranged group discounts at a variety of local hotels, as detailed on the website, such as Courtyard by Marriott in Goleta and Hilton Garden Inn Santa Barbara, which are the closest hotels to campus, as well as other nearby hotels that historically have offered a convenient shuttle service to campus, such as Best Western South Coast Inn. Indeed, Santa Barbara and Goleta also offered a vast array of hotel accommodations to suit every style or the preferences of guests who prefer to stay downtown in Santa Barbara at a seaside hotel, for example, instead of on campus. However, costs were very high for hotel accommodation in summer 2023, so on-campus accommodations proved popular and organizers were glad to have made these arrangements for conference guests.

Meals:

In keeping with past precedents, lunch was included for all conference participants on all four days of the conference, as were coffee breaks every morning and afternoon. There was also a wine and cheese reception the evening before the conference, a heavy hors d’oeuvres reception (intended to substitute for a meal) on the first evening of the conference, and a final catered buffet-style banquet served outdoors in a courtyard by Manzanita Hall and the ocean and open to all registered congress guests. Three times conference lunches were offered in the oceanside De le Guerra Dining Hall, which has outdoor and indoor seating and offers a variety of options and accommodates dietary restrictions. On the day of the Mentoring Lunch, however, the lunch was replaced by a box lunch for pick up outside the conference venue, so mentoring lunch participants could choose a lunch and sit at tables (organized by topic) set up for their use, while non-participants could take their lunch for a picnic or walk around campus and nearby natural locations, like the lagoon, beach, or bluffs. Printed walking tours had been provided. Guests staying at Manzanita Hall had all meals included at Carillo Dining Commons near Manzanita Hall, except for the dinner on the free afternoon, when they were free to eat elsewhere. This represented an economical option. Guests staying at The Club and Guesthouse had a simple box breakfast included. Guests staying at Sierra Madre Apartments had to arrange breakfasts and two dinners that were not included, but had a kitchen, grocery store, and restaurants nearby. This proved another option for groups staying together and traveling on a budget. Guests staying outside Manzanita Hall could opt to pay for a meal at the on-campus dining halls. In this way the Congress arranged the meals to be maximally economical for participants. The outdoor banquet took place at 6:30-9:30pm, although guests could linger longer after catering departed. Organizers were very glad to be able to invite all congress participants to the final banquet, so no one would be excluded, thanks to robust fundraising.

Accompanying Children: During the conference, information was provided about activities for accompanying children, such as week-long camps through UC Santa Barbara, Wilderness Youth Project, the Natural History Museum, the Santa Barbara Zoo, The Sea League, or MOXI Wolf Museum of Exploration + Innovation, as well as numerous other organizations that engage in the natural environment or seaside recreation. These were posted on the conference website.

IV. Technical Planning and Registration Details

Call for Papers: The IRSCL 2023 Congress Call for Papers, which was vetted by the IRSCL Board, was posted in February 2022 on the 2023 IRSCL Congress Website. It was then shared repeatedly with the IRSCL listserv and on social media in early February 2023 and again on Earth Day and again when the Call for Papers opened for paper and panel submission on September 1st 2022.

Abstract Management: Abstract management was conducted via Smartsheets. There were 336 papers with 388 presenters submitted (290 on-site and 76 digital). There was some migration from on-site to digital of about 50 individuals, which complicated planning and increased the challenge of such hybrid arrangements. In the end the Congress was planned for 200-300 on-site participants and 250-350 conference attendees and expected 75-100 digital participants. These expectations were reached. The digital Congress had over 100 digital papers.

Abstract Review: Abstract reviewers were recruited in the Fall of 2022 and abstract review took place from December 15, 2023 to January 15, 2024. The Congress had 42 expert reviewers from around the world to review papers and express our appreciation to them all, including IRSCL Board members. The acceptance rate was between 90-95% with a rejection rate of 5-10%, which is close to past norms. Organizers notified participants about acceptance (or rejection) at the end of January 2023.

Registration and Payment: The Congress used a university sponsored system for registration and payment services. Registration went smoothly and successfully processed international credit cards. Tiered registration fees were offered in recognition of differential income levels, as has been done at past congresses. The Congress offered a membership discount to IRSCL members to encourage memberships. The registration fee included the conference banquet to which all participants were invited. Organizers preferred it this way and spatially felt this was important also since the outdoor seaside banquet was located near Manzanita Hall where guests may be housed. Non-participating on-site audience members were able to register on a daily basis. As part of registration registrants were asked about: Accompanying person(s), Accessibility requests, A/V requirements, Dietary restrictions, Interest in participating in the Mentoring Lunch, Prefer a print program rather than online only, and asked them to sign a code of conduct. Interestingly more than half of participants indicated that they really prefer a print program. Since this was the majority preference, organizers opted to have a print program mainly, also to avoid technical hiccups that may have challenged international guests.

Registration data: Of 45 countries registered, the largest number came from the United States, the host country, followed by Canada, its neighbor to the north. Over 10 participants registered from each of the following countries China, India, Japan, Norway, Poland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Countries/territories represented at the congress include Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Cyprus, Denmark, Ecuador, El Salvador, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and the United States. 

Digital Congress Component: The digital conference component took place via the Whova platform and involved asynchronous access to previously uploaded video presentations and panel. The digital congress was launched during the IRSCL Congress, with streaming access to keynotes and artist-author plenaries, to simulate a conference experience for those who could not travel, so they could partake in this “Green Stream.” It was also intended to serve as a continuation and lasting testament to the event for an additional 3 months. On-site registration granted access to the digital conference.

V. Keynote Speakers, Artist/Author Plenaries, and Program Highlights

Keynotes and Artist/Author Plenaries: All four keynotes, Sara Schwebel, Lara Saguisag, Orna Naftali, and Fikile Nxumalo, accepted the invitation to speak, representing a variety of disciplines and world regions through their work and topics, which began with a locally grounded topic on and extended to global regions. Thanks to generous funding support from the UC Santa Barbara Center for Taiwan Studies and Princeton’s Cotsen Children’s Library, the Congress was able to include artist plenaries featuring primarily locally-based artists and writers whose globally-focused and multilingual work could be of interest to international audiences and worth promoting internationally: Gene Luen Yang (sponsored by the Center for Taiwan Studies), Jorge Tetl Argueta, Maya Gonzalez, and Eugene Yelchin (Sponsored by Cotsen Children’s Library). Local independent bookstore Chaucer’s Books displayed and sold featured and other relevant books at the MultiCultural Center each afternoon of the congress and books were signed by authors after their plenaries.

Dignitaries: The conference opened with a welcome to country with Barbareño Chumash elder Ernestine Ygnacio de Soto. The welcome to the UC Santa Barbara campus also involved local dignitaries from the University of California, including newly appointed Humanities and Fine Arts Dean Daina Ramey Berry, a historian with expertise in teaching about slavery to American youth, who agreed to offer opening remarks. Longstanding UCSB Chancellor Henry Yang offered extensive welcoming remarks and he and his wife Dilling Yang also attended the first keynote, Gene Yang’s artist/author plenary, and/or the third keynote on environmental education in China.

Public Events: To coincide with the Congress organizers arranged 3 public events on the theme Local and Global Indigenous Childhoods. A Chumash Storytelling event was planned on the first evening of the conference and featured local Chumash Elder Ernestine Ygnacio de Soto. A special evening film screening on campus of “Whale Rider” and in-person discussion with New Zealand’s famed Maori writer Witi Ihimaera, who wrote The Whale Rider, and was moderated by Prof. Nicola Daly (University of Waikato, New Zealand), was planned in collaboration with the Carsey-Wolf Center at UC Santa Barbara, which supported the congress and event, and offered an on-campus venue in the Pollock Theater (296 seats) for screening films. Carsey-Wolf has extensive experience coordinating film screenings and discussions and the event was also advertised to and open to the local community.

One free afternoon was included in the program, as has been the case in past IRSCL Congresses. An organized excursion was planned for those who registered their interest, with guests also permitted. This optional multi-stage excursion to local sites of relevance to the Lone Woman of San Nicolas (cf. Island of the Blue Dolphins) included a 3pm bus trip to the Santa Barbara Mission and 5pm-7pm visit to the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History and accommodated up to 180/200 interested conference participants. The event was planned in close collaboration with a team of expert community members representing a variety of expertise, perspectives, and fields and forging new community ties. Funded by a UC Humanities Research Institute Engaging Humanities Grant, this evening event was entitled Revisiting Island of the Blue Dolphins. It included a 5pm visit to related exhibits at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, a screening of a relevant portion of the documentary “West of the West,” and a panel discussion with interdisciplinary scholars, experts, and culture bearers, including Native scholars, culture bearers, and performers. The latter included Ventureño Chumash Elder Julie Tumamait-Stenslie, who performed the Lone Woman’s “Toki Toki” song. The program concluded by 7pm, at which time congress participants had the opportunity to visit downtown Santa Barbara and its variety of restaurants and places of interest, before a bus brought participants back to campus.

Special Events: In addition to these major events and 7 parallel streams of panels, the Congress offered multiple special events. An early career scholar gathering was offered during the first evening. A Mentoring Lunch, for which 95 people preregistered, on the second day of the conference was organized by Prof. Dafna Zur. There was a box lunch for pick up that day, so non-participants in the Mentoring Lunch could take the opportunity for a picnic lunch and walk around campus. An optional guided tour to an exhibition of rare children’s books in the Special Research Collection at Davidson Library was open to a limited number of participants during 3 different time periods. A hybrid IRSCL Members’ Meeting, Awards Ceremony, and Election took place on the final day. It also included the announcement of the 2025 IRSCL Congress in Salamanca, Spain.

Sightseeing: Possible independent excursions nearby included Santa Barbara Courthouse, Santa Barbara Natural History Museum, Santa Barbara Botanical Garden, Lotusland, MOXI, Santa Barbara Zoo, and North Campus Open Space/Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration on the university campus. Another alternative excursion was a boat trip off the coast and toward the Channel Islands, likely to offer sightings of sea life, such as whales, dolphins, sea lions, and sea birds as well as beautiful coastal and island views. Suggestions for other excursions before, during, and after the Congress in Santa Barbara, the nearby Channel Islands, and California, were also provided.

Conference Final Banquet: As has typically been the case at IRSCL Congresses, a conference banquet was planned for the final evening of the congress. In this case it took place at an outdoor seaside location on the UC Santa Barbara campus, near Manzanita Hall and The Club and Guesthouse, where many guests were staying. The buffet banquet (3 meal choices) was included in registration costs for all participants. Globally inspired musical entertainment was provided by a trio of local musicians from the Santa Barbara Folk Orchestra. This event concluded the 2023 IRSCL Congress.

VI. Final Schedule and Program

The Congress took place on Saturday, August 12, 2023 (arrival day) to Wednesday, August 17, 2023 (departure day), with events scheduled primarily on the four full intervening days: August 13-16, 2023, apart from a welcome reception on the arrival day.

Saturday, August 12, 2023

5:30-7:30pm Wine and Cheese Reception, Manzanita Village De Anza Courtyard, University of California, Santa Barbara

5:30-7:30pm Early Registration, Manzanita Village De Anza Courtyard

Sunday, August 13, 2023

8:00-8:45am Same-Day Registration, Corwin Pavilion Plaza, University of California, Santa Barbara

8:45am Welcome and Conference Opening, Corwin Pavilion, University Center (U-Cen)

Welcome to Country by Barbareño Chumash Elder Ernestine Ygnacio-De Soto

Welcome by University of California, Santa Barbara Chancellor Henry Yang

Remarks by UC Santa Barbara Dean of Humanities and Fine Arts Daina Ramey Berry

Greetings by IRSCL President Evelyn Arizpe (University of Glasgow)

Congress Opening by Sara Pankenier Weld (UC Santa Barbara) and Dafna Zur (Stanford University)

9:00-10:00am Keynote Precursors, Legacies, and Possibilities of Scott O’Dell’s Island of the Blue Dolphins by Sara Schwebel (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign), Moderated by Sara Pankenier Weld (UC Santa Barbara), Corwin Pavilion

10:00-10:20am Break, Refreshments on U-Cen Lagoon Plaza

10:20-11:50am Concurrent Panel Sessions 1, U-Cen Rooms

12:00-1:00pm Lunch, De La Guerra Dining Hall

1:10-2:40pm Concurrent Panel Sessions 2, U-Cen Rooms

2:30-6:30pm Multicultural Center (MCC) Lounge open for Book Sales/Signings and Exhibit Hall

2:40-3:05pm Nature Break (walk around lagoon restoration projects or exotic flora campus tour)

3:05-3:25pm Break, Refreshments on U-Cen Lagoon Plaza

3:25-4:55pm Concurrent Panel Sessions 3, U-Cen Rooms

5:10-6:00pm Artist-Author Plenary: Gene Luen Yang, Moderated by Dafna Zur (Stanford University), Corwin Pavilion (book signing to follow in MCC Lounge)

6:00pm Opening Reception, Corwin Pavilion Lagoon Plaza

7:30pm Chumash Storytelling by Ernestine Ygnacio-De Soto (Barbareño Chumash), Moderated by Kristina Foss, Multicultural Center (MCC) Theater

8:30pm Early Career Scholar Gathering (Meet outside Corwin Pavilion)

Monday, August 14, 2023

8:00-8:45am Same-Day Registration, Corwin Pavilion Plaza

8:45-9:45am Keynote When Oil and Childhood Mix: Children’s Literature and/as Petroculture by Lara Saguisag (New York University), Moderated by Phil Nel (Kansas State University), Corwin Pavilion

9:45-10:05am Break, Refreshments on U-Cen Lagoon Plaza

10:05-12:05am Concurrent Panel Sessions 4, U-Cen Rooms

12:15-1:45pm Mentoring Lunch, Box Lunches on U-Cen Lagoon Plaza

1:00-4:00pm “See and Say” Special Research Collections Exhibition open for visitation (Sign up in advance at conference registration/information desk)

1:55-3:25pm Concurrent Panel Sessions 5, U-Cen Rooms

2:30-6:30pm MCC Lounge open for Book Sales/Signings and Exhibit Hall

3:25-3:45pm Break, Refreshments on U-Cen Lagoon Plaza

3:45-4:35pm Author-Artist Plenary: Jorge Tetl Argueta, Moderated by Evelyn Arizpe (University of Glasgow), Corwin Pavilion (book signing to follow in MCC Lounge)

4:50-5:40pm Author-Artist Plenary: Maya Gonzalez, Moderated by Marina Bernardo Florez (University of Barcelona), Corwin Pavilion (book signing to follow in MCC Lounge)

5:50pm Dinner, Carrillo Dining Hall (included for Manzanita Hall residents, $14/person for others)

7:00-9:30pm Screening of “Whale Rider” Film and Discussion with Witi Ihimaera, Moderated by Nicola Daly (University of Waikato), Pollock Theater, UC Santa Barbara

Tuesday, August 15, 2023

8:00-8:45am Same-Day Registration, Corwin Pavilion Plaza

8:45-9:45am Keynote Protecting Children, Protecting Nature: The Rise and Contestation of Environmental Education in China by Dr. Orna Naftali (Hebrew University of Jerusalem), Moderated by Sabine Frühstück (University of California, Santa Barbara), Corwin Pavilion

9:45-10:05am Break, Refreshments on U-Cen Lagoon Plaza

10:05-12:05am Concurrent Panel Sessions 6, U-Cen Rooms

12:15-1:15pm Lunch, De La Guerra Dining Hall 

1:25-2:55pm Concurrent Panel Sessions 7, U-Cen Rooms

3:00pm Free Afternoon or Optional Excursion on theme Revisiting Island of the Blue Dolphins, including a visit to Old Mission Santa Barbara, a 5-7pm event at Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, and free time in downtown Santa Barbara (Board buses for excursion on Service Road by Lagoon below U-Cen)

(Enjoy a dinner out downtown or purchase a meal at Carrillo Dining Hall for $14/person)

9pm (earlier also possible) Return to UC Santa Barbara campus (Board buses to return to campus at Santa Barbara Courthouse in downtown Santa Barbara)

Wednesday, August 16, 2023

8:00-8:45am Same-Day Registration, Corwin Pavilion Plaza

8:45-9:45am Keynote on Thinking with Black Ecologies in Early Childhood Studies by Fikile Nxumalo (University of Toronto), Moderated by Lashon Daley (San Diego State University), Corwin Pavilion

9:00-12:00am “See and Say” Special Research Collections Exhibition open for visitation (Sign up in advance at conference registration/information desk)

9:45-10:05am Break, Refreshments on U-Cen Lagoon Plaza

10:05-12:00pm IRSCL Members Meeting, Awards Ceremony, and 2025 Congress Announcement, Corwin Pavilion (and via Zoom)

12:10-1:10pm Lunch, De La Guerra Dining Hall

1:20-2:50pm Concurrent Panel Sessions 8, U-Cen Rooms

2:50-3:10pm Break, Refreshments on U-Cen Lagoon Plaza

2:30-6:30pm MCC Lounge open for Book Sales/Signings and Exhibit Hall

3:10-4:55pm Editor’s Roundtable, Roxanne Harde (University of Alberta), Corwin Pavilion 

Journals: Petros Panaou for Bookbird, Macarena García González for Children’s Literature in Education, Janice Bland for Children’s Literature in English Language Education, Åsa Warnqvist for Barnboken, Roxanne Harde for International Research in Children’s Literature, Joseph Sommers for Children’s Literature Quarterly, Nithya Sivashankar for the International Journal of Young Adult Literature, Lisa Fraustino for Children’s Literature; Book Series: Kenneth Kidd for Routledge Children’s Literature & Culture Book Series, Roxanne Harde for Children’s Literature Association Book Series, and Bettina Kümmerling-Meibauer for John Benjamins Children’s Literature, Culture, and Cognition Book Series

5:10-6:00pm Author-Artist Plenary: Eugene Yelchin, Corwin Pavilion (book signing in MCC Lounge), Moderated by Larissa Rudova (Pomona College), Corwin Pavilion (book signing to follow in MCC Lounge)

6:30-9:00pm Closing Banquet, Election Results, and 2025 Congress Announcement, Manzanita Village Las Encinas Quad

VII. Fundraising and Budget

Fundraising: In the end, fundraising went very well, with the University of California and particularly UC Santa Barbara offering support from a variety of entities and sources of funds, while generous outside support also came in. The Congress exceeded its bid’s conservative initial fundraising target and surpassed its final goal of raising 50% of the conference costs through fundraising. This helped to offset costs to participants, ensure the banquet could be included for all, and provide for IRSCL travel fellowships and congress publication support. UC Santa Barbara was the most significant donor by far and contributed from a large variety of sources. Significant donations came from the Center for Taiwan Studies, Humanities and Fine Arts, College of Letters and Science, Carsey-Wolf Center, and Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor, as well as the T. A. Barron Environmental Fund. Stanford University contributed toward the conference through in-kind services, as well as staff and student time, as well as covering costs like the Whova platform and logo design. Stanford also arranged a pre-conference in January with the organizing team. The 2023 Congress also received contributions from other institutional sponsors: Pomona College, San Diego State University (SDSU) National Center for Children’s Literature, and Princeton University’s Cotsen Children’s Library. For its public humanities initiative at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, the congress garnered support from the University of California Humanities Research Institute (UCHRI) Engaging Humanities Grant for the public humanities Revisiting the Island of the Blue Dolphins event, as well as a matching commitment from UC Santa Barbara’s Humanities and Fine Arts Division via the Griffiths Foundation.

VIII. Publicity, Outreach, and Visibility

Stanford Event in January 2023: On January 20-21, 2023, conference organizers met at Stanford University for a pre-conference on Global Ecologies of Childhood: Literature and Culture for a Precarious Age hosted by the Center for East Asian Studies to present research and intensively collaborate on the conference program. This meeting allowed for efficient collaboration and raised visibility and interdisciplinary interest in the conference at Stanford University and in the northern California scholarly community.

UCSB Outreach Activities: UCSB organizers ran a 2022-2023 Research Focus Group on Global Childhood Ecologies at the Interdisciplinary Humanities Center at UCSB, which provided $1,000 toward 2022-2023 programming. Through this research group organizers were meeting regularly, sharing and discussing key readings groups facilitated by graduate and post-graduate students, hearing talks by invited speakers, and sharing their own research. This was a way for undergraduates to be involved and benefit and raised visibility on campus for the 2023 congress. It was funded to continue into 2024-2025, with new sets of graduate student co-conveners and new undergraduate participants, and is therefore a lasting research legacy of the congress collaboration.

Global Exchange: Multiple early career and senior scholars planned longer research collaboration around the conference. One received funding from China Scholarship Council to come to UCSB for a year from Tsinghua University in China and another received Fulbright postdoctoral funding to come from University of Barcelona for the summer of the congress. Senior scholars from countries in Europe also planned extend research stays and collaborations at UCSB around the congress.

IX. Sponsors

The 2023 IRSCL Congress, which was supported by the University of California, Santa Barbara, Stanford University, and the International Research Society for Children’s Literature (IRSCL), could not have been possible without the support of our generous sponsors.

The 2023 IRSCL Congress is grateful to all UC Santa Barbara sponsors:

College of Letters and Sciences

Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor

Division of Humanities and Fine Arts

Carsey-Wolf Center 

Interdisciplinary Humanities Center (IHC)

Center for Taiwan Studies

Summer Events and Entertainment Grant

Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Academic Senate 

Multicultural Center

Graduate Center for Literary Research

Department of Germanic and Slavic Studies 
Comparative Literature Program

East Asia Center

Department of East Asian Languages and Cultural Studies

Film and Media Studies

Literature and the Environment Research Center

Global Childhood Ecologies IHC Research Focus Group

Walter H. Capps Center for the Study of Ethics, Religion & Public Life

The 2023 IRSCL Congress expresses its gratitude for generous contributions from:

T.A. Barron Endowed Environmental Leadership Fund with special thanks to T. A Barron

George H. and Olive J. Griffiths Charitable Foundation

The 2023 IRSCL Congress is also grateful to the following extramural institutional sponsors or sponsoring entities:

UC Office of the President Multi-campus Research Programs and Initiative Funding 

UC Humanities Research Institute

Stanford University Center for East Asian Studies

Princeton University Cotsen Children’s Library

Pomona College Office of the President

San Diego State University National Center for the Study of Childre’'s Literature

For the Revisiting Island of the Blue Dolphins public humanities initiative, the 2023 IRSCL Congress wishes to acknowledge the support of the University of California Office of the President Multi-campus Research Programs and Initiative Funding and the UC Humanities Research Institute, as well as the UC Santa Barbara Division of Humanities and Fine Arts and the George H. and Olive J. Griffiths Charitable Foundation.

X. Publication Plans

Publication Plans: Congress organizers are working with International Research in Children’s Literature journal and editor Roxanne Harde to publish a special issue on the topic of Global Childhood Ecologies, edited by Sara Pankenier Weld and Dafna Zur. The CFP was posted on the IRCL Website. Proposals were due on January 1, 2024. It is scheduled to be published in 2024. Faculty organizers of the 2023 IRSCL Congress also are exploring future edited book publications related to the congress theme.

XI. Organizing Team

Over time the organizing team expanded on various levels to include not only faculty at UC Santa Barbara and Stanford University, but also Pomona College, as well as numerous UC Santa Barbara graduate students (from a variety of world regions) and recent PhDs, plus a Stanford graduate student and two visiting scholars from China and Spain. Multiple undergraduate volunteers were also involved, from both UC Santa Barbara and Pomona College, which set aside funds to support its indispensable volunteers.

Faculty Organizers:

●      Sara Pankenier Weld, Professor of Russian and Comparative Literature and Chair of the Department of Germanic and Slavic Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara

●      Dafna Zur, Associate Professor in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures and Director of Center for East Asian Studies, Stanford University

●      Larissa Rudova, Yale B. and Lucille D. Griffith Professor of Russian, Department of German and Russian, Pomona College

Post-Graduate Organizers:

●      Dr. Matthew Roy, UC Santa Barbara Ph.D. in Music (Musical Childhoods)

●      Dr. Tegan Raleigh, UC Santa Barbara Ph.D. in Comparative Literature (Fairy Tale Translation)

●      Dr. Marina Bernardo Flórez, Postdoctoral Scholar (Picturebooks), University of Barcelona

Graduate  Student Organizers:

●      Solaire Denaud, Comparative Literature PhD Student (Caribbean Children’s Literature and Afrofuturism), UCSB

●      Rachel Feldman, Comparative Literature PhD Student (Hebrew Children’s Literature), UCSB

●      Martina Mattei, Comparative Literature PhD Student (Adapting Italian Classics for Children), UCSB

●      Zheng Ren, Exchange Graduate Student (Multimodal Picturebooks), UC Santa Barbara/Tsinghua University, China

●      Nicole Smirnoff, Comparative Literature PhD Student (Flaneur in Children’s Literature), UCSB

XII. Feedback from Participants:

Thank you all so much for creating a fabulous intellectual experience for all of us in the past few days! This is really the loveliest academic conference I have ever been to. The level of diversity in terms of participants’ professional background, geographical regions, themes and topics, session types as well as network opportunities is extraordinary! Every section of the conference is thoughtful and offers practical takeaways for participants. And thank you for the wonderful food:-)! I learned so much from the talks and truly enjoyed the conversations with everyone. I just applied for an individual membership at the IRSCL website. Hope to continue my research in this field and look forward to helping with your conferences in future years.  

I am writing to express my deepest gratitude for the fabulous conference you and your team have created. The strong sense of equity and diversity you have promoted can be vividly experienced in the discussion of ecologies of childhood in children’s literature. I enjoyed the inspiring keynote talks and the theme-base panels from which scholars and educators from different countries could share and discuss in comfortable ways. I enjoyed the special book collection in the library. And I enjoyed the multiple approaches, like the excursion, the film, and the talks, that make everything related to Island of Blue Dolphins so REAL to us.

Thank you all for a fabulous congress- I enjoy every minute and am returning home to Australia with a head full of wonderful ideas. Congratulations on a wonderful event.

thank you to all of you for a memorable conference. I am leaving recharged and buzzing with new ideas. I will also remember your beautiful campus and the meticulous organisation of everything from food to excursions and sessions. The editors in their panel were proud of being perfectionists, but they were not the only ones to be found!

I would just like to say a huge thank you for your sterling efforts in organising such a wonderful Congress over the past few days. 

Many thanks for all your work on the IRSCL congress. You were indeed arranging two conferences at the same time, and I salute your dedication to both events.

It was my first time at an IRSCL Congress and it was such a positive experience. From the thought-provoking keynote addresses to the wide-ranging scholarly panels and the additional humanities events you organised, it was a thoroughly enriching and stimulating few days. I particularly enjoyed the Chumash storytelling and the mentoring lunch was a great opportunity to engage with more knowledgeable scholars in the field, who were really helpful and provided great advice. Everyone I spoke to at this Congress felt the atmosphere was really welcoming and open, and I think this is attributable not only to our convivial Children’s Literature community but also to the excellent organisation, which allowed everyone to feel comfortable and relaxed. A special mention for the amazing catering, made all the more delicious by the fabulous setting of beautiful Santa Barbara! Also, on the day I was due to present my paper, my mind was occupied with my forthcoming presentation and I carelessly dropped my Manzanita room keys somewhere in the U Cen building. I didn't even realise they were missing until I arrived back at the building later that day, but as I was frantically searching my bag, two of your organising committee (whose names I didn't catch but they were wearing the green ribbon lanyards) showed up, having miraculously found the keys somewhere, which meant I only experienced a few short moments of panic! I really appreciate that they took the time to walk over to my building from the main campus and find me, it was just another example of the extra care taken by all of you on the committee over the past few days. So many thanks again, I'm sure it's really heartening that the event was such a resounding success, and I hope you all enjoy a well earned break over the next few days/weeks! 

XIII. Selected Photos

Photos from Opening Remarks and Keynote Speeches:

Photos from Artist/Author Plenaries:

Photos from a Selection of Parallel Panels:

Photos from Chumash Storytelling Special Event, Editors’ Roundtable, and Special Collections Exhibition Visits:

Photos from Mentoring Lunch and Indigenous Community Meet-Up:

Photos from Opening Reception, Excursion, and Final Banquet:

Thank you to the 2021-2023 IRSCL Board:

Thank you to the entire organizing team: