CFP - Visuality and Illustration in Children’s Literature

Call for Papers: Visuality and Illustration in Children’s Literature

"A picture is worth a thousand words," Neil Gaiman explains and thus already hints at the immediacy and the sensual and intellectual presence of images – an appreciation which illustration is not always awarded, as pointed out amongst others by Jutta Bauer in her acceptance speech for the special price of the German Children’s Literature Award in 2009. Often neglected by readers and buyers, the visual and illustrational presentation of books has an enormous impact on the reading experience, a fact that has received growing attention in children’s literature research. Furthermore, various segments of the child lit market such as the comic are highly influential on the wider art and media scene – a fact, however, that is not always universally recognised and appreciated.

The visual nature of children’s literature is not limited to illustration, however: the impact of texts is also determined by the type, size and placement of font, the layout and accentuation of chapter titles and initials, as well as colour choice on the title, spine and cover pages. Electronic and interactive texts are also increasingly influenced by computer graphic aspects and negotiations.

interjuli 02/16 will deal with Visuality and Illustration in Children’s Literature. Possible aspects thereof are:

• illustration and visuality in the course of history
• picture book reception as an intergenerational activity
• text‐as‐image in children’s literature
• tension fields of text and image
• cover presentation and layout as dialogue with the text
• the use of picture books in teaching media literacy and criticism
• the impact of children’s literature on the mainstream
• cooperation of authors and illustrators
• children’s book illustration and art discussion
• children’s literature illustration and Avantgarde
• children’s literature illustration and art pedagogy
• illustrating problem literature
• working and sales conditions of picture books and graphic novels
• illustration and all age‐literature
• picture books and graphic novels in the classroom
• illustration and visuality in non‐fiction

As always, we also welcome contributions that do not pertain to our focal topic. Please send in your manuscripts by Feb. 1, 2016. Guidelines concerning formatting and editing standards will be sent out upon request and can be found at www.interjuli.de.

interjuli is an interdisciplinary scientific journal dedicated to the research of literature for children and young adults. We publish research papers as well as reviews of primary and secondary works.