2024 Gryphon Lecture
Anastacia Ulanowics, an Associate Professor of English at the University of Florida, will present "Rethinking the Influence of Religion and Religious Identity in Contemporary U.S. Children’s Literature."
This talk centers on middle-grade novels produced during the oft-neglected Second Golden Age of children’s literature (1950-1980), which demonstrate complex engagements with religious identity and practice.
Abstract: A close study of American youth literature published from the mid-twentieth century to the present reveals a surprisingly strong and persistent preoccupation with the topics of religion and spirituality. This talk centers on middle-grade novels produced during the oft-neglected Second Golden Age of children's literature (1950-1980), which demonstrate complex engagements with religious identity and practice that were influenced by the Cold War, the Civil Rights Movement, and the rise of US counterculture. These novels, significant in themselves, are also importantbecause they shaped the critical consciousness of children’s authors who are writing today.
This event is sponsored by The Center for Children's Books