Peter Hunt – Adjunct Professor DCU

The Centre for Research in Children’s and Young Adult Literature, School of English

— in conjunction with the School of English Research Seminar Series and the MA in

Children’s and Young Adult Literature Programme — cordially invites you to a

lecture/discussion:

Taboo?

The Cultural Collisions of That Most Influential

of Literatures – the Picture Book

 

On Thursday, 16th November 2023, 17:00 to 18:00, All Hallows Campus, Purcell

House, Room PG01.

George Orwell wrote that: ‘It is probable that many people who would consider

themselves extremely sophisticated … are … carrying though life an imaginative

background that they acquired in childhood.’ For many, that background has been

very potently supplied by the (ostensibly innocent) picture book.

 

But what should go into the picture book? What has been allowed? What has been

banned?

 

This lavishly illustrated tour of what has been given to children over the years

demonstrates how complex the situation is. Many books that were acceptable fifty

years ago would now not be publishable: some books that were banned forty years

ago would now be positively encouraged: books thought shocking in the past may

still be thought shocking – but for completely different reasons. Prepare to be

astonished, bemused, and, possibly, triggered.

RSPV: Susan Byrne susan.byrne@dcu.ie