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