The Institutions that Shape Children's Literature: Schools, Publishers and Libraries

Children’s literature cannot be reduced to the book the reader holds in her hand. The act of reading comes at the end of a long chain of actions, all of which are prompted and supported by different literary, cultural, pedagogical institutions (schools, libraries) as well as by commercial interests (publishers, booksellers). Thus, to understand the conditions that shape children’s literature and children’s reading it is necessary to scrutinize children’s literature as a cultural field with its own infrastructure. Through which channels do children’s books reach the child reader? What is the role of publishers, libraries, reading campaigns, reviews of children’s books, literary prizes? Which discourses about children and childhood shape the institutions of children’s literature? What is the role of new technologies and media forms in creating new arenas for children’s literature? Which tools can children’s literature research bring to bear on the field of children’s literature and the cultural practices of reading? These are some of the questions that Barnboken – Journal of Children’s Literature Research will address in the 2015 Spring issue. We welcome proposals and articles on these and related topics up until:

21 mars 2016 (proposals)

30 maj 2016 (articles)

The articles will be published in 2016. Please send a 300-word proposal and a short bio to barnboken@sbi.kb.se. See Author Guidelines for further information on submission details.

Articles submitted for consideration may not have been previously published or presented in any other context.

Barnboken – Journal of Children’s Literature Research is published by The Swedish Institute for Children’s Books. It is the only scholarly journal in its field published in Sweden. The main language of the journal is Swedish, but articles written in Danish, Norwegian and English are also welcome. All articles accepted for publication have been peer reviewed by at least two peers and will be published online under an Open Access.

The editorial committee consists of Björn Sundmark, Associate professor, Malmö University, Sweden, Åsa Warnqvist, PhD, Stockholm University, Sweden (Editor), and Mia Österlund, Associate professor, Åbo Akademy University, Finland. Barnboken is published with financial support from the Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet).

A guide to our reference and note system can be found at the journal website.

For more information, please contact:

Svenska barnboksinstitutet/The Swedish Institute for Children’s Books 

Åsa Warnqvist, editor
Odengatan 61
SE-113 22 Stockholm
SWEDEN
Tel: + 46 8 54 54 20 65. E-mail: barnboken@sbi.kb.se