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The aesthetic aspects of storytelling through word and image have been studied extensively in the past thirty-odd years. In 1982, the Swedish scholar Kristin Hallberg launched the concept of iconotext that has been widely employed in discussing the phenomenon. Perry Nodelman’s Words about Pictures (1988) was a landmark that placed the subject firmly within children’s literature research. The first international conference wholly devoted to the art form was held in Stockholm in 1998, featuring, among others, Jane Doonan and William Moebius. An international network was established in 2007, running biennial conferences and workshops. Dozens of monographs and edited volumes have been published, the most recent More Words about Pictures (2017), edited by Naomi Hamer, Perry Nodelman, and Mavis Reimer, and The Routledge Companion to Picturebooks (2017), edited by Bettina K├╝mmerling-Meibauer.
Metalanguage for discussing picture books/picturebooks: coming to terms
Theory vs. culture: how trustworthy are the semiotic generalizations of books like Words about Pictures or How Picturebooks Work in relationship to picture books/picturebooks produced in different times, places, cultures? Is there a universal language of picture books/picturebooks?
Picture book/picturebook design: creators’ perspective
Is there anything beyond words and images? Picture books/picturebooks without words? Picture books/picturebooks without pictures?
Looking at words, seeing pictures (e.g. implications of fonts, intraiconic texts, etc)
Young readers’ engagement with word/image storytelling: do words and pictures invite different kinds of relationships between texts and readers?
How have adjacent areas of research benefited from picture book/picturebook theory, for instance, digital literature, comics, graphic novels and games?
We will not consider proposals on content-focused topics.
Confirmed jousters are Perry Nodelman and Maria Nikolajeva.
Deadline: January 8, 2018. 300-word (or any size image) proposals for a 20-minute paper should be sent, together with a 100-word bio, to mn351@cam.ac.uk. We also encourage panel and round-table proposals. Early indication of interest would be helpful in arranging affordable accommodation. Further inquiries to mn315@cam.ac.uk.