Exploring Language in Children's Literature

Following on from our event on 'Publications, Projects, and Post-PhD Life' with early career academics, our second event of the ISSCL Conversation Series features guest speakers Dr Cassie Smith-Christmas (University of Galway) and Dr Áine McGillicuddy (DCU) for a discussion on languages, linguistics, and children's and young adult books.

Cassie is an author and lecturer in Children's Studies at the University of Galway, where her research focuses on the intersection of the family and society, particularly within the sociolinguistic sub-field known as Family Language Policy, and especially on children's agency in language revitalisation. Cassie is currently a SFI-IRC Pathways awardee for her project Gaeltacht Families and Multilingualism (GAELFAM), which centres on families living in Gaeltacht areas who speak a language in addition to other than Irish or English in the home.

Áine is Assistant Professor in the School of Applied Language and Intercultural Studies (SALIS) where she lectures in German Studies and Children's & YA Literature Studies. Áine is Principal Investigator on the DCU research team for the EU co-funded Creative Europe project G-Book 3: Audience engagement activities for the social and emotional education of EU teens through gender-positive literature and digital technology (2024-2027). Áine also has an interest in multimodal literature for juvenile readers ranging from wordless picturebooks to multilingual picturebooks.

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Host or Publisher The Irish Society for the Study of Children's Literature