Children’s literature. Italian Children’s literature is generally associated with three texts: Carlo Collodi’s The Adventures of Pinocchio (1883), Edmondo De Amicis’ Cuore [The Heart of a Boy](1886), and Gianni Rodari’s Favole al telefono [Telephone Tales](1962). These texts are often considered embodiments of the three classic muses of Italian Children’s Literature: Pedagogy, Aesthetics, and Humanism.
In the past five decades, however, Italian Children’s Literature has undergone significant changes in contents, genres, narrative structure, literary language, visual and poetical composition. Authors such as Bruno Tognolini, Beatrice Masini, Giusi Quarenghi, Mino Milani, Angela Nanetti, Bianca Pitzorno and Roberto Piumini have introduced significant innovation to Italian Children’s literature. Their literary experimentations and new storytelling techniques have inspired a new generation of Italian children’s authors and poets (Chiara Carminati, Davide Calì, Sabrina Giarratana, Silvia Vecchini). Genres start to blend, blurring the boundaries between fiction and nonfiction and presenting multiple perspectives on stories or retelling of the same story.
Several illustrators have expanded the possibilities of visual storytelling, transforming picturebooks into valuable sociocultural and historical documents with high aesthetic value. For instance, Roberto Innocenti’s works raise important questions about the representations of the Holocaust in children's literature. Alessandro Sanna’s wordless graphic novel, The River, connects geography to the flow of time, providing an ethnographic account of the twentieth century in some of North Italy’s poorest areas. Meanwhile, illustrators like Beatrice Alemagna and Chiara Carrer have reimagined children’s characters, creating innovative and visionary characters even for very young children. Attilio has 13 constructed visual microcosms specifically designed for toddlers. Other authors, like Arianna Papini and Pia Valentinis, have explored the liminal spaces between fiction and nonfiction.
The focus of this special issue of Bookbird is on the lesser-known contemporary production of Italian Children’s literature.
The editors invite submissions that address the following themes:
- History and modern classics of Italian Children’s literature
- Comparative analysis on Italian contemporary children’s texts
- Adaptation and transmediation of Italian children’s classics and contemporary children’s books
- Visual, graphical and typographical trends in contemporary Italian picturebooks
- Migrations, cultural diversity and post-colonial Italian children’s stories
- Playfulness and materiality in Italian books for children aged 0-3
- Poetry and melody in Italian children’s tradition
- Challenging Italian nonfiction for children
Full papers should be submitted to the guest editor Marnie Campagnaro (marnie.campagnaro@unipd.it) and the editor, Chrysogonus Siddha Malilang (chrysogonus.siddha.malilang@mau.se), by 30 September 2023. They also welcome submissions for “Letters” and “Children and Their Books” with the same topics. Please see Bookbird’s website at www.ibby.org/bookbird for full submission details.
(Quelle: Aussendung)