Abstract

Homerton College and the Cambridge Faculty of Education have a long tradition in children’s literature which has earned both institutions a strong national and international profile for high quality research and teaching. Distinguished scholars have taught the subject to many undergraduate, postgraduate, Advanced Diploma, masters and doctoral students over the years with excellent results. Between them, both institutions have hosted a dozen highly appreciated international conferences, all of which have resulted in well reviewed edited volumes. Members of the research and teaching team have made a name for themselves in influential roles on the national and international stage, as well as publishing excellent books, chapters, articles and literary guides. Homerton College Library boasts a superb collection of twentieth century children’s fiction and some rare books. Homerton also hosts the annual Philippa Pearce Memorial Lecture.

The Centre has several distinctive features in comparison to other existing centres in the UK. Its members have unique expertise in poetry, film and multimedial texts, including picturebooks, as well as in teaching and promoting writing for children. The team has a strong international focus and a special interest in historical and sociocultural perspectives on children’s literature. We offer an exemplary balance of literary, aesthetic and educational approaches to the subject, as well as substantial theoretical expertise and wide experience of conducting empirical research in the field. We have strong links with the artistic community of authors, artists and poets (the Poet Laureate is an Honorary Homerton Fellow) and literary and artistic institutions such as the Arts Council, Poetry Society, Poetry Book Society, Book Trust, and British Council. The key objectives of our centre are:

• running excellent courses for our undergraduate, postgraduate and higher degree students
• developing and consolidating research in children’s literature
• creating and enhancing a favourable scholarly community for advanced research in children’s literature
• attracting research students
• attracting visiting scholars
• offering recurrent scholarly conferences, symposia, workshops and other events
• promoting Homerton College and the Faculty of Education as an outstanding research community in children’s literature
• making links with practitioners in schools, libraries, other universities
• supporting practitioners through dissemination of high-quality research
• active networking with other centres and research institutions, nationally and internationally For further information please visit http://www.educ.cam.ac.uk/centres/childrensliterature/