Message from our friends at the Manchester Centre for Youth Studies. Hannah Smithson informs us of a free event on the 19^th February, sponsored by the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence and the Manchester Centre for Youth Studies .

Please share the event with anyone who you feel would be interested. Anyone can sign up for free at our Eventbrite link:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/europe-and-the-child-crisis-activism-and-culture-tickets-83176480091

We are really pleased to have such great writers on board (Dean Atta, Matt Killeen, Shirley Mcmillan and Marie Basting) as well as a fabulous group of young people for our youth-led session. We are happy to welcome more young people onto the panel, too – so if you know anyone who is interested, please contact C.germainebuckley@mmu.ac.uk

Europe and the Child Crisis, Activism, Culture 

Sponsored by the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence and the Manchester Centre for Youth Studies 

Geoffrey Manton Building, Off Oxford Road, Manchester Metropolitan University 

10:00 Registration. Coffee and Tea 

Opening Remarks (Geoffrey Manton LT 5) Dr Ellie Byrne and Dr Chloe Germaine Buckley 

10:15 – 12:15. Panel 1: YA and Children’s Literature: Reading/Writing Europe (Geoffrey Manton 235) 

Chaired by Dr Ellie Byrne 

Relational Models of Self: Undoing the Human/Animal Divide in Tamora Pierce’s Wolf-Speaker – Leah Phillips 

Childhood, and Colonial Memory in French Youth Literature – Beatrice Ivey 

Entering Europa: The BrexKidLit Dystopia Before and After the Referendum – Blanka Grzegorczyk 

10:15 – 12:15. Panel 2: Youth Activism and Culture (Geoffrey Manton 234) 

Chaired by Chloé Germaine Buckley 

Youth Activism and the Climate Emergency: the Public Sphere and Vulnerability – Paul Giladi 

“Earth Heroes”? The Problem of Futurity in Children’s Climate Crisis Fiction – Chloé Germaine Buckley 

How do we support young people taking action in an era of depoliticization? – Ben Bowman 

12:15 – 1:15. Lunch Provided (GM 226) 

1:15 – 2:00 Creative Panel (GM LT5) 

Challenging Futures: YA Authors Matt Killeen and Shirley McMillan in conversation with Marie Basting 

2:00 – 3:00 Speaking out: Youth-Led Panel (GM LT5) 

Presentation: Co-producing creative partnerships across autonomous groups of young people in Manchester, Rennes and Bologna; An ERASMUS+ project concerned with youth participation – Harriet Rowley, Chloe Malandra, Joshua Wilkinson and David Hall. 

Youth Discussion Panel: Challenges and Opportunities for Young People in Europe 

3:00 – 3:30 Refreshments 

3:30 – 4:30 Celebrated YA novelist Dean Atta (GM LT5) 

Reading, discussion and book signing, chaired by Dr. Muzna Rahman