Nicola on Fulbright in Arizona

30 October 2019 Kia ora   koutou Yesterday was my first day at Worlds of Words , the center for global literature where I am visiting for the duration of my time here. It is a beautiful facility with a current exhibition of Visual Narratives (also known as silent picturebooks or wordless picturebooks). Given that this is the topic for next year’s WaiPRU picturebook seminar, I am looking very closely! Worlds of Words is a beautiful space including a large library area, desks for students to work at, exhibition spaces, conference rooms, offices, a classroom and a presentation space where I will be giving a talk next Tuesday 5 November .   In the afternoon I had the opportunity to travel to a local school with my host Kathy where she and her colleagues run a Global Cultures Club as part of the after school programme. In this they use children’s literature to open discussions about the world, raise global awareness,   and develop intercultural skills. It...

The first day at the USBBY regional conference, held at the University of Texas, in Austin, Texas was very interesting. There were two panels of authors and illustrators discussing their work which have been really interesting. I met illustrators and authors whose work I already knew: Grace Lin, Christian Robinson and Allen Say , and new authors and illustrators including Baptiste Paul , Ekua Holmes and Cynthia Leitich Smith . In the break out sessions on Day 1, my favourite  was presented by two Canadian academics from Canadian IBBY (Jenny Kay Dupuis and Mary Beth Leatherdale) who have made a list of 100 picturebooks reflectin g indigenous stories and voices. They’ve called it From Sea to Sea .  Their motivations were several: to ensure indigenous children can hear their own stories, and that non-indigenous children have a window into indigenous perspectives, to highlight the high quality of indigneous publications, to break down stereotypes. It was really inspiring. Ev...

This is where I will be keeping a blog of my experiences on a Fulbright Fellowship at the University of Arizona.  Please note that this  blog is not an official U.S. Department of State website, and the views and information presented are my own and do not represent the Fulbright Program, the U.S. Department of State, or my home government.