Literature

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Wordless Picturebook

Wiki
Dowhower (1997) defines a book as wordless when the book’s primary meaning or message is conveyed through the illustrations.

Adaptation

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Adaptation implies the ability to evolve and change according to changing environments and demands. It is an ongoing process in all parts of the world and can be applied to many different fields. The term arises in regards to, for example, biological processes, technological advancements or reworkings in the arts (film or literature).

Dual Readership

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Dual Readership refers to the process of constructing a work or text, also called crossover literature, which can play to two different levels of understanding for various audiences. This practice is most commonly employed in children’s literature.

BookTube

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BookTube is a community on YouTube that focuses primarily on creating content, specifically videos, around the subject of literature and book-related subjects.

Fairy Tale

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A fairy tale is a work of literature that is set in a fictional world and typically incorporates magical elements.

Postcolonialism in Children’s Literature

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Postcolonialism in children’s literature refers to literary works created for children by individuals living in former colonies. This term can also be applied to the analysis and reinterpretation of literary works written from a Western perspective, to present diverse viewpoints.

Ecofeminism

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Ecofeminism, as a theoretical framework, delves into the intricate web of oppression, examining the linkages between the subjugation of marginalized communities and the exploitation of the natural world (Warren, 2000). At its core, this perspective underscores the interdependence of various forms of injustice, weaving together the threads that connect the mistreatment of nature, women, animals, and the environment (Gaard, 2009).

Multimodality

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Multimodality is frequently characterized as either the interaction among semiotic modes or the integration of semiotic modes or resources (Poulsen, 2014). It approaches comprehending communication and representation to be more than about language.

Agency in Children's Literature

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Agency in children's literature refers to the empowerment and independence of children's characters. It involves portraying children as active participants in their own lives, capable of making choices, influencing their surroundings, and shaping their destinies.

Refugee Literature

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Refugee literature refers to literary works, including fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and other forms of written expression, that focus on the experiences of refugees. These works often explore the challenges, struggles, and triumphs of individuals or groups who have been forced to leave their homes due to conflict, persecution, or other forms of hardship.

Metaphor

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A metaphor is a trope, or a figure of speech, that directly refers to one thing by mentioning features of another one; an object, or an idea, is viewed as a metaphor which offers people new ways of examining ideas and viewing the world.

Children's Literature

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Children’s Literature (often abbreviated as CL) is literature written specifically for children, about children, consumed by children and even written by children. It is often also referred as Children and Young Adult Literature because its general audience is less than eighteen years old but also often addresses people in their mid twenties. For instance, picturebooks and YA novels are important book publishing formats in this literature. However, it is mainly adults who are responsible for the production, distribution and reception of children's books. 

YA novel

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Young Adults novel (shortened as YA novel) is a literature subcategory within the Young Adult fiction genre. The concept of the young adult (YA) refers to adolescence and youth, though it is very context-dependent. According to the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) YA books are those aimed at people from 12 to 18 years old (teenagers). In most of the cases, the protagonists of the novels fall within those age ranges, and the story is told through teenage eyes.

Graphic Novel

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Graphic novels are a contemporary literature form of long stories told in comics format. They have the same characteristics of comics: multimodality, cartooning techniques and elements (panels, gutters).

Comics

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Comics (generally referring to comic books and comic strips) are a popular form of visual storytelling that combines still images and text.

Otherness

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process of differentiation and demarcation, by which the line is drawn between ‟us” and ‟them” – between the more and the less powerful – and through which social distance is established and maintained (Lister 2004).

Fiction

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Etymologically, the word “fiction” is derived from the Latin word “fictus,” which means “form.” According to Searle (1979), works of fiction result from an author's intention to perform a particular sort of illocutionary act. In the same vein, fiction is produced when authors of stories intend that readers may believe the stories are true (Currie, 1990). In literature, fiction is significant in describing imaginary events and people.

Picturebook

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The picturebook is a storytelling medium that presents its text in both verbal and visual language. According to Barbara Bader (1976), a picturebook is words and illustrations in a total design, “an item of manufacture and a commercial product; a social, cultural, historic document; and foremost, an experience for a [reader / beholder]. As an art form it hinges on the interdependence of pictures and words, on the simultaneous display of two facing pages, and on the drama of the turning page” (ibid., p.1).

Transmedia Storytelling

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Transmedia Storytelling is a concept that explains the distribution of media content across multiple media platforms. In a multi-layered media landscape, content is no longer confined to one medium, but rather works across media boundaries.

Canon

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The term canon, or canonicity, describes the rules of what is presented as true and what has happened within an imaginary world.

Young Adult

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The concept of the ‘young adult’, also synonymous with adolescence and youth, is one which is heavily context-dependent. Over time, the perception of the concept has shifted from merely a developmental outlook to one which is also bound by a socio-cultural understanding. Broadly, it is believed to be a stage between childhood and adulthood, and is influenced by several social, economical and cultural factors.

Here, yet always there: How Fleabag uses Intimacy as Distraction

Article
Inge van de Ven
02/11/2020
10 minutes to read

The article places direct address in the TV-series Fleabag  in the context of trends in self-representation on social media. Fleabag uses self-disclosure as a form of self-branding, to manipulate the audience and distract herself.

Geekerella young adult novel fandom

Geekerella and the Validation of Youth Fan Culture

Article
Ananya Sen
30/10/2020
12 minutes to read

Geekerella, a young adult novel, seeks to validate often stigmatized fan practices by showing how fan culture is responsible for the formation of identities and communities. It delves into what it means to be a teenage fan today.

Elena Ferrante’s Disappearing Act

Column
Inge van de Ven
01/09/2020
7 minutes to read

Good news for Elena Ferrante’s fans. The mysterious Italian bestseller author’s last and eighth novel, The Lying Life of Adults, is now available in book stores all over the world.

Noor Unnahar in the world of Instapoetry

Paper
Lola Vos
12/06/2020
11 minutes to read

Instapoetry is a new phenomenon on the Instagram platform. This paper features a case study of Noor Unnahar's Instapoetry examining how her works bring together various media and to what effect.

Dr. Inge van de Ven

Inge van de Ven on big books in times of 'Big Data'

Video
The Editors
04/05/2020

In her book, Big Books in Times of Big Data, Dr. Inge van de Ven from Tilburg University explores the ways in which "the digital" has influenced, and will continue to influence, the novel as a genre.

Julian Barnes’ The Man in the Red Coat: Celebrity Culture in the Belle Epoque (Julian Barnes)

Review
Odile Heynders
09/04/2020
8 minutes to read

In his latest novel, Julian Barnes combines biography, art history and cultural analysis in a hybrid form of fact and fiction. The Man in the Red Coat shows that there is much real life in literature and much fiction in reality.

Chernobyl

Why Voices from Chernobyl is a must-read you will never forget (Svetlana Alexievich)

Review
Nataliia Vdovychenko
16/02/2020
14 minutes to read

The Chernobyl nuclear disaster is one of the most tragic events in European history. Nobel prize laureate Svetlana Alexievich covers the event in her book Voices from Chernobyl giving voice to multiple victims' perspectives through interviews.

Chernobyl

Chernobyl as a medium of global art

Article
Nataliia Vdovychenko
06/01/2020
14 minutes to read

People all around the world discover the topic of Chernobyl and rethink the tragedy of 1986 through works of art connected to nuclear energy, information, and politics. How does art creation on a global scale remind us of the tragedy?