Children's literature, research and a conference.

Do you recognise the plant in my hand? It's the iconic New Zealand silver fern. The top side of the leaves are green, but the underside are this white/silver colour that reflect the light when they fall to the ground!
I was in New Zealand recently to attend the Australasian Children's Literature Association of Research (ACLAR) conference. The conference was held at Waikato University and included presenters from all around the globe, including Norway, Poland, the USA, Samoa and more. It was very exciting (and somewhat daunting) to be rubbing shoulders with a conference full of experienced children's literature scholars! Especially as I had been invited to present a paper from my PhD research! 

The theme of the conference was 'whenua', which is a Maori word meaning 'land' but also including concepts of connection to place. There were many sessions exploring themes such as indigeneity, indigenous language and place. I really appreciated learning more about the New Zealand context of children's books, especially the role of Maori language in texts for kids. Exciting stuff! 
On the fourth day of the conference it was my turn to present. I shared some of my work looking at the role of spiritual questions in two short stories for young adults. (In my research, I refer to spiritual questions as the type of questions that arise around topics of faith, belief, spirituality etc.) Although the audience for my session wasn't very big (only two people turned up!) they were keen and we had some good discussion afterwards. My supervisor was also happy with my presentation, so I'm calling my first international conference as a children's lit scholar a 'win'!
After the conference finished, a group of us visited the Hamilton Gardens, which is a fascinating series of enclosed gardens, each a different theme. That was where I saw the silver fern. It was also where I found this cute Model T Ford and posed for a silly photo! Pottering around the gardens was a perfect way end to a full week of learning and ideas before heading back home to continue working on my research.