Sifting through children's literature
A daylong conference on children's literature in March this year came in combination with a creative writing workshop. Children from three English and one Bangla medium schools of classes three to five participated in creative writing, kids drawing and illustration. The result was the wallpaper made up of children's work later displayed in their respective schools. Support for the workshop came from children's story writers, illustrators, animation artists, performers in juvenile art, culture, cartoons, and choreographers.
At the inaugural session Golam Samdani Fakir, Pro Vice Chancellor of BRAC University, reflected on his childhood reading experiences. Eminent children's fiction writer Anisul Haq noted that children imagined themselves as no different from grown ups.
On the first day of the conference, Sara Zaker, project director of Nayantara Communications, introduced her team and the famous children's educational program 'Sesame Street' as 'Sisimpur' in Bangladesh, with the motto 'Pora Lekhar Notun Shoor…Jai Cholo Jai Sisimpur.' She shared her experiences of developing this children's program and the challenges she encountered.
Litu Sakhawat of Nayantara Communications laid emphasis on co-ordination in the process of writing, translating into cartoon character, animation and direction for a meaningful creation of children's Sisimpur. Writer-cartoonist Ahsan Habib pointed to the gaps in the Bangladesh experience in illustrating for children. R.N. Wassay captured the magnificence of poetry in a simpler form in a set of poetry book for children.
Student Rafiuddin presented a paper on Modern Day Fairytales, the Revolutionary Girl Utena, and an animated TV series. There are no literary versions of the series except in Japan. Movie titles of the same are available in Italian, French, Portuguese and Taiwanese.
Student Islam presented a reflective paper on The Hidden Truth of Oscar Wilde's Fairy Tales. Though the writer's fairy tales were intended for young readers, they contained 'social overtones that most children would not understand.' There is much criticism of the Victorian society in Oscar Wild's fairy tales.
The eminence of children's literature in European countries was focused on by Shamsad Mortuza, a teacher at Jahangirnagar University. He dwelt on Astrid Lindgren, the Swedish author of the best-known children's book series Peppi Longstocking. She received the Right Livelihood Award 1994 for her support for children and animal rights, and her opposition to corporal punishment. Most recently, the Belgian illustrator and author Kitty Crowther won the 2010 Lindgren Memorial Award for expressing 'deep humanism' in children's literature.
S.Karim, from Dhaka University, discussed issues related to the psychological development of imagination in children. Study of children's literature is central because of its influence on adults and children during the formative years. Kristine Peleg, now a visiting Fulbright Professor, an academic in political science with a background in women's studies, presented the keynote paper at the conference. She is a former student of Jack Zipes, author of Oxford Encyclopedia of Children's Literature.
Peleg views literature as political. Reading literature is for pleasure and beyond pleasure.
The overall purpose of studying literature is to develop in students an ability to demonstrate an awareness of the scope and variety of works in children's literature. The students analyze these works as expressions of individual and human values within a historical and social context.
The conference arranged aimed at instilling in children a love for the written word, so that they could learn to love reading. Those were the thoughts of Professor FirdousAzim of BRACU. She noted that stories and books for children were an important aspect of every writer's world. This then requires analyzing and researching.
In examining modern children's literature too often, it is found that children's stories are 'tailored for purposes of political correctness, that these be wholesome and are in the right direction.' However, a careful analysis shows that children's stories are full of fear and elements of danger are clearly present. The presence of heroes in children's stories confirms this aspect. It was to examine such ambivalence that a daylong session held on the nature of children's stories.
This first collaborative venture, in the field of children's literature in Bangladesh by the department of EnH-BRACU and Nayantara Communications ended on a happy note.
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