| Date |
Conference/Publication |
Title |
| July 24, 1999 |
Francelia Butler Conference, Roanoke, VA |
“Lilith: A Myth-in-Progress” Presented at a student organized conference at Hollins University. |
| July 2000 |
Francelia Butler Conference, Roanoke, VA |
“What’s Wrong With This Picture? Representations of Down Syndrome in Illustrated Children’s Books” Presented at a student organized conference at Hollins University. |
| June 22-25, 2000 |
Children’s Literature Association Conference, Roanoke, VA |
“Walking the Tightrope: A Consideration of Problems and Solutions in Adapting from the Oral Tradition.” For this paper, written for Dr. Tina Hanlon’s class in Hollins, I interviewed authors Julius Lester, Jane Kurtz, and William Miller. My panel chair Jill May liked the paper so much that she included it in her book. |
| 2001 |
Bookbird Vol. 39, No. 1 |
“Swimming the Mainstream: A Discussion of Criteria for Evaluating Children’s Literature about Disabilities.” Adapted from a paper in Dr. Jill May’s class on “Picture Book Illustration” at Hollins |
| March 20-24, 2002 |
International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts |
“Deconstructing the Peach: James and the Giant Peach as Post-Modern Fairy Tale.” This paper won the IAFA Graduate Student Award at the conference. I am still awaiting word that it has been published as promised. |
| 2002 |
Yad Vashem 3rd International Conference on Holocaust Education |
“Literary Legacy: Making Sense Out of Children’s Books About the Holocaust.” Abstract at www1.yadvashem.org/education/april_kenes/workshop/Tuesday_Session_A/eve_tal_2.html |
| January 2003 |
The Lion and the Unicorn. Vol. 27, No. 1 |
“Tony and the Wonderful Door: A Forgotten Classic of American Children’s Fantasy” A favorite childhood book. Paper written for Dr. C.W. Sullivan III’s class in “Fantasy and Science Fiction” at Hollins and published in The Lion and the Unicorn. 27:1 January 2003 pp.131-143. |
| June 58, 2003 |
Children’s Literature Association, El Paso, TX |
“Beneath the Surface: The Untranslated Uri Orlev.” In this paper I had the fun of exploring the work of one of my favorite authors and exposing his untranslated fantasies to an English-speaking audience. I was grateful for Uri Orlev’s assistance and found him to be both generous and astute. |
| April 2, 2004 |
The Looking Glass Vol.8 Issue 2 |
“Beneath the Surface: The Untranslated Uri Orlev” was published in the online children's literature journal The Looking Glass. It can be found at: http://www.lib.latrobe.edu.au/ojs/index.php/tlg. |
| Aug. 8-11,2004 |
Yad Vashem 4th International Conference on Holocaust Education |
“How Much Should We Tell the Children? Representing Death and Suffering in Children’s Literature about the Holocaust.” http://www1.yadvashem.org/education/conference2004/Eve Tal - How Much Should We Tell the Children about the Holocaust.pdf |
| 2005 |
Article in Book |
“Walking the Tightrope: A Consideration of Problems and Solutions in Adapting from the Oral Tradition” in Exploring Culturally Diverse Literature for Children and Adolescents: Learning to Listen in New Ways by Darwin L. Henderson & Jill P. May. I was proud to have my paper included in Jill and Darwin’s important book. Plus some of my thoughts were included in the Final Note. |
| March 31-April 2, 2005 |
Modern Critical Approaches to Children’s Literature |
“Playing with Fire: Narrative Strategies in Holocaust Literature for Children” |
| June 27-29, 2006 |
Yad Vashem 5th International Conference on Holocaust Education. |
"Presenting the Holocaust Through Picture Books" |
| August 25-29, 2007 |
International Research Society for Children's Literature 18th Biennial Congress, Kyoto, Japan |
""From Both Sides Now" - Representations of Power through Narrative Techniques in Pnina Moed Kass' Real Time and Elizabeth Laird's A Little Piece of Ground" |
| Feb. 2008 |
First Opinions-- Second Reactions. Vol.1 Issue 1 |
"Eating McDonald's in China" - My brief essay on International Children's Literature was published in the first edition of this online journal published by Purdue University. The journal also contains two interesting articles on Double Crossing. You can find the entire journal online at: http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/fosr/ |
| July 2008 |
International Research in Children's Literature. Vol.1 Issue 1 |
"From Both Sides Now: Power and Powerlessness in Two Contemporary Novels of the Middle East" was published in the first issue of the International Research Society's new journal. |
| Feb. 2009 |
First Opinions - Second Reactions. Vol.2 Issue 1 |
"Questioning Biography" Another brief essay of mine about writing and reading biographies for children in the online journal published by Purdue Univeristy. You can find my essay at this link or the entire journal here. |
While attending the Master’s of Arts in Children’s Literature Program at Hollins University, I rediscovered my interest in literary criticism, which began at Oberlin College in the 1960s, where I majored in English and American Literature. Although I had been out of academia for a long long time (I completed a Masters Degree in Special Education in the 1970s), the Hollin’s program reawakened my interest. To my amazement, I enjoyed the intellectual exercise of writing papers and began presenting at conferences and publishing in refereed journals. For a person who suffers from chronic shyness, this has been a huge accomplishment!
After completing my studies at Hollins, I resolved to attend a conference once a year in order to remain current. Living in Israel makes this rather problematic (and expensive), but so far I have made every effort to fulfill my vow. In the process I have met wonderful people whose burning interest in children’s literature has been an inspiration to me.