Karen Chandler president of the Children's Literature Association

Karen Chandler has begun her tenure as President of the Children’s Literature Association, for 2019-20. Since 1973, the Children’s Literature Association has aimed to “encourage high standards of criticism, scholarship, research, and teaching in children’s literature.” It organizes an annual conference, and in June 2020 the meeting will be at the University of Washington (Bellevue). 

Dr. Chandler’s tenure as President of the ChLA recognizes her publications and leadership in the field of children’s literature. In her first “President’s Message” to the ChLA community, she writes,

Among the many notes from Michelle Martin’s amazing Francelia Butler Lecture at this June’s ChLA Conference that have stayed with me is her closing suggestion that we “think about what our counter-stories are.” As individuals, as readers, critics of, and advocates for children’s literature, and particularly as members of the Children’s Literature Association, what are our counter-stories? How have we fit our experiences into long-standing cultural narratives about personal, academic and professional achievement, and how have we complicated and rewritten stories to express ourselves? How have we conveyed these alternative stories and what effects have they engendered? How can ChLA be a space in or through which we can share our counter-stories?

To read the rest of Dr. Chandler's statement, click here.