Profile
Biography
I am a Senior Lecturer in English in Education. My research revolves around literary and cultural aspects of childhood and education, especially children’s literature, creative writing, literary translation in education, and the history and cultural sociology of childhood. At York, I teach on the undergraduate course in English in Education, and supervise undergraduate, MA and PhD research projects.
I joined the Department of Education in January 2016; prior to this, I was a Junior Research Fellowship in Education at Homerton College, Cambridge (UK), from 2013 to 2015. I hold a BA, MPhil and PhD in Education from Cambridge. I arrived in the UK in 2006, from my native country of France.
I am also a writer for children and young adults in French, and a literary translator from English to French.
Research
Overview
I am currently exploring literary translation, its potential role in education, and its mediation and practices in children’s literature in the UK.
My earlier years of research were focused primarily on children’s literature: my doctoral thesis explored contemporary, politically committed children’s picturebooks. An expanded version was published as The Mighty Child: Time and Power in Children’s Literature (John Benjamins, 2015). This monograph proposes an existentialist theorisation of adult-child relationships in children’s literature.
During my postdoctoral work I studied perceptions of child precocity in the 20th and 21st centuries, looking at a variety of discourses surrounding precocity, from literary to academic texts. My aim was to situate narratives of child precocity, both within contemporary concerns regarding time and economic pressures on education, and in continuity with more traditional forms of storytelling related to ‘child time’ and ability. A number of publications, including three in history of education journals, were derived from this work.
I very much like working on different types of projects and have published on such varied topics as the Mozart Effect, Roald Dahl’s Matilda, the ‘pushy parent’ label, Simone de Beauvoir... and the motif of the moon in Tintin.
Research group(s)
External activities
Memberships
Editorial duties
I am an Associate Editor of Children’s Literature in Education and on the advising board for the John Benjamins Children’s Literature, Culture and Cognition series.
I also peer-review for several children’s literature and education journals.
Invited talks and conferences
I am often invited to give talks, plenary or keynotes at conferences and professional days, as well as to schools. Please contact me for more information.
Other external activities
My activities as a French children’s author and translator take me to very many places in the world to talk to children, young adults and children’s literature professionals. You can find out more on my French website.
