In recent years, the concept of young adult literature - long established in English-speaking countries - has become an immensely popular term in Poland and beyond, opening up multidirectional discussions about the book market, young people’s modes of cultural participation, reading trends, the literary quality of works aimed at young adults, and the age range of this readership.

Studio Ghibli Films and Beyond

In 2015, when Studio Ghibli – founded by Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata, and Toshio Suzuki – celebrated its 30^th anniversary, Anthony Lioi aptly described it as “one of the most influential animation studios in the world,” attracting not only a devoted fanbase but also growing academic attention thanks to its “global reach, cinematic force, and thematic range,” including, among others, “the long-term effects of industrial waste (Nausicaä); the damage done by atomic bombs (Grave of the Fireflies, My Neighbor Totoro); the relationship of ecotopia and artificial intelligence (Castle in the Sky); the resistance of animals to habitat loss (Pom Poko); the destruction of forests by industry (Princess Mononoke); and the persistence of deep time in the present (Ponyo)” (p. 111). 

Childhood, adolescence, and technology – exploring the culture of/for Generation Z and Generation Alpha

In our upcoming issue, we would like to address the topic of the relationship between childhood (as well as adolescence) and new technologies in the context of culture of/for young recipients, concerning both the actual status quo and the cultural reconstructions of these relationships (movies, series, video games, music, visual arts, literature, fan fiction, etc.). Describing the so-called Generation Z, Agnieszka Całek argued that these are people born “already in times of widespread access to computers, the Internet, and mobile technologies. [This] generation is the first one that did not need to mechanically learn to use these advancements, but grew up and socialized in the environment of mobile phones, constant access to the network, and social media” (2021, p. 105). Representatives of Generation Z can therefore be described as “digital natives 2.0” (Kosacka, 2020, p. 51). Usually, by preschool age, they already have their first experience with modern technology (Kowaluk-Romanek, 2019, p. 194). The editor of the monograph Dziecko – media – rozwój. O konsekwencjach obecności mediów w życiu dziecka [Child ­– Media – Development: The Consequences of the Presence of the Media in a Child’s Life] even indicates the fact that “we usually register a child’s first contact with media in fetal life” (Bednarska, 2020, p. 9). (more)

The Magic of Childhood and Adolescence

In the next issue of the journal “Childhood: Literature and Culture,” we invite you to reflect on the motifs of magic, broadly understood, in various cultural texts: literary works, films, TV series, video games, theater performances, fine arts, etc. We are inspired by the academic conference “Abrakadraba! Magia w literaturze dziecięcej, młodzieżowej i fantastycznej” [Abracadabra! Magic in Children’s and YA Literature, Fantasy, and SF], organized in April 2022 by the Scholarly Circle of Fairy Tales, Children’s and Youth Literature, and Fantasy of the University of Warsaw and the Museum of Children’s Books – a special department of the Warsaw Public Library – Central Library of Mazovia Province, Poland. (more)

We are pleased to announce that „Dzieciństwo. Literatura i Kultura” has been awarded 100 points as a result of the parametric evaluation and is included in the lCI Journals Master List 2021. We would also like to remind you that since 2021 our journal has been indexed in the ERIH+ database and is included in the list of journals scored by the Polish Ministry of Education and Science. We invite you to submit your texts!

On the margins of creativity? Creators of adult culture – occasionally for children and young adults

In the upcoming issue of “Childhood: Literature and Culture,” we would like to take a closer look at the cultural texts of authors who usually targeted or target their works at adults, but occasionally addressed children and adolescent audiences. We are interested in various creative fields: literature, theater, visual arts, film, music, etc. Both in the history of culture and in recent years, there are many such cases. Literary works – prose and poetry – for young readers were created by James Joyce, William Faulkner, Margaret Atwood, Leszek Kołakowski, Agnieszka Osiecka, and Olga Tokarczuk. Agnieszka Holland, Martin Scorsese, Spike Jonze, and Guillermo del Toro, for years associated exclusively with productions for adult audiences, have directed films for children and young people. Czesław Mozil has released an album of songs for children, and Dorota Miśkiewicz together with the Kwadrofonik music group – a record featuring texts by Julian Tuwim to which Witold Lutosławski composed music. Krzysztof Penderecki created a radio opera for children (to a libretto by Ewa Szelburg-Zarembina), and the Polish Royal Opera undertook the project Let’s Make an Opera! by Benjamin Britten that involved children in creative activities. Piotr Ratajczak directed theater performances based on the novels of Adam Bahdaj, Piotr Cieplak – staging of Isaac Bashevis Singer’s Stories for Children, Agnieszka Glińska – theatrical adaptations of Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren and The Witches by Roald Dahl. Mikołaj Mikołajczyk did the choreography for a dance performance for young viewers. Salvador Dali, Yayoi Kusama, and Ralph Steadman illustrated Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and painters and sculptors of the famous German art school Staatliches Bauhaus created toys... Examples of this sort could be multiplied. (more)

We are pleased to announce that „Dzieciństwo. Literatura i Kultura”, two years only after the first issue was published, has been awarded 20 parametric points as a result of the 2021 evaluation and is included in the list of journals scored by the Polish Ministry of Education and Science. Moreover, since 2021 our journal has been
indexed in the ERIH+ database. We invite you to submit your texts!

Dimensions of multiculturality in the latest works for children and young adults 

The challenges of the 21^st-century related to the nature and dynamics of diverse intercultural relations are becoming increasingly evident, both in Poland and in the world. They are reflected, among others, in various works for children and young adults. Literary works, films, television series, comic books, theatrical performances, or video games presenting issues of multiculturality have the potential to raise awareness of the importance of specific social problems, occurring both locally and on a global scale. (więcej)

Myths, Legends, and Folk and Fairy Tales in the Context of Childhood and Adolescence: Cultural Texts of the Second Decade of the 21st Century

In the late 20th and early 21st century, critics and researchers turned their attention to the growing popularity of myths, legends, and folk and fairy tales in the works for children, young adults, and adults. The fad does not seem to disappear; on the contrary, it seems to have turned into a broader and prevailing trend. Numerous comments have been made about cultural texts representing various media and language areas, such as the works of Emma Donoghue, Neil Gaiman, Andrzej Sapkowski, Jordi Sierra i Fabra, Shrek (2001); other film retellings of myths, legends, and folk and fairy tales; live-action remakes of classic Disney animations; TV series, like Merlin (2008–2012) as well as video games such as American McGee’s Grimm (2008–2009) or The Witcher series (2007–2016).  (more)