In light of the powerful interest in children’s literature at UBC reflected in the development of the Vancouver Roundtable and in the work in the field in the academic units, it is not really surprising that UBC (and SLAIS) became home to the MA in Children’s Literature. This program, the only program of its kind in North America, brings a multidisciplinary focus to the study of children’s literature. Much as the VLCR does, the MACL explores children’s literature through the combined disciplines of Education, Library and Archival Studies, English Literature, and Creative Writing (http://www.slais.ubc.ca/programs/macl.htm). Encouraging scholarship on Children’s Literature is a critical part of ensuring that the study of children’s books and of the craft of creating these books is a recognized and valued discipline and the Vancouver Roundtable is pleased to acknowledge this connection with the MACL Program when the Ronald Jobe Scholarship in Children’s Literature (http://www.library.ubc.ca/edlib/table/ron.htm) is presented to an outstanding student at the annual Illustrator’s Breakfast event (http://www.library.ubc.ca/edlib/table/events/breakfast.htm).
While day-long programs, events and celebrations of the Vancouver Children’s Literature Roundtable address the interests of a very broad community of members throughout the Lower Mainland, the ties to the UBC community established by Ron Jobe and his co-founders over thirty years ago continue today. Roundtable continues to benefit from the unstinting support of the librarians of the Education Library and of the participating faculty and administrators in the Department of Language and Literacy Education.
Now, let’s see where we go from here.
November 2010