In her talk, “Distant Violence: Preserving Collective Memory in Catalan Works of Fiction for Young People”, Pujol-Valls explained that she had studied 27 novels for children and young people, written in Catalan and published within the last 30 years, that are set during the Spanish Civil War and its aftermath. 

Her aim was to examine the potential influence a book’s subject can have on its readers, along with the role played by the narrative perspective. She also analysed the political context and justification for writing about the war, and the use and effect of different narrative perspectives in presenting this particular period in history to younger readers. “Novels written in Catalan and aimed at younger audiences can tackle the topics of war and violence without causing the reader harm”, she asserted.

The Child and the Book, a conference on children’s literature, has been held at different European universities since 2004. This year’s edition took place at the Universidade de Aveiro in Portugal.