Chiara Malpezzi is completing a PhD and is a member of the Research Group in Children's Literature (LETIN) at the University of Padua, Italy. Her doctoral research focuses on female biographies for young readers according to historical and ecofeminist perspectives. 

Grow

Grow is an initiative of three European early-career children's literature academics (Rosalyn Borst, Chiara Malpezzi, and Krzysztof Rybak) that aims at stimulating transnational dialogue and collaboration among young scholars of children’s literature. Crossing national borders, Grow fosters exchanges on children’s literature and academic traditions from different countries and seeks to put the spotlight on non-anglophone works and research as they are underrepresented in the international academic circuit.
Among Grow’s activities are a small-scale work-in-progress paper workshop (2022), a discussion on failure in children’s literature research (in collaboration with Colectivo La Lucila) (2023), a networking workshop during The Child and the Book Conference 2023, and a monthly reading group (2023). 

Engaging intercultural exchanges focusing on the visuals of international picturebooks

Grow is an initiative of three scholars with different linguistic and cultural backgrounds (coming from the Netherlands, Italy, and Poland) that aims to stimulate transnational dialogue and collaboration among young scholars, focusing on non-anglophone works and underrepresented research in international academia.

In our endeavours, we have experienced how focusing on the visuals of international picturebooks can lead to fun and engaging intercultural exchanges within university settings and beyond. One example of this was a workshop we guided at the Crossing Paths Conference (University of Padua, 2024). During this workshop, aimed at a group of student-teachers, teachers, librarians, and other educators, we focused on images representing interactions between adults and children taken from Dutch, Italian, and Polish picturebooks. The focus on the visuals of picturebooks from different countries led to lively exchanges between the participants and to the development of their visual analysis skills. It showed us that the comparative reading of pictures is a stimulating activity fostering interest and pleasure in reading picturebooks.