Human/Nature

Diversity Drop: What’s Happening in Young Adult Fiction Now?

There has been a steep drop in diversity in children’s literature, bucking the trend of years of steady increase. How is Young Adult literature responding to the politicisation of diversity? Dr Aneesh Barai, Professor Karen Sands-O’Connor, author and columnist Dr Darren Chetty and award-winning author Sita Brahmachari, discuss their creative and critical writing about diverse youths in literature.

The Morecambe Winter Gardens: Contested Histories

The Morecambe Winter Gardens is a Grade 2* Listed Theatre. For five years Professor Vanessa Toulmin has been the Chair of the Preservation Trust responsible for raising over £4.4 Million pounds of funding to stabilise the building and restore its important features. Vanessa discusses the contested history of the venue, placing it in the wider context of 20th century performance studies and examining previously unknown histories that reveal a different narrative to the standard seaside variety hall that it has been placed within.

Sheffield Music City

Musician Neil McSweeney and colleagues from the Department of Music, examine music's deep roots in Sheffield's story while envisioning the creative potential of our musicians and music organisations to help define the city's future.

Human/Nature

As part of her curation of the Human/Nature strand, Professor Joanna Gavins discusses what it means to be human in the natural environment and the degrees to which we see ourselves as part of or separate from the natural world. How do we understand our relationship with the rest of the planet and how might we construct a future in which we can live a good life within planetary boundaries?

Empowering Women’s Voice through Translating Japanese Fiction

Contemporary Japanese Women’s writing is experiencing a “boom” in translation, with special interest from younger generations. How has this “boom” happened, and who created this landscape? Dr Nozomi Lynette Uematsu from the School of East Asian Studies is joined by translators Ginny Tapley Takemori and Allison Markin Powell from the Strong Women, Soft Power collective and Kristen Vida Alfaro, Director of Tilted Axis, an independent publisher to discuss the provision and sales of Japanese women’s writing in translation.