Launch of new publication and calendar
This year the Church of Ireland College of Education celebrates the bicentenary of the founding in 1811 of the Kildare Place Society, the charitable organization in which the present-day college has its origins.
The opening event of the year of celebration took place on Thursday 27th January with the launch of Irish Children’s Literature: New Perspectives on Contemporary Writing edited by Valerie Coghlan and Keith O’Sullivan, published by Routledge. The publication looks critically at Irish writing for children from the 1980s to the present, examining the work of many writers and illustrators and engaging with major genres, forms, and issues, including the gothic, the speculative, picturebooks, religion, ethnicity, and globalization. It contextualizes contemporary Irish children’s literature in relation to Irish mythology and earlier writings, as well as in relation to Irish writing for adults, and fills a gap in the critical study of this exciting topic. Both Valerie Coghlan and Keith O’Sullivan are on the staff of the Church of Ireland College of Education. The contributors to the volume are all established academics based in Ireland and abroad.
CICE Publications, based in CICE, has published an 18-month calendar to celebrate the bicentenary. It reflects 200 years in the history of Irish education and of CICE. Material from the college archives and scenes from present-day college life are colourfully illustrated in this two-page to a month calendar which also contains interesting information about the history of CICE. The calendar may be ordered from The Library, Church of Ireland College of Education – library@cice.ie.
Further events marking the bicentenary will be held throughout 2011, including a conference in October on the history of reading and children’s books. More information about future events is available on the College website – www.cice.ie.
Irish Times notes – Feb 5