[Lunchtime Talk] IYL × AFCC: Embodying Memory: The City as a Nostalgic Space
PanelAnna Tso, Chang Young Eun, Faye Dorcas Yung Schwendeman, Le Thu Phuong Quynh, Phạm Thị Hoài Anh | Moderator: Lucia Obi
Free with Registration
Bring your own lunch and join us for our Lunchtime Talks!
This is part two of a two-part panel by the International Youth Library.
This panel consists of five short presentations by scholars from Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and Vietnam. It examines the city as an object of nostalgic contemplation, explores narratives that commemorate the disappearance of urban cultural heritage, illuminates the identity of the diaspora beyond geographical boundaries, urban change and the search for belonging, and urban space as the embodiment of collective memory.
This two-part panel takes the festival theme literally, examining not only the “architecture” of storytelling and the imaginary worlds created by adults, but also the role of the “concrete” world of cities as setting and theme in Asian children’s literature. What worlds do adults create in stories for children? In what environments does this literature take place? Is it set in the rural and historical spaces that Western readers so readily associate with Asia? Or does it reflect realistic, contemporary realities?
worldbuildingpicture booksstorytelling
Anna Tso (Hong Kong)
Dr Anna Tso obtained her Ph.D. from the School of English, Drama, and Creative Studies at the University of Birmingham. Before joining The Hang Seng University of Hong Kong, she accrued 12 years of teaching and research experience in Hong Kong’s tertiary education sector. Interested in children’s literature, myths and fairytales, Shakespeare, digital literacy, and applied linguistics, she has a publication record which encompasses 9 funded research projects with successful completions and over 70 publications. She has been a visiting scholar/research fellow at The University of Newcastle (Australia), The University of Southern Denmark, and the Internationale Jugendbibliothek in Munich.
Chang Young Eun (Korea)
Young-Eun Chang holds a PhD in German Literature from the University of Bamberg in Germany and is a Professor in the Department of German Language and Culture at Sookmyung Women’s University, Seoul. Since 2025 she has been an honorary Professor. She is an Advisory Board Member of the Korean Research Center for International Children’s and Adolescent Literature in Seoul. She specialises in comparative studies of German and Korean children’s books. Her interests include reading and teaching children’s literature.
Faye Dorcas Yung Schwendeman (Japan)
Faye Dorcas Yung Schwendeman is a scholar of children’s literature focusing on cross-cultural, historical, and social perspectives. She received her MPhil and PhD in children’s literature from the University of Cambridge, where she examined representations of East Asian cultures in Anglophone texts. She was a research fellow at the Internationale Jugendbibliothek in Munich, where she began her work on wartime children’s magazines. Currently, she is Specially Appointed Assistant Professor at the University of Tsukuba and also teaches British cultural studies and children’s literature at Daito Bunka University.
Le Thu Phuong Quynh (Vietnam)
Le Thu Phuong Quynh is a Vietnamese expert in publishing, education, and reading culture development, with more than 14 years of experience working with international NGOs and in the children’s book industry. She is the Global Literacy Manager at Room to Read, where she supports literacy programs across India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam. Her experience extends to facilitating writer and illustrator workshops, developing training curricula, and advising on book development for literacy-focused initiatives throughout Asia. Quynh also participated in many activities with other publishers and libraries to help children expand their reading skills and foster a long-lasting love for books.
Phạm Thị Hoài Anh (Vietnam)
Pham Thị Hoai Anh is an independent children’s picture book author and the founder of Vietnam’s ICBC (Initiative of Children’s Book Creative content). Through ICBC, Hoai Anh spearheads diverse educational programs and art activities, including visual art exhibitions, reading concerts, and drama performances. Passionate about reading with children, she strives to enrich their artistic experiences and spread the joy of reading, considering it a vital responsibility as a children’s book author.
Lucia Obi (Germany)
Lucia has been working in academic libraries, and also as a freelance illustrator and editor in the children’s publishing industry. Trained in Cultural Anthropology, Chinese Literature, Art and the Library and Information Sciences, she is now the language specialist for Chinese and Korean children’s literature at the International Youth Library in Munich, Germany.
Programme dates and times are subject to change.