Staff Profile

Introduction

I work in the field of children's literature, with a special interest in children's publishing and the development of children's literature since the mid twentieth century.  My work is focused around the cultural contexts for reading and the ways in which these shape literature: I am currently working on a new history of the UK's Carnegie Medal.

 Background

I completed my BA and MA work at Bristol University, moving to Newcastle for my PhD, which was part of a collaborative project between Newcastle University and Seven Stories, the Centre for Children's Books. Following completion of my PhD in 2010, I worked in part-time roles with the Open University and Newcastle University, before taking up my current post in 2011.

Roles and responsibilties

I am currently leader of Newcastle's Children's Literature Unit, one of the leading centres for research in children's literature in the UK. I also sit on the executive board of Newcastle's Centre for research in Children and Youth, which brings together the University's strengths in research on this area across all faculties.

Overview

My research interests include 20th & 21st century children's literature and publishing, prize culture, and teenage literature. I am interested in the socio-historical contexts for reading and texts, and much of my work draws on archival evidence. I work closely with Seven Stories, The National Centre for Children's Books. 

Current work

I am currently working on a history of the CILIP Carnegie Medal, considering the Medal as a focus for discourse around childhood, children's books, and national identities. I'm blogging about my observations on past winners at: https://carnegieproject.wordpress.com/.

Research supervision

I've supervised 2 PhDs and 10 MLitt projects to completion.

I'm currently supervising PhDs on bisexuality in young adult fantasy fiction, and on the fantasy author Ursula Le Guin.

I welcome applications from prospective postgraduate students on my research areas, and particularly encourage projects which take a book history or archival approach.

Undergraduate teaching

Module leader: Making Young Adult Literature (Stage 3 module)

Module lecturer: Transformations (Stage 1 module)

Postgraduate teaching

Programme leader and supervisor: MLitt in Children's Literature

Module leader: Prize Culture and the Children's Book

Module leader: Research Methods 2

Module leader: MA Dissertation: long form essay

• Articles

  • McKie K, Pearson L. Seven Stories, le Centre national du livre pour enfants au Royaume-Uni [Seven Stories: the National Centre for Children's Books, UK]. Genesis 2019, 48, 153-154.
  • Pearson L, Sands--Connor K, Subramanian A. Prize Culture and Diversity in British Children’s Literature . International Research in Children's Literature 2019, 12(1), 90-106.
  • Pearson L. The Right to Read: Children’s Rights and Children’s Publishing in Britain. Strenae 2018, 13.
  • Kidd K, Pearson L, Pyke S. Serendipity and Children’s Literature Research in the Library. International Research in Children's Literature 2016, 9(2), 162-178.
  • Pearson L. La littérature britannique pour enfants sur le marché international [British Children’s Books in the International Market]. La Revue des livres pour enfants 2013, 269, 110-117.

• Authored Books

  • Pearson L. The Making of Modern Children’s Literature in Britain: Publishing and Criticism in the 1960s and 1970s. Farnham: Ashgate, 2013.
  • Pearson LR, Hunt P. Children's Literature. London: Longman, 2011.

• Book Chapters

  • Pearson L, Sheeky-Bird H. Periodical Publishing and the Independent Press: Nancy Chambers, Thimble Press and Signal: Approaches to Children’s Books. In: Wilson, N; Batershill, C; Heywood, S; Joseph, M; La Penna, D; Southworth, H; Staveley, A; Willson Gordon, E, ed. Edinburgh Companion to Women in Publishing, 1900-2000. Edinburgh, UK: Edinburgh University Press, 2024.
  • Pearson L. Prizing the Nation: postwar children's fiction. In: Plain G, ed. British Literature in Transition 1940-60: Postwar. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019, pp.209-224.
  • Hunt P, Pearson LR. Children’s Books. In: Andrew Nash, Claire Squires and Ian Willison, ed. The Cambridge History of the Book in Britain: 1914-2000. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019, pp.319-340.
  • Pearson L. 'This started like a fairy story’: fantasy, realism and bibliotherapy in Jacqueline Wilson. In: Pearson, L, ed. Jacqueline Wilson. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015.
  • Pearson LR. Finding Secondary Sources. In: Grenby, M.O., Reynolds, K, ed. Children’s Literature Studies: A Research Handbook. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011, pp.62-70.
  • Pearson L, Reynolds K. Realism. In: Rudd, D, ed. The Routledge Companion to Children’s Literature. London: Routledge, 2010, pp.63-74.

• Edited Book

  • Pearson L, ed. Jacqueline Wilson. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015.

• Editorial

  • Pearson L, Sands-O'Connor K, Subramanian A. Curating National Literatures. International Research in Children's Literature 2019, 12(1), v-vii.