Yale Child Study Center
230 South Frontage Rd.
New Haven, CT 06520
Tel: 203.785.5759
emily.deegan@yale.edu

Anna Freud Centre Program

What is it? Eight of Britain and North America's best-known children's book authors will join forces with six of Britain and North America's most distinguished child analysts to present a day-long conference entitled “Fear and Fiction: The Power Of Children’s Books and The Inner Life of The Child”, a theme which highlights the feelings and concerns that children and adolescents are trying to cope with in today's uncertain world.

Each author will address the day’s topic with a presentation of one of his or her own books. Each child analyst will respond from his or her unique perspective. The range of books will include picture books for young children, fiction for children aged 8 to 12 years, and fiction for adolescents. A book signing will be sponsored by the Bank Street Bookstore.

Who is it?

This thought-provoking and timely conference is being co-sponsored by Yale University Child Study Center and London’s Anna Freud Centre, two centers internationally recognized for their contributions to understanding of child development. The conference co-chairs are child analysts Linda C. Mayes, M.D. from Yale and Mary Target, Ph.D. from the Anna Freud Centre.

Scheduled to speak at the conference are children’s book authors David Almond, Chris Crutcher, Robie H. Harris, Lois Lowry, Pam Munoz Ryan, Martin Waddell, Mo Willems, and Jacqueline Woodson. We have learned that Neil Gaiman is not able to be at the conference. However, he has prepared comments to be read at the conference as part of the AUTHOR/ANALYST Session #2: Fiction for ages 8 - 12 years and his book The Wolves in the Walls will be discussed by that panel's two participating analysts. Speaking with them will be six child analysts, Judy Yanof (Boston), Karen Gilmore (New York), Alicia Lieberman (San Francisco), Nick Midgley (London), Arietta Slade (New York) and Jenny Stoker (London).

Keynote speakers will be Gregory Maguire, author of Wicked, and Steven Marans, Ph.D., of Yale University Child Study Center, author of Listening to Fear.

When and where is it?

The conference which will take place at The Bank Street College of Education in New York City, on Saturday October 21st 2006.

For details of the location of The Bank Street College of Education, please click here.

What next?

There is already a great deal of enthusiasm in the UK among the professional community, publishing as well as psychoanalytic, for this subject. For this reason, we hope that a similar conference, entitled ”Fiction, Feelings, and Imagination: The Power of Children's Books and The Inner Life Of The Child” will be held in London in October 2007. Date will be confirmed by late summer 2006.

Yale School of Medicine

Childstudy Center