Children's literature shows us that "reconciliation is not about being cosy". RECONFEM members took part in the International Research Society for Children’s Literature (IRSCL) Conference, Salamanca 21-25 June

The panel "Bridging conflict, building hope: Spaces of reconciliation in Children's and YA Literature written by Women" was convened by Lourdes López and Lorraine Kerslake, who both presented papers alongside Teresa Martínez Quiles and Rebeca Aniorte Perales. We explored the different ways in which the daunting task of reconciliation is negotiated in children's and young adult literature through creative acts of memory and truth-telling, with a particular emphasis on South Africa (Apartheid) and Canada (Indian Residential Schools).  We  discussed a generically diverse set of texts, including Nicola Campbell's Shi-shi-etko, Jenny K. Dupuis and Kathy Kacer's I Am Not a Number, Margaret Pokiak-Fenton and Christie Jordan-Fenton's When I Was Eight, Cherie Dimaline's duology The Marrow Thieves, Adrienne Wright's Hector,  Nokuthula Mazibuko's Soweto Tea Party, and Kasigo Lesego Molope's The Mending Season. Our discussion bore out Desmond Tutu's premise that "reconciliation is not about being cosy; it is not about pretending that things were other than they were. Reconciliation based on falsehood, on not facing up to reality, is not true reconciliation and will not last”.