Leah Shackman

My research examines the role of collective biographies of women and LGBTQ+ figures in diversifying children’s and young adult literature through narrating the lives and achievements of figures, past and present. I am interested in how the production of collective biographies of women and LGBTQ+ figures disrupts masculinist, heterosexual knowledge, and contributes to increasing the diversity of children’s literature. I aim to explore the successes, complexities and critiques of the content, themes and messages of children’s non-fiction literature, and will address how biography can be used to teach issues of gender and sexuality, perhaps providing potential solutions to the gaps in the school curriculum, created as a result of the unease surrounding feminist topics and LGBTQ+ education.