[AFCC 2026] IYL x AFCC: Embodying Memory: The City As A Nostalgic Space

This two-part panel by the International Youth Library 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? The panel consists of 5 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.