Karen Chandler teaches American and African American literature at the University of Louisville. Her essays on literature and film have appeared in journals such as Children’s Literature Association Quarterly, Arizona Quarterly, and African American Review, and collections such as Who Writes for Black Children? She is the author of Tending to the Past: Selfhood and Culture in Children’s Narratives about Slavery and Freedom and co-editor, with KaaVonia Hinton, of Teaching Black Speculative Fiction: Equity, Justice, and Antiracism, both forthcoming in 2024. She is also the co-editor, with Michelle H. Martin, of a special issue of IRCL, International Research in Children’s Literature, focusing on Black Spaces in international children’s literature.
Areas of Expertise
- African American literature
- Film
- American literature
- Women’s literature
- Personal narrative
Courses Taught
- Cultural Representations in Children’s and Young Adult Literature
- History and Criticism of Children’s Literature
- Nineteenth-Century Fictions of American Childhood
Accomplishments
- Outstanding Director of Undergraduate Studies, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Louisville, 2023
- Francelia Butler Lecture, the Children’s Literature Association Conference, June 2023
- Guest speaker, Newcastle University, November 2023
Research Interests
- Representations of Black history in young people’s literature
Autobiography and biography - Children’s film
- Immigration literature
Education
- Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania
- M.A., University of Pennsylvania
- B.A., The University of Chicago
Publications & Articles
- With Martin, Michelle H. Introduction. Black Spaces in International Children’s Literature, Special Issue of International Research in Children’s Literature, vol. 16, No. 3, October 2023, pp. 247-252.
- With J. Elizabeth Mills, Breanna McDaniel, Nadia Mansour, Roxana Loza, and Michelle H. Martin. “Many Hands Make Rich Work: Mentorship and Collaboration in a Diverse Scholarly Space.” Research on Diversity in Youth Literature (RDYL), vol. 3, no. 1, 2021.
- “Reading for Success: Booker T. Washington’s Pursuit of Education in Two Children’s Books.” Literary Cultures and Twentieth-Century Childhoods. Edited by Rachel Conrad and Brown Kennedy. Palgrave, 2020, pp. 129-145.