The image of Siberia as a “land of exile” continues to shape the collective imagination of many post–Eastern Bloc nations. Stories of deportation and survival under Soviet rule echo through literature from Poland, Lithuania, Canada, the United States, and – less often – Russia itself.

This talk examines how the myth of Siberia is reinterpreted in contemporary children's and young adult books by authors from various countries: Olga Gromova (Russia), Dorota Combrzyńska-Nogala and Marcin Szczygielski (Poland), Jurga Vilė and Lina Itagaki (Lithuania), Gabriele Goldstone (Canada), and Carola Schmidt (Brazil).

Focusing on novels, picturebooks, and graphic novels set in the 1930s and 1940s, the presentation examines how portrayals of children’s experiences in remote corners of the USSR create a new literary myth of Siberia for the youngest generation of readers.

Poster
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