Keynote Addresses and Special/Public Lectures
“The Fax that Travelled by Taxi: A True Story Measuring a Generation of Change.” Virtual Keynote, Pre-Conference of Language and Literacy Researchers of Canada (Canadian Association for Curriculum Studies), May 2022.
Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJAMo9zvp3g
“Access, Choice, and Time to Read: A Reader-Driven Perspective on Social Justice.” Virtual Seminar for the Centre for Literacy and Social Justice, Open University, UK, May 2021.
Available at https://wels.open.ac.uk/research/lsj/courses-events/seminar-2
“The Dancer and the Dance: Choreographing Theoretical Perspectives on Children’s Literature.” VEBB Conference on Digital Reading. Stavanger, Norway, February 2020.
“L.M. Montgomery and the Shadow Life of an In-Dwelling Reader.” L.M. Montgomery and Reading: International Symposium. Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, June 2018.
“Writing into the Margins.” Introduction to Michael Crummey’s Kreisel Lecture, “Most of What Follows is True.” Canadian Literature Centre, University of Alberta. Edmonton, Alberta, April 2018.
Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-22ipDZ60E
“Readers in Training and the Surveilled Imagination.” Harold Rosen Lecture. Presented by the Digital Arts Research in Education (DARE) Collaborative, UCL Institute of Education, London, UK, March 2018.
Available at https://darecollaborative.net/2018/02/21/readers-in-training-and-the-surveilled-imagination-margaret-mackey/
“An Inexact Rigour: Slippery Tools for the Literary Zone.” Workshop: Literature, Fieldwork, and the Social Sciences. Maastricht University, The Netherlands, March 2018.
“Post-Literacy or Literacy Plus? The Future of Reading.” Biennial Conference of PAGES: A Learning Forum for Supporting Readers through Partnerships. Edmonton, Alberta, October 2016.
“Everyday Literacies: The Vital Role of the Mundane.” Centre for the Study of Childhood and Youth 5thInternational Conference, Sheffield, UK, July 2014.
“Pressing Questions: How We Read Now.” Invited Public Lecture. National Centre for Reading Education and Research, University of Stavanger. Stavanger, Norway, November 2013.
“Dynamic Literacies: Extending and Enhancing our Understanding of Reading in a Transmedia World.” Featured Research Session. International Reading Association, San Antonio, Texas, April 2013.
“Bestsellers, Blockbusters, and the Ever-Expanding Multiverse of Spin-Offs.” Keynote Address. Bestsellers and Blockbusters Conference, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark, March 2013.
“Common Ground, Divergent Eco-Systems: Managing New Learning in the 21st Century.” Plenary Address. Canadian Learning Commons Conference, Calgary, Alberta, May 2012.
“Grounding our Perspectives on Children’s Literature.” Gryphon Lecture. Centre for Children’s Books, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, USA, March 2012.
“Powerful Spaces, Changing Times, and Grounded Literacies.” Plenary Address. United Kingdom Literacy Association, Chester, UK, July 2011.
“Exploring Tacit Understandings: The Heart of Old and New Literacies.” Plenary Address. The Centre for the Study of New Literacies Annual Conference, Sheffield, UK, July 2011.
“Learning to Read in a Complex World.” Public Lecture. Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK, February 2011.
“Twenty-first Century Basics.” Keynote Lecture. Text and Sign: Reading, Writing and Multimodality in School and Society. Research Conference, Trondheim, Norway, September 2010.
“The Case of the Flat Rectangles: Children’s Literature on Page and Screen.” Francelia Butler Lecture. Children’s Literature Association, Ann Arbor, Michigan, June 2010.
“New Literature for Changing Readers.” Public Lecture. University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, June 2010.
“Big Worlds and New Literacies.” Plenary Address. Netspeed Libraries and Technologies conference, Calgary, Alberta, October 2009.
“Literacy, Play, and New Media.” Keynote Address. Northern Lights Library System Annual Conference, Elk Point, Alberta, September 2008.
“Children’s Literature in the Time of Web 2.0.” Keynote Address. OISE Conference on Children’s Literature and New Media, Toronto, ON, April 2008.
“Making Sense of the Story in Book, Movie and Game.” McCalla Research Fellowship Lecture. Faculty of Education, University of Alberta, April 2008.
“A Librarian Looks at Readers.” Keynote Address. ESSE 2006: Edmonton Symposium on Empirical Studies of Literature and Culture. University of Alberta, Edmonton Alberta, April 2006.
“Work and Play at the Borders: Radiant Texts and Popular Culture.” Keynote Address. Humanities Computing Student Conference, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, January 2006.
“Reading in a New Landscape.” Keynote Address. The International Society for the Empirical Study of Literature. Edmonton, Alberta, August 2004.
“Reading Outside the Book.” Research Seminar Series, Homerton College, Cambridge University. Cambridge, England, March 2004.
“Reading the Changes.” Keynote Address. Association Bibliotheque du Quebec/Quebec Library Association. May 2002.
“Extreme Literacies: Young People’s Experiences of Narrative across Media.” London University Institute of Education: Centre for the Study of Children, Youth and Media. Public Lecture, London, England, February 2002.
“Literacy in Libraries: A Practical Partnership for a Fuller Picture.” With A. Schrader. President’s Program: “Reading the Past – Writing the Future.” Canadian Library Association, Edmonton, Alberta, June 2000.
“Strip Mines in the Garden: Old Stories, New Formats and the Challenge of Change.” Featured Lecture. Conference to celebrate 25 years of Children’s Literature in Education. University of Exeter, Exeter, England, September 1995.
International
“Child Readers and the Urban Forest.” Children’s Literature Association, video presentation, Atlanta, Georgia, June 2022.
“Talk to the Map: Conversations about Place and Literacy.” United Kingdom Literacy Association, virtual conference, July 2021.
“Lily: Child Flâneur, Child Reader.” Children’s Literature Association, virtual conference, June 2021.
“Maps of Literary Play: Reading and the World.” Part of Symposium: “Turning to Affect to Imagine Socially Just Pedagogies for Reading for Pleasure.” Anezka Kuzmicova, Teresa Cremin, Margaret Mackey and Natalia Kucirkova. Sheffield, UK: Uniited Kingdom Literacy Association, July 2019.
“Empathy and the Challenges Facing ‘Global’ Young Readers.” Children’s Literature Association, Indianapolis, Indiana, June 2019.
“Constancy in a Context of Change: Elements of Stability in the Orchestration of 21st Century Literate Understanding.” United Kingdom Literacy Association, Cardiff, Wales, July 2018.
“Moving Experiences: Children’s Literate Lives in a Mobile Economy.” Research Talk, Homerton College, University of Cambridge, March 2018.
“Spot the Virtual Spaces: Apps and the Future of Children’s Literature.” Children’s Literature Association, Tampa, Florida, June 2017.
“Mobility and Modality in the Hybrid Household: Literacy Ecologies of the Contemporary Western Child.” Literacy Research Association, Nashville, Tennessee, December 2016.
“The Local Politics, Collective Planning, and Volunteer Labour of Literacy Support Structures.” United Kingdom Literacy Association, Bristol, UK, July 2016.
“Animating Pullman’s Daemons.” Children’s Literature Association, Columbus, Ohio, June 2016.
“Taking Liberties: Mary Poppins, P.L. Travers, and the Lives, Mutations, and Deaths of Characters and Authors.” Children’s Literature Association, Richmond, Virginia, June 2015.”Makerspaces and New Literacies: Changing Times at the Library.” United Kingdom Literacy Association, Brighton, UK, July 2014.“The Map and the Street View: Transforming our Vision of Literacy.” Literacy Research Association, Dallas, TX, December 2013.“Platforms as Crossing-Places: How Format Affects Life, School, and Literacy.” United Kingdom Literacy Association, Leicester, UK, July 2012.“Riding the Slipstream: Embodied Reading and Children’s Literature.” Children’s Literature Association, Boston, MA, June 2012.
“The Last Refuge of a Consumer: Patriotism and the Literature of Little Girls and their Little Houses.” Children’s Literature Association, Roanoke, VA, June 2011.
“The Spaces of Early Literacy.” Presentation at The Centre for the Study of New Literacies. University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK, January 2011. Also given as Graduate Seminar, Sheffield Hallam University. Sheffield, UK, January 2011.
“Roy, Nancy, and the Real, Textual, and Televisual Spaces of Early Literacy.” Literacy Research Association/National Reading Conference. Fort Worth, Texas, December 2010.
“A Multimodal History of Learning to Read.” United Kingdom Literacy Association, Winchester, UK, July 2010.
“Past, Present, and Future in Tenth Grade English: A Longitudinal Study of Text Selection.” With L. Vermeer, D. Storie & E. DeBlois. National Reading Conference, Albuquerque, New Mexico, December 2009.
“Making Connections in Multiliterate Lives.” United Kingdom Literacy Association, London, UK, July 2009.
“Stepping into the Story: Three Media and a Doll.” Children’s Literature Association, Charlotte, North Carolina, June 2009.
“Reading the Chronotope: Mapping Fictional Space and Time in Three Media.” National Reading Conference, Orlando, Florida, December 2008.
“Through the Looking-Glasses: Alice and the Norms of Refraction.” Children’s Literature Association, Normal, Illinois, June 2008.
“Rights and Rites of Access to Virtual Communities.” Association for Library and Information Science Education, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, January 2008.
“Narrative Understanding: Book, Film Game.” National Reading Conference, Austin, Texas, November 2007.
“Readings of Resistance and Readings of Recognition in Britain’s Oldest Colony.” Children’s Literature Association, Newport, Virginia, June 2007.
“Fan Fiction: Critical, Normative and Pedagogical Potential.” With Jill McClay. American Educational Research Association, Chicago, Illinois, April 2007.
“Changing Readers: Research and Pedagogical Challenges.” Association of Library and Information Science Educators, Seattle, Washington, January 2007.
“Adolescents Composing Fiction in Print and Digital Game Formats: Tense and Intents.” With Jill McClay. National Reading Conference, Los Angeles, California, December 2006.
“Critical Literacy in Children’s Recreational Culture: Are Times Changing?” Part of Symposium: “Responding Critically to Texts: Critical Literacy in the Elementary Classroom,” with Janet Evans, Prue Goodwin, Maureen Lewis, Glenn DeVoogd, Vivienne Smith & Shelly Xu. International Reading Association, Chicago, Illinois, May 2006.
“Reading for Pleasure: The Contrasting Qualities of Immersion and Engagement.” National Reading Conference, Miami, Florida, December 2005.
“Reading the Popular.” ESRC Seminar Series: Play, Creativity and Digital Cultures. London, England, September 2005.
“Play and the Page.” Children’s Literature Association. Winnipeg, Manitoba, June 2005.
“Reading in a New Landscape.” Keynote Address. The International Society for the Empirical Study of Literature. Edmonton, Alberta, August 2004.
“Reading Games: Narrative Choice, Interpretation, Strategy and Play,” “Digital Generations: Children, Young People and New Media” conference. The Centre for the Study of Children, Youth and Media, Institute of Education, University of London. London, England, July 2004.
“Thick Play and Big Worlds.” United Kingdom Literacy Association. Manchester, England, July 2004.
“A New Model of Narrative Interpretation: Reading Print, Film, and Computer Games.” Part of international workshop, “Many Kinds of Texts, Many Kinds of Readers: Reconceptualising Readers and Reading.” With Janet Evans, Vivian Vasquez, Jackie Marsh, Ros Fisher, Dominic Scott, Guy Merchant, Elaine Millard. International Reading Association. Reno, Nevada, May 2004.
“The Adolescent and the Story: Multimodal Narrative Interpretation.” ESRC Research Seminar Series on Children’s Literacy and Popular Culture. Sheffield, England, March 2004.
“Reading Outside the Book.” Research Seminar Series, Homerton College, Cambridge University. Cambridge, England, March 2004.
“Daily Media Experiences among Young Adults.” Tenth International Literacy and Education Research Network Conference on Learning. London, England, July 2003.
“New Directions in Research: Media and Online Literacies.” With Margaret Hagood and Kevin Leander. International Reading Association. Orlando, Florida, May 2003.
“Reading the Chronotope of Literacy Research.” With Ingrid Johnston, Rebecca Luce-Kapler, Jill McClay and Sylvia Pantaleo. American Educational Research Association. Chicago, Illinois, April 2003.
“The Sorcerer’s Apprentice: How Young Readers Learn about Storytelling from Multimodal Texts.” Children’s Literature Association. Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, June 2002.
“The Literacies of Felicity: The Media Footprint of Contemporary Adolescent Literacy.” International Reading Association. San Francisco, California, May 2002.
“Extreme Literacies: Young People’s Experiences of Narrative across Media.” London University Institute of Education: Centre for the Study of Children, Youth and Media. Public Lecture, February 2002.
“Literacies across Media.” National Association for the Teaching of English. Manchester, England, February 2002.
“Bridges to Books: Paratexts, Props, and Publicity.” Children’s Literature Association. Buffalo, New York, June 2001.
“‘The Most Thinking Book’: Affect and Attention in Graphic Narratives.” International Symposium: Reading Pictures: Art, Narrative, and Childhood. Cambridge, England, September 2000.
“Traditional Stories in the Information Age.” With Gail de Vos and Anna Altmann. Library Association School Libraries Group and Youth Libraries Group and the School Library Association Joint Conference: Under the Covers, London, England, July 2000.
“Pictures, Iconography, and Disturbing Narratives: From Picture Book Roots to the Electric Unknown.” With Jill McClay. National Council of Teachers of English, New York, New York, March 2000.
“The Changing Powers of Reading in a Time of New Technology.” Third International Forum on Research in School Librarianship. American Association of School Librarians/International Association of School Librarianship, Birmingham, Alabama, November 1999.
“Children’s Literature in the Fast Lane: Media Convergence, the Literary-Industrial Complex, and the Development of New Readers.” Children’s Literature Association, Calgary, Alberta, July 1999.
“Mocking Up Moulthrop: Reading/Performing Literary Hypertext.” With Teresa Dobson and Ingrid Johnston. American Educational Research Association, Montreal, Quebec, April 1999.
“The Dynamics of the Image: A Comparison of Picture Books and Animations.” Children’s Literature Association, Paris, France, July 1998.
“Story, Music, and Picture Books.” Part of panel presentation, “The Muse and the Medium: Painting, Music, and Dance in Picture Books.” With Teya Rosenberg and Andrea Wyile. Children’s Literature Association, Paris, France, July 1998.
“The Changing World of Peter Rabbit.” Children’s Literature Association, Charlotte, North Carolina, June 1996.
National
“Moving Experiences: Children’s Literate Lives in a Mobile Ecology.” SLAIS Colloquium Series. School of Library, Archival, and Information Studies, University of British Columbia. Vancouver, British Columbia, March 2017.
“Learning to Read on Pennywell Road: Post-Confederation Structures, Scaffolds, and Supports.” Newfoundland Historical Society. St. John’s, Newfoundland, November 2016.
“Locally Legible: The Material History of a Learning Reader in St. John’s, NL, in the 1950s.” Bibliographical Society of Canada. Calgary, Alberta, May 2016.
“One Child’s Book History in St. John’s in the 1950s.” Newfoundland Book History Symposium. St. John’s, Newfoundland, May 2016.“Standing on a Rainbow: Reading in Place, Position, and Time. Canadian Woman Writers Conference. Toronto, Ontario, October 2011.
“Urban Spaces and the Making of Readers.” Canadian Literature Centre 2nd International Conference: Spaces: Memories/Espaces: Memoires. Edmonton, Alberta, October 2011.
“Roy and the Wimp: The Nature of an Aesthetic of Unfinish.” Narrative, Repetition, and Texts for Young People: An International Symposium. Winnipeg, MB, June 2011.
“Narrative Comprehension and Crossover Strategies.” New Literacies Conference. Vancouver, BC, May 2011.
“Children’s Literature on Page and Screen.” Doctoral Seminar, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, Newfoundland, September 2010.
“The Common Reader Goes Digital.” CWRCshop I: Critical and Editing Collaboratory Development Workshop of the Canadian Writers Research Collaboratory, Edmonton, Alberta, May 2010.
“Toys and Technologies, Literacies and Libraries.” British Columbia Library Association, Penticton, British Columbia, April 2010.
“Stories In and Out of School: Engaging with Fiction in Different Media.” Canadian Society for the Study of Education, Ottawa, Ontario, May 2009.
“Re-Mix: Intertextuality and Interplay in Fan Fiction.” With Jill McClay. Canadian Society for the Study of Education, Ottawa, Ontario, May 2009.
“Readers Remember: Text, Residue, and Periphery.” Invited, SSHRC-sponsored workshop on Back to the Future: Productive Remembering, Montreal, Quebec, October 2008.
“Crossing the Essential Border: Stepping into the Fictional Moment of the Game-World.” Canadian Game Studies Association, Vancouver, British Columbia, May 2008.
“Children’s Literature in the Time of Web 2.0.” OISE Conference on Children’s Literature and New Media, Toronto, ON, April 2008. Keynote address.
“New Literacies and New Literature: Reading in Participatory Times.” Keynote Address. Toronto Reading Council and OISE/UT Conference: Children’s Literature and the New Media Classroom, Toronto, Ontario, April 2008.
“Creating Stories with Words and Video Games.” With Jill McClay. Canadian Society for the Study of Education, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, May 2007.
“Slippery Texts and Evolving Literacies.” Invited, SSHRC-sponsored workshop on Researching New Literacies: Consolidating Knowledge and Defining New Directions, St. John’s, Newfoundland, October 2006.
“Gaming Stances and Strategies: Hybrids, Opportunists and Cross-Fertilizations.” Canadian Games Studies Association, Toronto, Ontario, September 2006.
“Advising Readers in a Multimedia Age.” Ontario Library Association. Toronto, ON, February 2006.
“Research as Play.” Part of panel: “Picking Up the Pieces: Research on Information and Media Literacy in the 21st Century.” With Marlene Asselin, Jennifer Branch, Pat Jobb. Canadian Library Association. Victoria, BC, June 2004.
“Reading in Context: Not ‘Either/Or’ but ‘Both/And’.” Reading Canada, sponsored by Library and Archives Canada and the Association for Canadian Studies. Ottawa, Ontario, November 2003.
“In Their Places: The Discourse of Home and the Study of Canadian Children’s Literature.” With Louise Saldanha, Paul dePasquale, and Doris Wolf. The Fun of Reading International Forum on Canadian Children’s Literature. Ottawa, Ontario, June 2003.
“Reading the Changes.” Keynote Address. Association Bibliotheque du Quebec/Quebec Library Association. May 2002.
“Literacy in Libraries: A Practical Partnership for a Fuller Picture.” With Alvin Schrader. President’s Program: “Reading the Past – Writing the Future.”Canadian Library Association, Edmonton, Alberta, June 2000.
“Multimedia Marketing and Children’s Literacy: What’s the Connection?” With Jerry McNabb. Canadian Library Association, Edmonton, Alberta, June 2000.
“Making Choices in a New Literacy Ecology: Young Readers and their Texts.” Canadian Society for the Study of Education, Edmonton, Alberta, May 2000.
“Subversive Picture Books for Adolescent Readers: The Cognitive and Curricular Implications of Disturbing Narratives.” With Jill McClay. Canadian Society for the Study of Education, Sherbrooke, Quebec, June 1999.
“Cross-Cultural Books in the Inner-City Classroom.” With Ingrid Johnston, Barbara Carlin, and Lynne Wiltse. Canadian Society for the Study of Education, Sherbrooke, Quebec, June 1999.