We can underestimate picturebooks. The truth is they reflect what we want to pass on to our tamariki-mokopuna; they are incredibly powerful.
Multilingual picturebooks offer many opportunities for readers to both see and hear themselves, and to be aware of the lives and languages of others. They provide opportunities for teachers to draw on the cultural and linguistic capital of the communities represented in their classrooms, and to explore what language is- how it is entwined with culture and identity. In this professorial lecture Nicola will share her journey from linguistics to multilingual children’s literature, exploring language awareness among teachers and children, analysing the design of bilingual picturebooks, and most recently working in a multidisciplinary team to explore Indigenous voices in children’s literature.
Event information:
- 12 May 2026
- Refreshments from 5.00pm
- Lecture starts at 5.45pm
- Gallagher Academy of Performing Arts
- Free parking after 4.30pm at Gate 1 or 2b, Knighton Road, Hamilton
Professor Nicola Daly is a sociolinguist and Professor in Te Wānanga Toi Tangata Division of Education, University of Waikato, where she teaches children’s literature. Her research focus is multilingual picturebooks and their role in perpetuating and challenging language attitudes and supporting language revitalisation. She leads the Postgraduate Certificate in Children’s and Young Adult Literature and co-directs the Waikato Picturebook Research Unit. She was a Fulbright New Zealand Scholar at the University of Arizona, USA in 2019/2020. Her most recent book is entitled ‘Language Identity and Diversity in Picturebooks: An Aotearoa perspective (Routledge, 2025). She is a three-term member of the Board of the International Research Society for Children’s Literature (IRSCL), and the co-president of the Australasian Children’s Literature Association for Research (ACALR). She loves picturebooks.