Dr. Sara Van Den Bossche

Biography

Sara Van den Bossche is a researcher specializing in youth cultures and literatures, with a keen interest in the interfaces of culture and society. Her main teaching and research focuses include canonization, adaptation, picturebooks, ideology criticism, and the exploration of ethnic, cultural, and racial diversity. She also engages with gender issues, feminist criticism, postcolonial criticism, and queer criticism, alongside cognitive literary theory. Van den Bossche has co-guest-edited various special issues for journals such as Children's Literature Association Quarterly and DiGeSt, and has contributed chapters to significant publications, including the Routledge Companion to Children's Literature Culture and the Oxford Handbook of Young Adult Literature. Her work emphasizes the representation of non-normative identities in cultural products targeted toward young audiences, investigating how literature and films shape the identities of future citizens. She teaches courses that are embedded within Tilburg University’s master programmes, focusing on youth cultures and literary criticism. Through her work, she promotes diversity and inclusion in children’s literature.

Research Interests

Experience