Once Upon a Time There Was a War: The Use of Fairy-tale Conventions in Contemporary Polish Literature for Children about Refugees

The aim of this paper is to examine three contemporary Polish tales about refugees: Wędrówka Nabu (The Journey of Nabu) by Jarosław Mikołajewski; Kot Karima i obrazki (Karim’s Cat and Pictures) by Liliana Bardijewska; and Hebanowe serce (The Ebony Heart) by Renata Piątkowska. My analysis concerns the literary strategies these authors employ to speak about refugees and their trauma via the use of fairy-tale conventions. I am interested in how the above-mentioned stories present and explain to young readers migration as a refugee experience and how the authors construct the child’s way of thinking about refugees.