Interview with Isol in N22

Irma Gallo, reporter at Mexican culture channel N22, interviewed Isol during her participation at FIL Guadalajara.

At the Guadalajara Book Fair

When in Guadalajara Isol met with many literary friends, among them the poet Jorge Luján, also from Argentina but living in Mexico. Isol has illustrated several of his books, among them Numeralia.

Isol participated in several workshops for children at the fair and in the book shop Librería José Luis Martinez, where the children had had read Secreto de Familia in advance and then made drawings of invented strange family members.

An outdoor exhibition with Isol’s illustrations were inagurated before she left Guadalajara at Museo El Trompo Mágico, an interactive eventful place for play and knowledge. People waiting in the cars during traffic stockings can now see illustrations from Intercambio Cultural, Vida de Perros asnd La Bella Griselda. Finally Isol started drawing an illustration on the museum wall (with the help of her son Antón) and children from neighbourhood schools compleated the drawing.

All photos are taken by Helen Sigeland.

Days to remember

This is the last day of the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, and we will look back upon four fantastic and inspiring days at the fair. The announcement of Isol as the 2013 ALMA recipient has created media interest all over the world (a report coming up later on). However, the digital connecting gods we not with us on Annoncement-Day, and the event in Illustrator’s café had to turn to plan B. Instead of announcement from Vimmerby by streamed link, jury member Lennart Eng made the big announcement live.  As in Vimmerby, the announcement was followed by a presentation of the recipient by a jury member, Elina Druker. (The presentation of Isol made by jury member Ulla Rhedin in Vimmerby, is available here!)

Here´s a few images taken by our brilliant photographer Stefan Tell:

Illustrator’s café at 12:50 on March 26. Very tense expections among the audience just minutes before the announcement.

 

Kerstin Brunnberg, Chairperson of the Swedish Arts Council, opens the announcement by streamed link from Vimmerby, Sweden.

 

2012 ALMA recipient Guus Kuijer were sitting in the audience.

 

Lennart Eng announces Isol from Argentina as the 2013 ALMA recipient!

 

Here she is on the big screen!

 

Isol herself was not present at the fair. Veronica Mendoza from the Guadalajara Book Fair in Mexico (where Isol’s publishing house is situated) received flowers from the Swedish Minister for Culture, Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth.

 

 

 

 

 

Reading promotion in focus at the book fair in Guadalajara

Writer and jury member Mats Berggren on Wednesday gave a lecture on Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award and reading promotion. He described his job as a jury member and the procedure on how to select a recipient. Many listeners wanted information on how to become a nominating body and many were of course hoping for a Mexican recipient in the future.  The sum of the award impressed, but as Mats rightly said, one Swedish crown from each citizen is well spent money!

Mats Berggren also told the audience how he as a writer promotes reading by visiting schools and libraries and what in his opinion is characteristic to Swedish children’s literature.  Quite a few books by Swedish writers can be found at the fair, most of them published by Spanish publishing houses. More Mexican titles in Swedish would of course be of interest to all of us but that is question for the publishers.

Banco del Libro in Guadalajara

Maria Beatriz Medina from Banco del Libro in Venezuela gave a speech on Tuesday on the challenge of reading promotion in areas where libraries are non-existent. Banco del Libro received the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award in 2007 and is working hard with neglected children.

Mats Berggren participated Tuesday evening in a panel discussion on Hope together with Xavier Ayen, Isaac Rosa, Spain and Anja Snellman, Finland. Mats Berggren gave an example of hope for the future by telling how children in Rinkeby, a suburb of Stockholm, every year study the works of the Nobel laureate in literature and present the result when the laureate comes to visit. When Mario Vargas Llosa received the Nobel prize in 2010 he wrote about his own visit to Rinkeby in the papers and stated that children who learn to cooperate stand a bigger chance to accept cultural differences later in life.

Maria Beatriz Medina, Mats Berggren, Sergio Peňa and Philip Linghammar from the Embassy of Sweden in Mexico City.

Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award in Guadalajara

The largest book fair in Latin America opened on Sunday in Guadalajara for the 26^th time. Writer and jury member Mats Berggren who visits the fair for the very first time  was immediately impressed by the size and quality of the exhibition. The seminar program is extensive and offers a lot of inspiration for a Spanish a speaking visitor like Mats. He will himself give a speech on Tuesday within the festival of European literature  on the subject Hope and on Wednesday he will give a talk on Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award and reading promotion.

Mats Berggren with his guide and driver Guillermo Tovar Partida: Photo: Helen Sigeland.

A visit in the children’s section proves that there is no age limit for workshops for children. Older children  were among many other things offered a lesson in haiku writing. Last year 100 000 children visited the fair with their teachers and the organisers believe there will be even more young visitors this year.

Photo: Helen Sigeland

Photo: Helen Sigeland

Guadalajara International Book Fair coming up

Four weeks to go until the opening of the Guadalajara International Book Fair (FIL) in Mexico on November 24. This is the most important publishing gathering in Ibero-America, and the second largest book fair in the world after the Frankfurt Book Fair. ALMA will participate as usual, and it is award Director Helen Sigeland’s first visit to Guadalajara:

–The Guadalajara International Book Fair is an important forum of us in our efforts to increase awareness of ALMA worldwide. We have very good experiences of our relationship with the book fair, and I am very much looking forward to making new contacts, sharing experiences and getting more knowledge on literature from this part of the world. And of course to experience the amazing book fair itself!

ALMA is also represented by Mats Berggren, author and member of the jury, who is invited to lecture on reading promotion and previous ALMA recipients.

The book fair is open between November 24 and December 2, and applies to both the general public and professionals. Last year, publishing houses from 43 countries exhibited at the fair and the number of visitors exceeded 659 000. More information here.

The FIL Press Conference announcing the 2012 program.Photo: Guadalajara Book Fair.

A chat with Banco del Libro

On the last day of the Guadalajara Book Fair, we met María Beatriz Medina from Banco del Libro. As you might know Banco del Libero are working with reading promoting among children in Venezuela, and they received the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award in 2007 for their excellent way of working with these questions.

Their exhibiting stand had a huge image made by Shaun Tan, and we found out that he was asked to make the front cover of Banco del Libero’s annual calendar.

– It was a coincidence, we asked Shaun Tan to make an illustration for us before he got the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, we always choose the best illustrator for the year, says María Beatriz Medina from Banco del Libro.

So, what´s the latest from Banco del Libro? According to María Beatriz Medina, Banco del Libero are continuing their work, but it’s more difficult now due to the economic crises in Venezuela, and it is harder for them to get founding. They run many projects such as publishing a guide to children’s literature, arranging meetings with promoters of reading and are involved in a Master program in children’s literature at the university in Barcelona.

– But the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award have been of crucial importance for us, it has made us known and given us recognition on an international level, says María Beatriz Medina.

Pippi Longstocking in Guadalajara

Hundreds of kids are queuing to get in to FIL niñjos, the children’s section at the International Book Fair in Guadalajara. They are here to meet Pippi Longstocking and other famous children’s books characters.

The Book Fair arranges workshops and readings for children age 3-12 years to promote reading. This year the younger children (age 3-6) get to go to the circus with Pippi Longstocking. The children get to paint, walk the line and play with Pippi’s monkey Mr Nelson.

– We want stimulate children’s reading and when they get to know Pippi they want to hear more so I tell them to read the books, says Liliana Carrasco Trejo who plays Pippi at FIL niñjos.

The Book Fair also gives students of the high schools in Guadalajara the opportunity to gather in their own schools with writers visiting FIL. The Swedish author Monica Zak, nominated for the ALMA 2012, is one of the writers that have met with students in Guadalajara.

The Lost Thing in Guadalajara

Shaun Tans film The Lost Thing was shown at the opening ceremony of the International Illustration Forum (FILustra 2011) at the International Book Fair in Guadalajara yesterday. Over a hundred people had gathered to see the film. Shaun Tan, who couldn’t make it for the Book Fair this year, sent a special greeting.

A greeting from Shaun Tan, especially made for the International Book Fair in Guadalajara.

The Director for the Book Fair Guadalajara, Nubia Macías, held the opening ceremony of FILustra. Afterwards the German illustrator Jutta Bauer, nominated for the 2012 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, made a presentation about “The art of illustrating stories”.

Nubia Macías. Photo: FIL / Gonzalo García.