”May everyone really mean everyone!!

”May everyone really mean everyone!! This is the chosen motto for the 34^th IBBY Congress. The message from the organisers is that people who read books are in contact with others. When differences in customs, religion, languages, lifestyles etc. occur, they do not make us vulnerable; they enhance us if we know something about the world outside our own.

Some 900 participants listened to Alicia Molina, Mexican writer and key note speaker when she on Thursday opened the congress. She focused on the importance of art and culture for the inclusion of children with disabilities. A truly free society accepts differences, and the concept of the normal – is what? Who is perfect? Nobody. Or everybody, if you stop comparing one person with another. Looking away is the ultimate form of excluding and making people invisible. And this goes for children too. Where are the disabled children in literature for young readers? What is not mentioned in books is not seen and hence not understood. “The experience of literature is the experience of others” says Octavio Paz. Literature is the most important thing mankind has invented to be able to take part in other people’s lives and we should use it, concluded Alicia Molina.

Akoss Aforii- Mensah, publisher from Ghana and member of the IBBY board, started her publishing career with books for children on environmental issues and is today focused on inclusion and children’s rights.

Magnificent opening of the IBBY Congress

Jella Lepman, founder of IBBY.

Wally De Doncker

The grand opening of IBBY’s 34th World Congress in Mexico City began with the Director and author Wally De Doncker giving an honorable speech about IBBY’s founder Jella Lepman, who was convinced that books can build bridges of peace and understanding between people and countries. The opening continued with more speeches, dinner and finally, after jubilant applauses, acceptance speech of the the laureates of the Hans Christian Andersen Award, illustrator Roger Mello from Brazil, and author Nahoko Uehashi from Japan. The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award is represented by Director Helen Sigeland and jurymember Annika Edlund.

Shaun Tan at the IBBY Congress

Shaun Tan’s lecture at the 33rd IBBY Congress in London.

 

The Strength of Minorities

The 32nd International IBBY Congress was ceremoniously opened last night by IBBY President Patricia Aldana and the Spanish Minister of Culture Ángeles González-Sinde among others. Fans of children’s books from more than 50 countries have made the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia to participate in the congress under the theme: The Strength of Minorities.

Today, the highlight of the congress was the opening plenary lecture by Emilia Ferreiro. The psycholinguist from Argentina/Mexico held an inspiring lecture about children’s own thoughts about writing and how children become literate.

She also spoke about multilingualism and how this historically, in many parts of the world, has been seen as a threat to building a unified nation state. However, minority languages have stubbornly survived marginalization and Emilia Ferreiro gave several examples of how diversity of languages could – and should – be seen as a learning advantage instead of a pedagogical obstacle.

Finally, she presented a study made with children aged 3-5 in Turino, Italy. The study revealed children’s own advanced thoughts on spoken and written language as well as their understanding of the concept of translation.

Another interesting part of the program was a round table chaired by the inimitable Anne Pellowski. The participants discussed oral tradition and storytelling, particularly in minorities without written languages. Swati Raje, from India, spoke about the Bhaashaa interactive center, which uses storytelling and the local oral tradition to increase interest in the written word.

The day ended with the presentation of the 2010 IBBY Honour List Diplomas.

IBBY generously supports the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award by inviting the national sections to be official nominating bodies for our award.