Wally De Doncker on how to battle illiteracy

Wally De Doncker. Photo: IBBY

Guest blogger this month is IBBY president Wally De Doncker:

I joined IBBY the moment I began my career as an author. IBBY (International Board on Books for Young People) has taught me that the horizon lies beyond the borders of my own country. As the newly‐elected president of IBBY International, it is a privilege for me to work with people worldwide to realize the mission of IBBY.

This mission is to promote a reading culture and give every child the opportunity to become a life‐long reader and this is only possible if the child enjoys reading. One of our objectives is battling illiteracy. A recent UN‐report states that globally, there are still 781 million adults who lack basic literacy skills, and that 58 million children are out‐of-school at primary level and a staggering 63 million children do not attend at secondary level education. Furthermore, an estimated 250 million children of primary‐school age are reported to be failing to acquire basic literacy skills. Added to that, half a billion women today are still completely illiterate. These figures really are cause for concern. The closing of libraries in Europe, often because of financial cutbacks, is also a cause of deep worry.

Children have the right to be able to read and IBBY supports this basic right by initiating and backing many wonderful projects around the World:

Bolivia
In many parts of Bolivia, families have no books and there is no culture of reading. IBBY Bolivia, together with Taller De Experiencias Pedagogicas and the Thuruchapitas Library, began a project in the San Miguel neighbourhood of Cochabamba to encourage reading and storytelling within families.

Afghanistan
IBBY Afghanistan set up a library project to give young children a chance to read and increase their interest in reading books. The project is currently running in different provinces of Afghanistan with the support of Aschiana. The children living in refugee camps, orphanages, juvenile rehabilitation centres and different disability centres will benefit from this far‐reaching Project.

Italy
In response to the waves of refugees from Africa and the Middle East arriving on the Italian island of Lampedusa, IBBY and IBBY Italy launched the project “Silent Books, from the world to Lampedusa and back”. The project involved creating the first library on Lampedusa to be used by local and immigrant children.

Belgium ‐ O MUNDO
The aim of this Flemish IBBY project is to select excellent books from all over the world that allows migrant children to share something about themselves, their culture and their background with their school colleagues. Thus opening the eyes of all the children in the school class to the value of a multicultural society.

As a world organization, we have to keep arguing that reading is a basic right for everyone. Recently, a librarian told me that we are creating a new elite, by which he meant that children who enjoy reading and devouring books could only do so because their parents have the means to buy books. IBBY must continue to advocate for all children to have access to great literature; this includes children from underprivileged families, immigrant children, refugees, children with disabilities and sick children. Those who cannot (or may not) read are excluded. This is something that IBBY cannot accept.

At the 2012 Membership Assembly, IBBY members approved of a formal commitment to the principles of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child as ratified by the United Nations in 1990, to be included in the current IBBY Statutes. Because of that action it is our responsibility uphold these rights. It is unacceptable that there are countries in this day and age where girls are banned from reading or even learning to read. It is also inacceptable that many children are unable to read at an adequate level after finishing primary school.

I would like to forge new ties with institutions and other international organizations such as the ALMA. After all, Astrid Lindgren was one of the founding members of IBBY and supported IBBY’s mission always. On a personal level, I learned to love Sweden and the Swedish language because of her books and the television series based on her stories.

ALMA and IBBY are fighting for the same values and we are exploring ways in which we can collaborate to bring children and books together.

Wally De Doncker, IBBY President

 More about Wally De Doncker’s vision on IBBY here

 

IBBY’s library in Gaza destroyed

IBBY, International Board on Books for Young people, published the following news on August 12^th:

The IBBY library in Beit Hanoun was housed in the building of the al-Ataa Society. In April 2013 the IBBY President visited the centre in Beit Hanoun.  He went with the President of IBBY Palestine, the President of the IBBY Trust and the IBBY Executive Director.  The IBBY library was a place of peace.  The children could go to read, draw or just play.  This visit was so impressive in many ways, not least the dedication of the librarians and the families who participated and encouraged their young ones to go. The library was a bright, clean and welcoming Place.

Today the library and the neighbourhood is a pile of rubble. The children’s homes have either been totally destroyed or partially destroyed. All of them have been displaced with their families.

Link to IBBY’s web here.

Photo: IBBY

Photo: IBBY

ALMA to the IBBY Congress in Mexico City

The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award will participate in the international IBBY Congress in Mexico City September 10-13. The Congress gathers more than 130 speakers from 50 different countries; including David Almond, Daniel Goldin, Monika Zak, María Teresa Andruetto, Agustín Fernández Paz and Alicia Molina.

– International reading promoters will be meet at the Congress in Mexico City, says Director Helen Sigeland. Participation is part of our effort to spread knowledge of the award and the laureates, and to establish valuable contacts.

IBBY The International Board on Books for Young People is a non-profit organization that represents an international network of people from all over the world who are committed to bringing books and children together. Today, it is composed of seventy seven National Sections.

First jury meeting after the summer

Same procedure as every year. Time for documentation of the jury. Photographer Stefan Tell gives directions to the members of the jury. The results will be published on our web next week.

Today, the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award jury gathered after the summer. We took the opportunity to ask Chairman Larry Lempert some questions, during one of the breaks.

Hi Larry, how was your summer?
My summer has been absolutely fantastic. I´ve been sailing in the south of Sweden, and of course, done a lot of reading by both Swedish and international writers. Some detective stories slipped by as well.

You have just about returned from IBBY Congress in London. What are your impressions from that visit?
Well, firstly, we have met professionals that we´re working with at the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, that is authors, illustrators and reading promoters. The IBBY Congress is a very important meeting place which gives me inspiration for the fall. A very exciting seminar for me concerned the subject of storytelling. Among the participants were Sonia Nimr, Dashdongdog Jamba and Michael Harvey.

Congratulations to the Greta Renborg marketing award by the way. How do you feel about that?
I´m very happy, but everyone should market libraries. There are books of course, and so much more! The libraries function as a meeting spot for different people from different cultures. For me, libraries are about passion, curiosity and boundlessness.

Last year, the International Library, which you are in charge of, was appointed “The Library of the Year” in Sweden. What´s the key to these successes?
We who work in the library field see the amazing potential that libraries hold. The International Library is a real treasure, where diversity and languages opens up the world for the entire Swedish population. The work of the International Library is built on a base that reflects the diversity of society. That, along with passion, curiosity and boundlessness, are the reasons why we´ve got attention.

ALMA at IBBY Congress in London

The 33rd IBBY International Congress opened on Thursday in London, entitled Crossing Boundaries: Translations and Migrations. John Dunne, secretary of if IBBY UK opened the session and among the key note speakers were three British Children’s Laureates: Michael Morpurgo, Julia Donaldson and Anthony Browne.

Michael Morpurgo got the idea of introducing a system of children’s laurete for promotion of reading from his friend Ted Hughes, “a laureate for grown up children known as adults”. The idea was not to create celebrities but to inspire children to become readers. During his time he travelled to many countries and his enthusiastic speech led to an immediate invitation to Afghanistan from a congress participant.

lllustrator Anthony Browne focuses on how illustrations can help children to retell a story and Julia Donaldson demonstrated how drama can inspire children to read. Congress participants suddenly found themselves on stage acting as cow, pigs, chickens and goats! The system of children’s laureates is now in traduced in Australia, Ireland, UK, US and Sweden.

The four day program is very extensive and there are many things happening at the same time. Link to programme here.

Michael Morpurgo on stage, the first Children’ Laureate of UK.

 

Julia Donaldson on stage, the present UK Children’s Laureate.

 

Former ALMA jury member Birgitta Fransson and present member Elina Druker are two of approx. 600 participants at the33rd World Ibby Congress.

 

Storyteller Anne Pellowski in conversation with Liz Page, Chief Executive of IBBY.

Shaun Tan and Kitty Crowther in London

Photo: Stefan Tell

Two previous recipients of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, Shaun Tan and Kitty Crowther, are invited to the IBBY Congress in London at the end of August. The International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) will hold its 33rd Congress in London, from the 23rd to the 26th August 2012. The theme is Crossing Boundaries: Translations and Migrations. Hundreds of international delegates from all over the world will gather for plenary sessions, seminars and workshops. Shaun Tan will give the keynote speech entitled “Arrivals and departures” on the morning of Saturday the 25th of August. His presentation will be followed by the Illustrators’ Panel which includes Kitty Crowther. See the program for the IBBY Congress: www.ibbycongress2012.org

The nominees for the 2012 award will be revealed at Frankfurt Book Fair next week

During the Frankfurt Book Fair, the nominated candidates for the 2012 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award will be announced. Larry Lempert, Chairman of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award jury, will reveal the candidates on October 13th at 17:10 hours.

To mark the announcement the Frankfurt Book Fair and the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award give a presentation of the work of Shaun Tan, the 2011 award recipient, followed by a reception.

Venue: Frankfurter Buchmesse, Forum Children’s Books, Hall 3.0, Stand number: K 399.

WELCOME!

Link to programme here.

A list of the nominated candidates will be published on www.alma.se on October 13^th.

“Work is a bit like Brussels sprouts”

“People say “are you Shaun Tan? I already know the books.” And that really surprises me.”

You can´t miss blogger Bookwitch’s interview with Shaun Tan, about his work as an illustrator, receiving the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award and on how to develop new ideas for art work. The interview was made at the Edinburgh Book Festival, and is published here.

Next week Shaun Tan´s awarded the Swedish Peter Pan Prize for his book The arrival. The award is instituted by the Swedish section of IBBY (International Board on Books for Young People) and the Göteborg Book Fair, and will be presented at the book fair on Thursday September 22^nd. The award ceremony will be followed by a debate about the fascinating pictorial worlds of Shaun Tan. Ulla Rhedin, member of the Astrid Lindgrens Memorial Award jury, and Mats Kempe, journalist and member of the Swedish IBBY section, will participate in this program.

Creative international art work in Bratislava

Now the Biennal of Illustrations Bratislava (BIB) has opened at the International House of Art for Children in Bratislava, Slovakia, for the 23^rd year. This is an international juried exhibition of originals of illustrations made for children’s and juvenile books. Loads of exhibitions are to be seen by the public, not only in the House of Art, but also in galleries, cultural centers and institutes. Many interesting themes can be found on the exhibition list, such as:

2011 BIB – International juried exhibition of book illustration originals
Jutta Bauer – A H.C. Andersen award for illustration winner
Fabulous stories from around the world
Slovenian literature for children and young people 2010-2011

The winners of the 2011 Grand Prix as well as the Golden Appels, BIB Plaques and the Children’s jury can be found here.

BIBIANA is the seat of the IBBY Slovak Section (International Board on Books for Young People). It’s activities are targeted at reading promotion and support of the children’s book production and distribution by organizing literary events, special seminars, book competitions, etc. More reading about BIBIANA here.

New Hans Christian Andersen Award

JK Rowling, famous author of the Harry Potter-series, is the first recipient of the Hans Christian Andersen Award. This week JK Rowling visited Denmark for the first time to receive the award in Odense, the birth town of HC Andersen.

The prize of 500 000 DK (approx. 60 000 EUR) is given to an author who directly or indirectly can be compared to the Danish author Andersen (1805-1875).

The award shall not be confused with the already existing HC Andersen Award which has been given to authors and illustrators by IBBY since 1956.