Children's Books included in the 2017 WHITE RAVENS

Cypriot Literature has received worldwide recognition since a Cypriot book has been voted among the world's top 200 reads for 2017. The International Youth Library, among the world's most important libraries, awarded its coveted 'White Ravens' distinction to Marina's Michaelidou – Kadi book 'Children's Dreams' (Editor: Patakis, Illustrations by Daniela Stamatiadi).

2nd Nicosia Book Festival (May 2017)

The Cypriot Board on Books for Young and Children, along with 30 other organisations, attended the Book festival with its own stand exhibiting modern and older versions of its work, posters and information materials.

At a selection of the best children's and YA writers from all over Europe aged 40 and under, the author Andri Antoniou from Cyprus, was chosen this year for Aarhus 39. Andri Antoniou was born in Cyprus in 1980. She graduated from the Department of Primary Education of University of Cyprus and is currently working as a teacher. Her first middle grade novel was published in 2012 with the title 'Beladomagnitis' (Trouble Magnet) and received the National Prize Award for Literature for Older Children and Teenagers for 2012. Her second middle grade novel was published in 2013 with the title Penelope and was included in the shortlist for the National Prize Award for Literature for 2013. Her third middle grade novel with the title Kardia pano se rodes (Heart on wheels) was published in October of 2016. All three books were published by Psichogios Publications. She was also awarded three times by Women's Literary Team of Greece in an established children's literature competition that is been held annually for several years regarding unpublished work. More of her novels are currently in production.

From Latvia

Logo of Jānis Baltvilks prize, made by illustrator Anita Paegle

From Latvia The White Wolf reads best Latvian books

On 24th July 2017, for the 13th year the authors of books for children and young adults were awarded the Jānis Baltvilks prize for the best books published in Latvian language in the period from May 31 2016 – May 31 2017. This is the highest award in children and young adults' literature and book art in Latvia. Since 2001 it has been awarded by IBBY Latvia. It is funded by the Ministry of Culture of Latvia.

The annual prize is named after the outstanding Latvian writer Jānis Baltvilks (1944-2003) who was one of the authors who continued the traditions of folklore and classical poetry by revealing the closeness and ties between man and nature. His contribution is some 30 children's books of poems, prose and nonfiction. The author's live contact with readers, his collaboration with schools and libraries consolidated his reputation among readers. His family name "Baltais vilks" – the White Wolf – has become a sort of totem in Latvian children's literature.

To preserve the outstanding poet's memory and to promote children's literature the Baltic Sea Region the Jānis Baltvilks International Prize in Children's Literature and Book Art was established. One of the criteria in the assessment of books is also the closeness to Jānis Baltvilks' tradition and spirit – a brave play with the language, a wise observation of the nature, an ethically sensitive view of the world that is considered to be an advantage when making the choice among several equally qualified works.

The winners are announced on 24 July each year, on the birthday of the writer, and the prize is awarded to a writer, illustrator, as well as to a foreign writer from the Baltic Sea countries and the translator of his or her book into Latvian.

This year the nominated books – more than 80 books – was evaluated by a jury consisting of six experts – the head of the jury Ilze Stikāne, IBBY Latvia president and professor of the University of Latvia, Silvija Tretjakova, head of the Children's literature centre of the National Library of Latvia, Aiga Dzalbe, docent of the Art Academy of Latvia, Santa Remere, a journalist of culture issues, Jānis Znotiņš, an actor and producer, Kārlis Andersons, an educator. The winners receive the symbolic prize designed by the ceramist Inese Brants – the White Wolf who reading a book sails in a small boat with a strawberry serving as a flag, and a money prize and the possibility to live and work for a month in the Ventspils House of writers and translators.

	The prestigious award for 2017 was presented to the writer Māris Rungulis for his book of horror stories Pastaiga mirušo pilsētā: Pārupes spoku stāsti (A walk in the city of dead, 2016), which serves not only as exciting reading but also presents a wide spectrum of modern folklore plots in a stylistically combined work that at the same time activates also the story telling tradition. The book preserves the realistic credibility that allows the reader to be scared and to have a good laugh facilitating the strengthening of a healthy attitude to fear. The prize in book art was awarded to Elīna Brasliņa for her illustrations of Juris Zvirgzdiņš' book Tobiass, Čārlijs un neredzamais spoks (Tobias,Charley and the invisible ghost, 2017) and books by Luīze Pastore Operācija "Maska", Pēdējais ķēniņš (Operation MASK, The last king, 2016), in which the artist has proved her broad erudition and her ability to share her knowledge in multi-layered drawings and nuanced characters of literary images.
	The 2017 Jānis Baltvilks international prize was awarded to the German writer Annette Mierswa for her novel Samsona celojums (Samsons Reise / Samson's journey, 2016) about a journey taken by a boy and his dog. During the trip they become emotionally stronger, while at the same time learn to accept the reality of death. The story acknowledges the natural flow of life and the inevitability of its ending, as well as confirming the true values of friendship, wisdom, empathy and courage. The Latvian translator Inga Karlsberga also received the award for her highly professional translation, which reproduces the subtle fluency of the language that allows the everyday details and unhurried rhythm of events to enchant the reader.
	Since 2015 IBBY Latvia has been supported by the joint-stockcompany "Latvijas Valsts meži" and therefore for the third time we awarded the prize "Jaunaudze" – "Nursery" – for the debut in children's literature and book art. This year the award was given to Rūta Briede for the book she had written and illustrated herself Kaiju karalienes noslēpums (The queen of seagulls, 2017), which, in a laconic text and precise format, comprises good-natured humour, social realism and an apt description of the Latvian mentality.

100 Books for Children and Lithuania

Lithuania restored its independence in 1918. The beginning of 2018 marks the centenary of this historic event. Cultural, public organizations and institutions commemorate this significant date by having festivals, exhibitions and publishing books.

IBBY Lithuania took this opportunity and resolved to explore and overview the achievements of Lithuanian children's authors over the period of one hundred years. This gave rise to the 100 Books for Children and Lithuania project, which sought to build a list of one hundred books considered of high literary, artistic and pedagogical value and written by Lithuanian authors for children and young adults. In the summer of 2016 Lithuanian readers were asked to cast their vote online for their most memorable childhood books from a preselected list of 500 books, published from the beginning of the XIX century until today. 2000 readers cast their votes, with librarians and teachers comprising 40% of the total vote, followed by parents and children's literature aficionados. Experts of children's literature voted separately. The resulting list of 100 most significant books for children and young adults, which sums the results of the popular and expert vote, was announced in May 7th, which marks the day of recovery of the Lithuanian press, language and books.

Even a cursory look at the list reveals that it is no surprise that Lithuania is called the land of lyricists. Rhymed texts (eight in the top ten), which include poetry, poems and fairy tales, strongly dominate the list. There is no shortage of fairy tales, realistic prose and collections of folk tales. M. Valančius's Children's Book from 1868 is the oldest book and the list goes right up to the most recent books for young adults.

An illustrated and annotated catalogue will be published by the end of this year.

It is our belief that the works, which make up the list, will be used during events, marking the centenary of restoration of the modern Lithuanian state, when the need for time tested, significant and valuable works is particularly high.

Workshop for librarians
"Organizing and promoting reading among children and young adults in the libraries"

On July 5-7 IBBY Armenia in cooperation with the Armenian Library Association and with the support of the IBBY Yamada Fund implemented a 3-day workshop, which had the theme "Organizing and promoting reading among children and young adults in the libraries". The aim of the workshop, for the benefit of development of library work in RA, is to give Armenian librarians new skills and knowledge in organizing children's reading and library service for various age groups by informing them of the most recent innovative and collaborative working styles. In order to ensure the dynamic effectiveness of the library, librarians must put their new knowledge, skills and ability into practice while working with children in the various age groups. The president of IBBY Armenia Ruzan Tonoyan welcomed RA regional and the capital's 20 librarians and presented a prehistory of the initiative.

The course for librarians, who serve to large groups of children, was run by the head of the children's section of the Lyon Municipal Library Mrs. Violaine Kanmacher, who presented French experience of bringing children to the library and involving them in reading. She also presented Lyon library's professional practical skills of serving children of all ages and organizing the reading with individuals and groups.

"The librarians should have special features to be able to treat different age children differently. Create predictions to visit libraries, to read, to love books"- based on the theoretical-practical experience" - mentioned Kanmacher. Through videos, she presented the usefulness of the library for the 6-12, 12-15 age groups. During the course she spoke about the right of readers, analysis of events: about hour of fairy-tales, exhibitions, musical soundtracks, individual reading, which can all lead to a long relationship between children and book.

The workshop was unique and with room for presentations from animation to culture, and the European experience to implement coordinated events. The course was about: how to make children come closer to books, different methods to make the book a subject of entertainment, the connections between library-child and teenager society, to socialize children's creative works via Internet, to prepare children for the future professional orientation, to speak with children through sign language, how to win children's confidence and about different issues of reading organization.

Violaine Kanmacher and the participants evaluated the effectiveness of the course. She presented the participants with several children's library programmes and through these the Armenian children will participate in international photography contest. Within this workshop-project IBBY Armenia initiated the creation of a methodological guide for librarians in Armenian that is going to be useful both for librarians serving children and young adults and for the students studying librarianship at the university. The book will be published and presented by the end of the year.

IBBY Armenia's visits to the Armenian libraries

After the workshop of Mrs. Violaine Kanmacher, the organizational staff of IBBY Armenia visited the libraries of the workshop participants and took part in seminars where the participant-librarians shared their newly acquired knowledge and skills. We also attended the new events organized for children by the participants of the workshop. IBBY Armenia's staff also got acquainted with the future projects and activities of libraries meant for the promotion of reading among children and young adults based on the ideas given by Mrs. Kanmacher during the workshop. We were glad to see the librarians' enthusiasm to organize interesting and entertaining activities for children and youth inspired by their experiences. They all highlighted the effectiveness of the workshop and new knowledge and skills that they had gained during those 3 days.

Summer school for children

This summer IBBY Armenia, in cooperation with the National Children's Library after Khnko Aper, organized a "summer school" for children aged between 6 and 13. The aim of the summer school was to make the holidays more interesting for the children. The programme, which included interactive and entertaining courses, gave the children plenty to do where they not only gained knowledge and skills, but also made new friends. Every morning there were exercises in the open air, followed by activities such as art, talking about our role in the environment, theatre, reading aloud, book discussions, game development, as well as watching films and cartoons and then discussing them. As well as this full programme of activities, there were visits to various cultural centres in Yerevan.

From Denmark

On October 2017, IBBY Denmark organized a panel on the topic: "Sex and gender in children's literature".

Nami Island: Three Danish illustrators were invited to the Nami Island, South Korea in May 2017: Lilian Brøgger, Kamila Slocinska and Cato Thau-Jensen.

IBBY Honour List: IBBY Denmark has nominated the following for the 2018 IBBY Honour List: author: Hanne Kvist, for the book: Dyr med pels – og uden (Beasts with furs, beasts without furs); author from the Faroe Islands: Bárdur Oskarsson, for the book Wilbert; illustrator: Lars Horneman for the book: Zenobia, a graphic novel by Morten Dürr; translators Ana Sofia Pasqual Pape & Oskar K. for the book De forundelige bøger om Amaïa og Gustau by J.L. Bodal.

Biennale of Illustrations Bratislava: Kamila Slocinska was a member of the BIB'17 jury. Hanne Bartholin received a BIB Plaque for the books Historien om Alting (Stories of everything) and Historien om dig (Stories of you).

The Klods Hans 2016 award was given to Merete Flentsted Laustsen.

Workshop: IBBY Denmark hosted two Iranian illustrators, Hoda Hadadi and Ali Boozari, who held a graphic workshop for children.

BOOKTUBERBOOM, The first booktubers competition of Basque country

Young adults from 14 to 18 years old can take part in this new competition, organized by the Basque Children and Young Adults Literature Association Galtzagorri Elkartea and the Department of Libraries of the Basque Government.

The goal of this competition is to encourage Basque booktubers. The Booktuberboom was established to become a platform for young Basque readers. Galtzagorri Elkartea would like these booktubers to influence other young adults in the future by using them to promote the habit of reading in them. That is why, as in other parts of the world, we have decided to use both the current YouTube platform and good books. Naturally, this project is being carried out with the collaboration of the libraries and librarians.

The project began with a course for 21 librarians. After that, 10 booktuber's meetings have being celebrated among different libraries of the Basque Country. More than 100 young people have participated in these events, guided by well-known YouTubers.

The last day to receive booktuber entries is 17th November 2017. The guidelines for this competition, different booktubes, spots and other details of the project can be consulted in this blog.

From Russia

Russian Book Union President Sergei Stepashin, Deputy Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation Sergey Obryvalin and the Director of Russian State Children's Library, President of the "Raising Readers" Association Maria Vedenyapina

On September 19-21, 2017, the Annual Meeting of Directors of Russian Libraries Serving Children under the title "Forming the future: developing and promotion of children's reading" was held at the Russian State Children's Library (RSCL).

The special guests of the Meeting were the IBBY President Wally De Doncker and IBBY Executive Director Liz Page. The heads of IBBY were invited by the Director of Russian State Children's Library Maria Vedenyapina. Wally and Liz shared their practical experience in supporting and promoting reading in the world, spoke about main projects and IBBY programmes. They also discussed key issues of the preparation for the 37th IBBY Congress (2020) with the Russian Book Union President Sergei Stepashin and Deputy Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation Sergey Obryvalin. The 37th IBBY Congress will be held in Moscow, Russia - for the first time - in September 2020.

The Head of Cultural Programs Department in RSCL Denis Beznosov, IBBY Executive Director Liz Page, "Raising Readers" Association Executive Director, Head of the Foreign Literature Department in RSCL, EC IBBY Russia member Angela Lebedeva, RSCL LFL Department member and "Raising Readers" Association member Tatiana Lukonina, IBBY President Wally De Doncker

One of the highlights of the Meeting was the opening of the "Children's Book on a Victory Podium" exhibition. The exhibition featured books by all Russian laureates of the IBBY Honour List. 22 Russian laureates from different cities of Russia gathered at this large-scale celebration of life and work of our prominent writers, translators and illustrators, that had been included in the IBBY Honour List over the years. The event was held in support of the like-named campaign, which was initiated and is being run by the Raising Readers Association and IBBY Russia. Within the framework of the campaign, the Association prepared a Russian version of the Honour List stickers. Libraries, literary museums, owners of private collections and even publishing houses have sent requests for the stickers, which they can put on the books from the Honour List they have in their collections.

Another important event was a special ceremony to present the Russian illustrator Anna Desnitskaya with a 2017 Golden Apple given by the Biennale of Illustration Bratislava (BIB), for her book "The Old Russian Home".

Furthermore, within the framework of the Meeting there was a book donation ceremony, where the RSCL solemnly received the books that have been sent as a gift from IBBY Mexico. The Mexican Ambassador to Russia Norma Pensado and the Cultural Attaché of the Embassy of Mexico Jorge Reynoso Pohlenz, attended the event and gave speeches. The evening ended with a Mexican-style party as a celebration of the warm relations between IBBY Russia and IBBY Mexico and our countries on the whole. This gift event was initiated by Azucena Galindo, the former IBBY Mexico Managing Director, who was the guest of honour at the Annual Meeting of Directors of Russian Libraries Serving Children in 2016.

In addition, an open interview with Wally De Doncker was held with journalist Olga Perechodtseva, with translation by Tatiana Lukonina; both working in RSCL. Wally talked about his work as an author, gave his views on children's literature and answered questions from the audience.

During their trip to Russia, Liz Page and Wally De Doncker also visited the children's department of one of the biggest publishing houses, AST, and paid a site visit to the prospective venue of the IBBY World Congress 2020. The last day of their trip they were invited to spend in the beautiful ancient Russian city of Vladimir. The librarians from the Vladimir Regional Library for Children and Youth gave our guests a warm welcome, showed them the city and their library.

A new patron for IBBY Ireland

IBBY Ireland has some exciting news this month as it announced its new patron, Children's Laureate and multi-award-winner illustrator P.J. Lynch! Nearly 20 years after the foundation of IBBY Ireland, PJ Lynch joins original patron Mary McAleese, former President of Ireland. P.J. said: "I am very happy and proud to accept the role as Patron of IBBY Ireland. Today, in a world where intolerance and prejudice seem to be everywhere on the rise, I believe that books for children are more important than ever. I passionately believe that we begin to learn to appreciate the world from other points of view when we first lose ourselves in a book. As we get older we learn about other people's cultures through reading their stories and this is one crucial way in which we learn that everyone has value and dignity just like ourselves."

October also saw the unveiling of a giant tapestry made up of the flags designed by the young people who attended IBBY Ireland's Nation Creations workshops before the summer. Writer Debbie Thomas and illustrator Tatyana Feeney ran these workshops as ways to explore the Silent Books exhibition (you can find more about the workshops here). Textile artist Deborah von Metzradt assembled the individual flags and the huge artwork is now welcoming visitors to the LexIcon library in Dún Laoghaire near Dublin.

Finally IBBY Ireland was very proud to take part in the English edition of the new resource guide, 100 books for children and young people in Arabic alongside IBBY UK and IBBY France.

IBBY UK continues to be active in the British children's book world. Working with the International Centre for the Picture Book in Society at the University of Worcester, and publishers, IBBY UK saw that fifteen illustrators were represented at the Biennale of Illustrations Bratislava 2017.

Jane Ray, Melvin Burgess and Pam Dix. © IBBY UK

Earlier in the year our AGM attracted a good audience to hear Helen Wang, translator of the Andersen winning author, Cao Wenxuan, in conversation with translator Sarah Ardizzone and Joy Court, co–author with Daniel Hahn of Riveting Reads: A World of Books in Translation published by the School Library Association. The event was chaired by Daniel Hahn.

There was similarly packed event to celebrate Jane Ray, the UK Hans Christian Andersen illustration nominee on the occasion of the publication of her latest book. The event was held at the Illustration Gallery where we could enjoy an exhibition of the work of this illustrator. In a similar vein and as well attended, we have celebrated our Hans Christian Andersen nominated author, Melvin Burgess. The event was held in the central London branch of the Waterstones bookshop and included a panel discussion between Melvin and two other authors, Juno Dawson and Lucy Christopher, on the subject of writing for young adults.

Meanwhile, the 2016 Honour List Books - Illustrations Collection continues its tour of the UK – Portsmouth University was one venue welcoming the exhibition.

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For the eighth year in a row, the Slovenian Section of IBBY will take part at the Slovenian Book Fair in December. At this event we will celebrate our anniversary, present our activities, the artists whom we have nominated for the IBBY Honour List, ALMA and the HCA Awards and present the Slovenian Section of IBBY Awards to promoters of reading and youth literature. While the Slovenian Book Fair is an extensive celebration of books and reading, the celebration on April 2nd is traditionally dedicated to children's and youth literature. Each year we translate the message of the current ICBD's sponsor and promote it all around our cultural space. Furthermore, in collaboration with Pionirska, we traditionally organize an event devoted to the promotion of reading. In 2017, it was focused on books dealing with immigrants and immigration. The event followed the topic of the first IBBY Europe congress, at which we had actively taken part, as Neli Kodrič Filipić, a distinguished Slovenian writer, presented her comic and picture book on the topic of immigration, based on her first-hand experience as a volunteer working with asylum seekers. The Slovenian Section of IBBY recognises the importance of knowledge sharing at conferences and has actively taken part at all IBBY Conferences since its establishment as a section in 1992.

O kravi, ki je lajala v luno/About a Cow that Barked at the Moon by Ida Mlakar and Peter Škerl with stickers, informing about its many awards and nominations.

In the future, Slovenian authors and illustrators nominated for international awards by the Slovenian Section of IBBY will be further promoted in collaboration with Vodnikova domačija – the House of Reading, Writing and Story-Telling, where works of the nominated artists have been included in their public collection of books for children and youth. As Vodnikova domačija is becoming one of the main centres for the education about and for the promotion of books and reading among children and youth, we believe the books will find their way to young readers, as will the awareness of IBBY and its activities. To increase our visibility, we have designed special stickers, now available to all interested parties, from publishers to librarians, to label the books of the nominated artist.

Books by Slovenian authors and illustrators nominated for international awards by the Slovenian Section of IBBY at Vodnikova domačija.

From France

IBBY France in Frankfurt

Hasmig Chahinian and Liz Page. © IBBY

France was the guest of honour of the Frankfurt Book Fair 2017, "Francfort en français". On this occasion, IBBY France was invited to participate in the IBBY panel, held on October 12 at the Kids stage in Hall 3.0. During this panel, Liz Page (Executive Director of IBBY) and Hasmig Chahinian (IBBY France) spoke about IBBY's activities and projects and presented the selection 100 Books for children and young people in Arabic.

Around 40 books from this selection were displayed on the IBBY stand. Thanks to collaboration between IBBY France, IBBY Ireland and IBBY UK, this selection, which was first published in French, is now available in English. Both versions can be downloaded from the IBBY Europe website. See 100 Books for children and young people in Arabic. A joint project between IBBY France, IBBY Ireland and IBBY UK for more details.

The members of IBBY France have voted to select their IBBY 2018 Honour list nominees:

Writing Category: Sauveur & fils. Saison 1 (Savior & son. Season 1), Marie-Aude Murail, l'école des loisirs

Illustration Category: Le ruban (The ribbon), Adrien Parlange, Albin Michel Jeunesse

Translation Category: La fenêtre de Kenny (Kenny's window), Maurice Sendak; trad. by Françoise Morvan, Ed. Memo

From Greece

Event organized by the Greek Section of IBBY at the 14th Thessaloniki International Book Fair

14th Thessaloniki International Book Fair

The Greek Section of IBBY and Patakis Publishers cooperatively organized a one-day conference in remembrance of the authors, Pantelis Kaliotsos, Voula Mastori and Galatia Grigoriadou-Soureli who have recently passed away. The University Professors, Meni Kanatsouli, Andreas Karakitsios and Tasoula Tsilimeni delivered speeches about their work and contributions to children's literature. Members of the Reading Activists read excerpts from their children's literature books. In addition, the Greek Section of IBBY in cooperation with the Hellenic Foundation for Culture presented the Greek author nominee for the 2018 Hans Christian Andersen Award: Vagelis Iliopoulos; and the Greek illustrator nominee for the 2018 Hans Christian Andersen Award, Christos Dimos. The ERT 3 TV channel journalist, Ms. Anastasia Grigoriadou, interviewed Vagelis Iliopoulos regarding his work on children's literature and the challenges Greek nominees deal with when representing Greece at international-level competitions.

The President of IBBY Greece, Dr. Vassiliki Nika, delivering her speech.

2nd Pan-Hellenic Conference themed "21st Century Education: Theory and Practices - Looking for an attractive and efficient school"

The School Life and Education Museum of the National Centre of Research and Preservation of School Material, the Hellenic Educational Society, the Greek Section of IBBY and the Greek-French School 'Jeanne d'Arc' together organized the 2nd Pan-Hellenic Conference themed "21st Century Education: Theory and Practices - Looking for an attractive and efficient school", 19-21 May 2017 in Athens. The Conference took place under the auspices of the Greek Ministry of Education, Research and Religious Affairs and the Municipality of Piraeus and was also supported by the Representation of the European Commission in Greece.

The 36th IBBY International Congress: 30th August – 1st September, 2018 in Athens

It is an honour for the Greek Section of IBBY to be assigned the organization of the 36th IBBY International Congress by IBBY International. The Congress will take place in Athens, Greece from 30th August to 1st September, 2018. The theme of the Congress "East meets West around Children's Books and Fairy Tales" is expected to attract children's literature experts from all over the world. In addition, the 36th IBBY International Congress is going to be part of the events for the "Athens – UNESCO World Book Capital for 2018" programme. For more information on the congress see East Meets West around Children's Books and Fairy Tales. The 36th IBBY International Congress in Athens.

European Heritage Days 2017

The Greek Section of IBBY participated in the European Heritage Days (EHD) celebrations for the 3rd consecutive year by organizing a collaborative event themed "Greece reading together for EHDs 2017". Writers, storytellers and educators – all being members of IBBY Greece – celebrated EHDs 2017 by reading books for children and young adults about "City and Cities" all over Greece. On Sunday, September 24th, ten reading events were organized in different cities in parks, cultural centres, libraries, close to sites, etc. bringing books and children together. All reading events were voluntarily organized by members of IBBY Greece. European Heritage Days is a joint action of the Council of Europe and the European Commission with the motto "Europe: A Common Heritage." The celebrations for 2017-18 in Greece were themed as "City and Cities".

Reading events and activities for the European Heritage Days

The IBBY library in Lampedusa is a liferaft in the middle of the Mediterranean. Fortunately it is anchored firmly and so has no need of a captain. It just has a large crew that alternates in the roles necessary for ordinary management. The ship's log is also written by everyone. So – enjoy reading it!

Ship's log of the IBBY library
Lampedusa 22 October 2017

The IBBY library has been open since September 16th and the first steps it has taken have been amazing! The exhibition of books without words continues to attract residents and tourists of all ages; and the course "Let's learn to read books without words" succeeded in involving more than 300 participants; the initiative "The legend of Colapesce" in collaboration with Terra! Onlus saw the young voluntary workers of the library interacting in an extraordinary way with the community of Lampedusa. Our wonderful workers – Paola Migotto, Anna Villani and Silvia De Luca – who came from various parts of Italy to help, consolidated – if there were any need for it – the commitment of IBBY Italia in Lampedusa. Also the students from the local high school, who alternate school and work, are revealing themselves to be a valuable resource and lead us to think that there will be the involvement of many young people in the future. The large number of children and teen-agers who frequent the library regularly confirms the fact that this place was really necessary. And from next Monday, for the whole week, more than 100 children from the 1st, 4th and 5th classes of the local high school will take turns to open and manage the library, in the framework of the voluntary work initiative, organized by the Istituto Pirandello in Lampedusa, in collaboration with Emmaus. There is however another small but significant experience we want to share with you.

It happened that recently, thanks to the kind-hearted intuition of two friends of the library – Irene (who after having completed a month of voluntary work with the Observatory of Migration organized by Mediterranean Hope last May, came back for a few days of holiday on the island) and Maurizio (from Lampedusa, the nicest and most versatile activist this island can boast of), on an afternoon when the library was open as usual, came to see us accompanied by three special guests – special like all the children in the world!

Jaida, Habiba and Ahmed, who landed with their parents a few days earlier on Lampedusa and are staying temporarily on the island, only speak Arabic, but that is not a problem either for them or for their contemporaries. First they leaf through some books, moving around the shelves independently and with a touching naturalness. The biggest child, Habiba, immediately finds a book in Arabic, sits down and emerges herself in her reading. Every now and then she raises her eyes, almost as if to check that she isn't missing something better to do. And when she sees her sister and her new little friend drawing with coloured paints and felt pens, together with other boys and girls, she leaves the book and goes to join them. The boy is Tunisian, the others are Sudanese – just a short moment in their destiny has allowed them to meet.

We stand there just looking at them and – needless to say – we are happy to have them there.

But when, on those white sheets of paper, the brushes covered with colours begin to create the unmistakeable shape of a house, we stop breathing for a second, our stomachs contract, our eyes become wet and mist over. Some of us move away, some simply try to find the glances of others who have wide-open eyes and arched eyebrows. Only the adults, though.

All the girls and boys continue with their artistic works and with a smile ask one another for permission to use this or that colour, felt pen, or piece of paper. Their world and that of the adults really seem different universes, separated by light years, at this moment. And all of us adults would like just to transfer ourselves into theirs.

When the mother of Habiba and Jaida arrives and the father of Ahmed, to get their children, the usual closing time of the library has gone by, an hour ago, but nobody seems to have realized. The girls proudly show their drawings, mixed up with those of all the others, laid out on the floor to dry in a corner of the library. Before going away, with gestures, we ask them if they want to take away their drawings, but they lead us to understand that they prefer to leave them here together with all the others. We say goodbye to them, smiling and waving. Maybe we'll see them again on Monday. Maybe.

P.S. The hug from the beautiful Sudanese lady, mother of the two girls, and the look in her eyes, at the moment of saying goodbye, were really a blow below the belt…to think that up till that moment we had been so good, so professional and smiling… sniff!

Credits: Vörös Szilárd

The Children's book of the year in Hungary Prize

The Hungarian section of IBBY - HUBBY - organized the Children's book of the year in Hungary prize. The publishers could nominee books in 5 categories and more than 90 books were nominated. The jury announced the shortlist 2 weeks before the awarding ceremony. The winners were announced in June on the biggest book festival in Hungary.

The publishers sent 3 copies from each nominated books. One copy of each book was donated to the International Youth Library in Munich. One of the main goals of the HUBBY is to provide children from poor backgrounds with quality children's books. More than 100 books were sent to 10 school libraries to motivate children's reading.

Credits: https://www.facebook.com/IntBib/

Illustrator workshop

On 11-13 June a conference for literary translators of Hungarian was held in the Petőfi Literary Museum. The meeting was the first of its kind to take place in forty years, and was an effort to strengthen connections within the network of those translating Hungarian literature, as well as to introduce the work of the Translators' House in Balatonfüred, Publishing Hungary and the Hungarian Books and Translation Office. Niki Szerkeres, who is a member of the board of HUBBY, held a presentation on children's and young fiction. During the event the translators had the opportunity to look inside and buy the latest Hungarian children's books.

Anniversary of the Hungarian Fairy Tale Musem

On the 30th September 2017 the Hungarian Fairy Tale Museum held its 5th anniversary and HUBBY took part in the organization of the event. HUBBY has nominated the Museum for the 2018 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. The other ALMA candidate from HUBBY is the writer János Lackfi.

11 Hungarian Children's Books

The vice director of the board of HUBBY, Zoltán Jeney, put together a quality selection of recent children's and youth literature in Hungary. The booklet is in English, and can be found here.

Credits: Zoltán Pompor