From left to right: Géraldine Alibeu, Alia Al Shamsy, Anne-Laure Cognet. © IBBY France

Silent books. A panel discussion organised by UAEBBY and BnF/
IBBY France

Sharjah was the special guest of the Paris Book Fair 2018. On this occasion, UAEBBY (The United Arab Emirates section of IBBY) and IBBY France organised a panel discussion on Silent Books. The panel was held on March 18 at the Sharjah Pavilion. The speakers, illustrators Alia Al Shamsi from the United Arab Emirates and Géraldine Alibeu from France, addressed the issue of wordless picture books, these unique objects that tell a story each reader can understand and enjoy, regardless of language. How is a silent book created? What are its specific constraints, what different possibilities does it offer the illustrator?

The panel was moderated by Anne-Laure Cognet, a specialist of children's literature. During this event, the dossier of the journal Takam Tikou, Histoires sans paroles, focused on Silent Books, was also presented.

The journal also features, among other texts, an article by Sheikha Bodour Bint Sultan al-Qasimi, founder of UAEBBY as well as an interview of Shereen Kreidieh, President of LBBY (The Lebanese section of IBBY).

The French National Centre for Children's Literature / IBBY France launches its new library resources portal!

On March 26th 2018, after more than 2 years of work, the National Centre for Children's Literature / IBBY France launched its brand new website. Its usability has been thought to be intuitive and user-friendly. Moreover, this website provides comprehensive information on the Centre's actions and resources:

• Focus on its selection of best recently published books;
• Publications and resources as Takam Tikou and La Revue des livres pour enfants magazines, monographs and even itinerary exhibitions;
• Training sessions and cultural mediations, in France and worldwide;
• International actions and projects, within IBBY and other organizations.

This website operates as a gateway to thousands of digital resources in children's literature that have been created by the Centre:

• Information about more than 200 Literary Awards from all over the world, since 1922 to the present day ;
• Online access to digitized versions of Takam Tikou (from 1989 to 2008) and La Revue des livres pour enfants (all issues except the last 2 years);
• More than 500 frequently updated bibliographies, about authors, illustrators, iconic characters, various topics and reference books in children's literature;
• A repertoire that contains addresses of more than 400 specialized organizations in children's books, oral literature and access to reading, in France and worldwide;
• A schedule of major events in Children's Literature.

In only a few months, new features will be deployed. In the meantime, the National Centre for Youth Literature / IBBY France's website has already plenty to offer!

From Latvia

The small is big in a book

From the left: Ilze Stikāne, Silvija Tretjakova. © Kristians Luhaers

This spring, the motto of Latvian children's literature lovers is "The small is big in a book", the statement that is included in the title of the message by the well-known Latvian poetess Inese Zandere dedicated to the International Children's Book Day. This was also the title of the international conference, which took place on March 19, 2018 in the National Library of Latvia. Every spring IBBY Latvia and the Children's Literature Centre of the National Library organize a conference for specialists of children's literature and librarians, which evaluates books, published for children and young adults in Latvia in the previous year as well as discusses other interesting issues.

Toin Duijx. © Kristians Luhaers

The central theme of this year's conference was the IBBY Latvia sponsored ICBD poster and message that reminds us that the word small is a relative concept: "In a book, the small is always big, instantly, not just upon reaching adulthood. A book is a mystery in which something unsought can be found or something beyond one's reach." (I. Zandere).

The conference started with the report "IBBY: Bringing Books and Children Together and IBBY-Sections Together", given by a long-standing partner of IBBY Latvia Toin Duijx, secretary of the Dutch IBBY section. In his speech, he emphasized that the mission of IBBY in the world is to facilitate the link between children and books as well with the cooperative projects carried out between IBBY national sections.

Ķestutis Urba. © Kristians Luhaers

The conference continued with reports about children's literature in Estonia and Lithuania in the 21st century – "Estonian Children's Literature in the 21st Century. The Golden Years" by Jannika Palm, researcher at the Estonian Children's Literature Centre, and the report "Lithuanian Children's Literature in the 21st Century" by Kestutis Urba, IBBY Lithuania president. Silvija Tretjakova, liaison officer of IBBY Latvia and the head of Children's Literature Centre of the National Library of Latvia, in her report "Latvian children's literature in the 21st century", presenting the development of children's literature in this century, stressed its rapid advancement. It is interesting to compare the publishing process of children's books in these three Baltic countries. Unfortunately, the conclusion is not pleasing for Latvia – annually the greatest number of books are published in Estonia– around 800 titles (although it is the smallest of all the Baltic countries), then comes Lithuania with 500 – 600 books a year, while Latvia annually publishes 300 – 400 children and young adults' books.

The second part of the conference opened with Ilze Stikāne's, IBBY Latvia president, presentation – the overview of "Latvian Children's and Youth Literature in 2017", in which she evaluated 91 original first print books. Rudīte Rinkeviča, docent of University of Daugavpils, presented her paper "Translated Children's and Youth Literature in 2017" in which she focussed her attention on 200 translated books published in Latvia. The paper "Evaluation of Book Illustrations" by Renāte Kloviņa, Master's degree student of the Graphic department at the Art Academy of Latvia, gave an insight into the field of book illustrations as well as a glimpse into the process of how students work on book illustrations. Conference participants learnt interesting information from the report "Research about Book Reading Habits among Inhabitants of Latvia" by Agnese Karlsone and Marita Sanžarevska, third year culture sociology and management students at the Latvian Academy of Culture.

Anniversary celebrations of two organizations that are very important for the development of children's culture concluded the day devoted to children's literature, illustration and the promotion of reading: together we celebrated IBBY Latvia's 25th anniversary and the 20th anniversary of the Latvian Children's Literature Centre. The event was also the occasion for donating the poster and the message "The Small is Big in a Book" to the sections of IBBY in neighbouring countries, as well as to schools and libraries in Latvia.

The President of the Greek Section of IBBY and the 2016-18 Ambassador of Children and Young People's Literature in Greece presenting the ICBD 2018 message and poster to His Excellency.

2nd April – International Children's Book Day 2018

On the occasion of International Children's Book Day 2018, His Excellency the President of the Hellenic Republic, Prokopios Pavlopoulos, welcomed the President of the Greek Section of IBBY-Circle of Greek Children's Books, Vassiliki Nika, the members of its Administrative Board, Katerina Dermata, Vangelis Valasiadis, Iro Papamoschou and Patty Papadimou, the Honorary President, Loty Petrovits-Andrutsopulou and the 2016-18 Ambassador of Children and Young People's Literature in Greece, Vagelis Iliopoulos, to the Presidential Mansion in order to express the interest of the Greek State in children's literature and reading. The President of the Greek Section of IBBY presented His Excellency with the message and poster to celebrate International Children's Book Day 2018, written and illustrated by the Latvian Section of IBBY, translated into Greek by Loty Petrovits-Andutsopulou and printed and distributed to schools and libraries by Patakis Publications.

During the meeting, His Excellency was informed on the progress of the preparations of the 36th IBBY International Congress in Athens that will take place under the auspices of His Excellency. The 36th IBBY International Congress is an exceptionally significant congress, which is going to put a spotlight on Athens in regard to international children and young people's literature.

The 2018 IBBY Greece Awards to persons, institutions and creators for their distinctive work during the year 2017

Celebrating the 52nd International Children's Book Day, the Greek Section of IBBY held its annual celebration event on Friday, March 30. In collaboration with the Association of Greek Publishers and Booksellers (ENELVI) and the Hellenic Authors' Society, IBBY Greece organised the annual event to present the 2018 Awards to persons and institutions for their work in promoting reading and literature as well as authors, illustrators and translators for their distinctive work regarding books published in 2017. At the same time, the annual opening of the events for the reading campaign Read & Change was proclaimed for the third consecutive year. The event was held at the Lillian Voudouri Great Music Library in the prestigious Athens Concert Hall (Megaron) under the auspices of the City of Athens and the National Library of Greece. photo 2 (caption): The 2018 IBBY Greece Awards to persons, institutions and creators for their distinctive work during the year 2017.

The President of IBBY Greece during the IBBY Press Conference in Bologna Children's Book Fair 2018

Bologna Children's Book Fair 2018

Members of the Greek Section of IBBY were present at the Bologna Children's Book Fair 2018. The President of IBBY Greece, Dr. Vassiliki Nika, attended the IBBY Executive Committee meeting on Sunday, March 25 in support of the 36th IBBY International Congress and shared information about it with the public and media during the IBBY Press Conference on Monday, March 26. In addition, visitors of the fair had the opportunity to acquire conference material and meet Greek writers and illustrators during the Koulouraki Party at the national stand of Greece in collaboration with the Hellenic Foundation for Culture.

David Pintor's illustration on the Reading Bridges poster project by IBBY Greece.

Books about migrants and refugees – Books for migrants and refugees: The Reading Bridges project
The Lending Backpack project

In an effort to promote IBBY's goal to foster international understanding through children and young people's books and support children whose lives have been disrupted by war, armed conflicts, natural disasters etc., the Greek Section of IBBY has been working on the following projects:

• The poster project Reading Bridges sponsored by Kaleidoscope Publications. The poster depicts David Pintor's illustration, which was given to IBBY Greece for the project, along with selected titles of illustrated Greek books about migrants and refugees. The list of titles was compiled by students of the University of Athens under the supervision of Professor Angeliki Giannikopoulou.

• The Lending Backpack project. Each backpack contains the Greek books featured in the poster for the Reading Bridges project, some books in Arabic and the educational programme Reading Bridges – the backpacks are loaned to primary schools. The Reading Bridges project will be presented in a poster session during the 36th IBBY International Congress in Athens, Greece.

During one of the Book meetings by an author-member of the Greek Section of IBBY at the Foundation library

Book meetings: My right to read!

On the occasion of Universal Children's Day – celebrated on November 20 each year – the Greek Section of IBBY worked closely with the Piraeus Bank Group Cultural Foundation (PIOP) on a project promoting reading under the name Book meetings: My right to read! More specifically, IBBY writers paid visits to the Foundation library to meet school groups of students, talk about books and promote reading for two consecutive weeks. The specific project was part of a larger campaign in celebration of Universal Children's Day called: Being quiet, whispering, speaking or shouting, I can express myself! The campaign was coordinated by the Network for Children's Rights with the cooperation of local cultural organisations.

"love2read2gether" campaign

In February 2018, the Association of Greek Publishers and Booksellers (ENELVI) in collaboration with the Greek Section of IBBY organised the campaign Love is 2read2gether! The aim was to invite people to visit a bookstore, choose a book to give to a beloved person and write personal greetings on the especially printed bookmark #love2read2gether.

International Greek Language Day – 9 February

On the occasion of International Greek Language Day (officially declared by the Greek state in memory of the national poet of Greece, Dionysios Solomos), the General Secretariat for Greeks Abroad in collaboration with the Greek Section of IBBY and at the initiative of Chryssoula Katsavria, member of the Hellenic Parliament, sent the following message worldwide: "The Greek language is a soul, the soul of civilization". The full message was written by the Greek author, Vagelis Iliopoulos, and was illustrated by the Greek illustrator, Christos Dimos. Both are the 2016-2018 Ambassadors of Children and Young People's Literature in Greece as well as the 2018 Greek nominees for the 2018 HCA Award. The message is aimed at Greeks all over the world through embassies and consulates and be translated in as many languages as possible.

Approval of educational programmes by the Greek Section of IBBY

Two educational programmes designed by the Greek Section of IBBY have been approved by the Greek Ministry of Education, Research and Religious Affairs for the school year 2017-2018. Both programmes have been offered to schools free of charge. "ICBD - Let's play with IBBY posters": the programme takes full advantage of IBBY messages and posters in celebration of ICBD over the past twenty years. Based on this material, it also includes games that bring children closer to books and engage them in creating their own posters. Each year the programme is complemented by material based on the new IBBY poster. "With the books on your side, say to violence 'step aside'": the programme takes advantage of children and young people's literature books to sensitise students and raise awareness against school bullying.

The presentation of "7 colors" at Sharjah International Book Fair 2017

On November 1-11, 2017 the Sharjah International Children's Book Fair was held. IBBY Armenia attended the Fair and in cooperation with UAEBBY and organized the presentation of the collection of stories titled "7 colors" in English at UAEBBY's stand. The president of IBBY Armenia Mrs Ruzan Tonoyan welcomed all the attendees and presented the history of the creation of the book, mentioning that the presentation of the Armenian version of the book had been held at the National Children's Library of Armenia in 2015 and the English version had been presented to the readers for the first time at Bologna Children's Book Fair 2017. Mrs Alla Serobyan the author of one of the stories included in the book, read her story called "Vasil" for the children attending the presentation. Afterwards, they discussed the story and the children shared their opinions about it with the author. .

IBBY Armenia created a methodological guide for Armenian librarians

In July 2017 the Armenian National Section of IBBY, in cooperation with the Armenian Library Association and with the support from the IBBY-Yamada Fund, implemented a 3-day workshop aimed at the organization and promotion of reading among children and young adults in the libraries. Within this workshop-project IBBY Armenia initiated the creation of a methodological guide for librarians in Armenian that is will be helpful both for librarians serving children and young adults and for the students studying librarianship at the university. The guide was presented to the Armenian librarians in December 2017. The librarians had asked for such a guide and believed that it will help them to organize reading activities for children and young adults in the libraries more effectively. The methodological guide has already been provided to the children's sections of regional and community libraries.

IBBY Armenia announced a creative competition

On December 2017, IBBY Armenia, in cooperation with National Children's Library after Khnko Aper, and the Artbridge Bookstore, announced a creative competition for children's stories, fairy tales and poetry genres. The aim of the competition is to promote the development of children's writing, to encourage the young authors' interest towards children's literature, to identify, encourage and present the young people who write for children to the public. The contest is open to 16-25 year-old creators. The best works will be published.

The opening ceremony of Yerevan Children's Book Fair 2018. © Hripsime Lalayan

Yerevan 14th Children's Book Fair

On February 17-21, 2018 the National Children's Library and IBBY Armenia, with the support of the Ministry of Culture and in cooperation with the Armenian Library Association, the National Association of Publishers of Armenia and the ArtBridge bookstore, organized the Yerevan Annual Children's Book Fair. During the event a number of activities were held, such as individual and group meetings, discussions, watching cartoons, excursions, listening to music, and family readings. One of the major parts of the fair include the "Fairy-Tale Ambassadors" (storytelling by the ambassadors accredited to RA), during which the Argentinean Ambassador Mr Gonzalo Urriolabeitia, Ambassador of Czech Republic Mr Petr Mikyska, German Ambassador Mr Bernhard Matthias Kiesler, read different stories to the children visiting the fair and interacted with them, while also an UAE Embassy representative Ms Ahlam Rashed Al Salami donated books about the UAE to the library. The other exciting part of the fair was the "Gift to a Soldier" book donation campaign organized for Booking-Giving Day, on the 19 February.

The Argentinean Ambassador Mr Gonzalo Urriolabeitia reads a fairy tale. © Hripsime Lalayan	Ambassador of Czech Republic Mr Petr Mikyska reads a fairy tale. © Hripsime Lalayan	German Ambassador Mr Bernhard Matthias Kiesler reads a fairy tale. ©Hripsime Lalayan

From Sweden

IBBY Sweden held its annual meeting on March 19, 2018. The Board presented the work that had been done during the last year and looked forward to the events during the coming year.

With great surprise and joy, IBBY Sweden noticed how the interest among teachers to work with "silent books" has increased during this year. Our project Silent books started as an integration project for refugee children. The books are now used in preschools and schools not only as tools for practicing Swedish with children born abroad, but also as books used on a regular basis for all children. They serve as perfect starting points for conversations and story-telling. We have received a project grant from the Swedish Arts Council to conduct a survey on how the books are used in different contexts.

On the World Book Day in April, IBBY Sweden and the Swedish Library Association will launch a poster on children's right to read, inspired by the Convention on the Rights of a Child and a poster by Praesa. You will be able to download it from our website; the target groups are children that visit public libraries and school libraries.

Two of our Board members visited the book fair in Bologna, and at least two members will go to Athens. Finally, we thanked our much appreciated member of the Board, Erik Titusson, who has now decided to step down, for his work for IBBY in Sweden and internationally.

When the meeting was formally closed, the Board announced the winner of IBBY Sweden's Peter Pan-prize. This prize is awarded to a book, written for children or young people translated into Swedish from an author, country, or culture that is not so well-known in Sweden. The prize is an invitation to the Swedish Book fair in Gothenburg where the author will hold a seminar.

This year, the comic book Akissi och det flygande fåret is the winner. The author is Marguerite Abouet from Côte-d'Ivoire, and the illustrator is Mathieu Sapin, both now living in France. This book is about the siblings Akissi and her brother Fofan visiting their grandparents who live in the countryside in Côte d'Ivoire. With much humour in the text as well as in the pictures, the short stories depict the adventures of the children during their visit, and address how they react to the different life in a village in the countryside – they are accustomed to life in a modern city. The girl Akissi is brave and spirited reminiscent of Pippi Longstocking.

Before we all parted, Ulf Boëthius, a professor emeritus in literature, was awarded the Gulliver Prize for his excellent work that has contributed to create interest in children's books in the academic world and in the public. He has dedicated his research, his books, and many articles to children's literature in Sweden during the 20th Century. He has, in part, focused on the popular books that – at their time – were regarded as "bad literature", but also on the writings of two of our great authors, Lennart Hellsing and Barbro Lindgren. The jury consists of representatives from different parts of the world of children's books in Sweden, and the prize money is donated by different publishers. Ulf gave a very inspiring short speech in which he told us about his work and how his interest in children's books started.

70 Workshops for teachers to promote reading habits of their students

Galtzagorri Elkartea, the Basque Branch of Spanish IBBY, is developing a new project that will take place in 70 education centres in the Basque country with the support of the Basque Government. The "Reading promotion workshops for teachers" project started in March and will last until December 2018.

Galtzagorri Elkartea has developed a number of projects during its 27-year existence. While designing projects to promote reading enthusiasm, based on two criteria: one using quality books for children and youngsters; and two, to train reading mediators (teachers, parents, librarians, cultural activators, etc.). Indeed, quality books will not create readers on their own if intermediaries around children and youth do not encourage them to read. And for this, the intermediaries must be trained.

The "Reading promotion workshops for teachers" project combines these two criteria. That is why we have selected 40 EHGL titles of 2018 for this project, and some news releases published in the previous two years. Older quality books are included that are of interest will be given life again, classic works are also included. And, of course, there are apps that are published by Galtzagorri Elkartea based on the classic books of Basque children's literature. We believe that these apps are effective tools for attracting children and young people as readers.

The Galtzagorri professionals are presenting these strategies to promote reading based on these titles in Nursery, Primary and Compulsory Secondary Education centres throughout the Basque Country.

The teachers will not be the only participants of these workshops, because Galtzagorri Elkartea has also invited the librarians of the towns of the educational centres where the workshops will take place to attend.

Galician Branch

Galician Literature Day: Día das Letras Galegas 2018 – María Victoria Moreno

The celebration of Galician Literature Day that will be held on May 17, 2018, is dedicated to María Victoria Moreno, a children and YA author, as well as a secondary school teacher. Her most notable work is the novel Anagnórise (Galaxia, 1988), translated into Basque (Euskal Liburu, 1997), Catalan (Tándem Edicions, 1999) and Spanish (Pirene Editorial,1989). The homage to this author is a broad one, as it includes the publication, in the months leading to it, of many works dedicated to the author, as well as of reissues of many of her writings.

For more information (in Galician), click here.

XIX Edition "Salón do Libro de Pontevedra" 2018

The final details are almost in place to celebrate the XIX edition of the Pontevedra Book Fair, the place where readers, writers, illustrators and every other actor in children's and YA books come together. This year, the fair revolves around the theme "Women in tales" and has Mexico as its guest country. GÁLIX and the Pontevedra City Council were in charge of organising the 1st International Illustration Contest, through which the image of this edition's poster was chosen. The winner was Ana Villegas, from Spain; runners-up were Sofia Venzel (Russia), Rocío Alejandro (Argentina), Susana Suniaga (Venezuela), Diana Sofía Zapata (Ecuador), Inge Nouws (Netherlands), Pablo Balzo (Chile), Cristian Turdera (Argentina), Tiiu Kitsik (Estonia), Adolfo Serra (Spain), Yolanda Mosquera (España) y Camilla Zaza (Italy).

For more information (in Galician), click here.

From the United Kingdom

IBBY UK continues to be active and to grow its presence in the UK book world. The Committee is diverse, drawing members from the world of publishing, illustrators, teachers and librarians. IBBY UK is currently in the process of launching a new website – a process that has taken a little longer than hoped – but the framework is already live, and the section is working to migrate appropriate content from the old website as well as create new content. The aim is to have a really attractive and dynamic online existence – a gateway to attract new members.

IBBY UK was present at the London Book Fair, where it was a co-partner in two seminars – one with the organisation Inclusive Minds under the title Mind the Gap: celebrating authentic inclusion, the second with the British Council promoting writing for children from the Baltic countries. The London Book Fair is a high profile venue so IBBY UK is particularly pleased that it is present there. Later in April the section celebrated Melvin Burgess at an event outside London.

Happily ever after... with keynote speaker Vanessa Joosen at the annual IBBY UK/NCRCL conference. © IBBY UK

IBBY UK is always very proud of its One Day Conferences held in partnership with NCRCL (National Centre for Research in Children's Literature). These are held in the autumn. Taking the lead from the forthcoming IBBY Congress the theme this time was fairy tales under the title Happily Ever After: The Evolution of Fairy Tales Across Time and Cultures. A number of the presentations will be available to members on the website and the theme was also picked up for the latest IBBYLink.

Diversity is an important part of the IBBY UK mission especially in making people aware of books from outside the UK. In 2017 the section brought the touring collection of the 2013 Silent Books to the UK and organised exhibitions at seven different venues around the country. In the same way, the 2015 Collection of Outstanding Books for Young People with Disabilities has been on tour around England. Since 2014 IBBY UK has showcased the IBBY Honour List Books by organising the collections of the illustrated books to be on show at a variety of venues. All of these ensure that as many people as possible across the country are brought into contact with the books and with IBBY.

These are events within the UK – but IBBY UK is very pleased to be able to organise the inclusion of fourteen illustrators at BIB in September 2017. The section will also be supporting 2 bursaries to attend the Congress in Athens.