Sri Lanka

Convention on Literature for Children and Youth - 2019

The first-ever convention on Literature for Children and Youth organised by the Sri Lanka Section of IBBY was successfully held on 5-6 April 2019 at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute in Colombo. The Convention was inaugurated by the State Minister of Education, Hon.Vijayakala Maheshwaran, and attended by a total of 120 persons over the course of 2 days. The participants included authors, illustrators, publishers, academics, teachers, librarians and child and youth welfare officers, as well as officials of the Ministry of Education, National Institute of Library and Information Services of Colombo University (NILIS), National Library Services Council and the National Institute of Education. 

The highlight of the Convention was the launch of a project report published by the Ministry of Education’s School Libraries Development Branch. The result of two years of research, this publication enumerates the criteria for creating, as well as selecting children’s storybooks. Prior to this publication, there was no set of guidelines for either authors or publishers. As the report is currently available only in the Sinhala language, the IBBY Sri Lanka Section has undertaken the task of translating and printing the report in the Tamiland English languages as well. The translated versions are scheduled to be launched in early May 2019, at the National Reading Programme Awards Ceremony. 

A full report of the convention can be read here.