Dear colleagues from the European sections of IBBY, We are launching a new column in our Newsletter: "3 questions to...". In each issue of this Newsletter we will address 3 questions to a member of a European IBBY section to get to know that person and the activities of his or her National Section. In this issue, we invite you to meet Eva Devos from IBBY Belgium - Flanders section! Do you have a name to suggest for the next issue? Send us a mail! Our European Facebook group has been active since April 2011. In this Newsletter, you will find a step-by-step guide : Are you still wondering whether or not to attend the IBBY Congress in August 2012? In this issue we are giving you Many thanks to all our contributors who sent information about the events in their National Section! And special thanks to David Pintor who has designed yet another fine header for this issue, as well as the avatar for our Facebook group. Please don't hesitate to send us your comments and requests - we eagerly await your input! Please send your e.mails to the following addresses: wally.de.doncker@telenet.be and hasmig.chahinian@bnf.fr All the best! Wally De Doncker and Hasmig Chahinian |
In September the Flanders Section of IBBY Belgium hosted the EC September meeting and associated meetings of IBBY International in Antwerp.
Social events and dinners took place in the evenings. Everything was perfectly organized, making it a pleasure to work! |
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 © P. Ceulemans |
In this new column we will address 3 questions to a member of a European Section of IBBY. In this issue, meet Eva Devos, from IBBY Belgium - Flanders section! Do you have a name to suggest for the next issue? Send us a mail! |
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| From Portugal... |
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IBBY welcomes IBBY Portugal! The Portuguese National Section shares the vision and philosophy of IBBY: bringing children and high quality books together. The members of the section organize, either individually or collectively, events that promote that mission. |
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From Turkey... |
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Ankara University's Centre for Children's & Young Adult Literature organized a National Symposium on October 5-7, 2011. The Symposium brought together authors, illustrators, academics, publishers and students of children's literature from various parts of Turkey. A great number of parents were also among the audience on the University's campus. Many members of IBBY Turkey contributed to this Symposium by presenting papers and acting as moderators of sessions and/or workshops. The well-known and very popular children's book author Muzaffer Izgu was the Guest of Honour. 178 papers were presented, 55 workshops were realized and many authors had book-signing sessions. In summing up, Professor Sedat Sever, the Manager of the Centre for Children's & Y.A. Literature, who organized the Symposium, said that the past and present conditions of children's literature in Turkey had been analyzed, experiences shared, problems identified and solutions proposed within the framework of today's scientific developments. |
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IBBY Turkey chooses the best books of 2010 IBBY Turkey selected the best children's and Young Adult books published in 2010 in three categories: best picture book, best novel and the best book design. Five jury members were appointed from among academics for evaluating each category of authors, illustrators and graphic designers. The books for the "Best Book of 2010" were nominated by publishers. The winning books are as follows: |
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The 2011 Istanbul Book Fair This year's Istanbul Book Fair will be held from 12-20 November. Among the many activities planned by IBBY Turkey during the 2011 book fair, is the visit of the French author Oscar Brenifier. Oscar Brenifier is known in Turkey, as in many other countries, for his books on philosophy for children. A set of his books were translated into Turkish under the general title "The Child Philosopher" and published by Tudem Publications. On a previous visit to Turkey Brenifier organized workshops for Turkish students in various schools and also shared ideas with the teachers of those schools on how to teach effectively. He believes that with philosophy we all can lead a better life and think in a more logical way. His aim is to bring philosophy into everyone's lives instead of considering it only as a part of the school curriculum. |
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From Germany... |
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Translator's Workshop Kein Kinderspiel! – No Child's Play! This summer the Arbeitskreis für Jugendliteratur (IBBY Germany) with financial sponsor the Robert Bosch Foundation, organized a second workshop focusing on translation of literature for young readers and the role of the translator. Regina Pantos, current president of IBBY Germany, conducted the workshop. |
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| Translating literature for young readers requires special abilities and deserves high recognition. But quite often translators are not mentioned at all in the work they have translated. Yet they are mediators who open up the world of international literature to our children at an early age. Kein Kinderspiel! is a workshop for translators of German-language literature for young readers. Its purpose is to enable 15 translators from different countries who translate children's and youth literature from German into their native languages to gather for a one-week, all-expenses-paid workshop. There, supported by German translator Tobias Scheffel, they focused on such issues as youth jargon, comedy and irony, cultural and political taboos and the ethical responsibility of the translator. Coming from a wide range of nationalities – this summer participants were from Brazil, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Italy, Lithuania, Mongolia, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Thailand and the USA. During the workshop participants discussed these topics from their very diverse perspectives. Parallel to the main programme, the translators were offered readings by the authors Isabel Abedi and Kirsten Boie, conversations with publishers and booksellers, visits to illustrators and they also met with the group of young readers who were members of the 2011 junior jury of the German Children's Literature Award. In a series of lectures the participants received information on trends in the German book market and on current book reviewing in literary journals and on the Internet. Information about the current conditions for translators of children's and youth literature in Germany and opportunities for financial subsidies completed the programme. The workshop will be offered again in September 2012, information will be available in March 2012 at www.jugendliteratur.org. |
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The German Children's Literature Award 2011 On 14 October the Minister of State to the Federal Chancellor Bernd Neumann, Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media, announced the prize winners of the German Children's Literature Award 2011. The Award is the only state-sponsored prize for fiction in Germany and has been awarded since 1956 and is sponsored by the Federal Ministry of Family, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth. |
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The 2011 Sonderpreis (special award for the complete work) was given to the translator Tobias Scheffel because of "his sensibility for the rhythm and melody and his passion for an inventive handling of language". The prize is a statue of Momo and 10,000 €. The jury of adult critics awarded the following books:
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From Estonia... |
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IBBY Estonia is on Facebook! |
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© Priit Rea |
The International Children's Book Day 2011 was sponsored by the Estonian Section of IBBY. On April 2, the Estonian Children's Literature Centre, the Estonian Section of IBBY and children's magazine Täheke (Starlet) organized an elaborate masked parade. There were 600 children from 15 different countries and cities wearing handcrafted masks of literary characters. The parade took place in the historic part of Tallinn, starting at the Children's Literature Centre and accompanied by a marching band, the children walked through the old town. The grand finale took place at the Estonian Puppet and Youth Theatre with a performance of Nukumängu ABC (ABC of Puppetry) and a visit to the Puppet Museum. The event was part of the official programme celebrating Tallinn – European Culture Capital 2011. |
| In April, a grand exhibition "Fairy tales of the Sea" was opened at the Estonian Children's Literature Centre in the old town of Tallinn. Eighty artists from ten countries bordering the Baltic Sea participated, most of whom had previously taken part in past Tallinn Illustration Triennials, were invited to illustrate old legends and fairy tales of the sea - stories that connect and unite all Baltic Sea nations. The exhibition was directly connected with the main theme of Tallinn – European Culture Capital 2011: "The Stories of the Seashore". The exhibition will travel to all participating countries; in June, it opened in Voujoe, Finland, and in October in Pärnu, Estonia. In 2012, the illustrations will travel to Russia and Poland. |
© Jüri Mildeberg |
Anu Kehman and Jaanika Palm (Estonia), with Kestutis Urba in centre (Lithuania). |
Conference Picture&Text: June 8-10 2011 at Tallinn University. The conference was organized by the Estonian Reading Association and the Estonian Section of IBBY and was an exiting event, bringing together researchers from different countries who shared ideas about contemporary picture books with the audience of teachers, journalists, publishers and other interested persons. The keynote speakers, Penni Cotton and Petros Panaou introduced the European Picture Book Collection and the current progress of the project EPBCII. Estonian art expert Viive Noor discussed the development of picture books, asking: who is the audience for today's picture books? Other researchers such as Danguole Šakaviciute from Lithuania, addressed the same question. Presenters from Latvia, Ukraine, Portugal, Slovenia, Poland and Sweden also presented overviews of the picture book from their countries. The unforgettable Serge Terwagne gave a lecture and workshop on picture books in education. Boundaries between book, animation and game, between fantasy and reality, between reading of the book and the iPad were discussed. There was an accompanying exhibition of pupils' works and teacher's materials used in reading activities. |
| On July 24, the annual Jānis Baltvilks Prize was awarded in Riga to Estonian writer Andrus Kivirähk and Latvian translator Guntars Godiņš for Leiutajateküla Lotte (Lotte from Gadgetville, Latvian Lote no Izgudrotāju ciema). The Jānis Baltvilks Prize, given by the Latvian Section of IBBY, is an international children's literature award for the Baltic Sea countries and is awarded to foreign writers and to the translators of their work into Latvian. |
From left to right: Andrus Kivirähk and Guntars Godiņš. © Ieva Čīka |
| In August IBBY Estonia initiated a new project – Library in the Park. In collaboration with the children's museum Miia-Milla-Manda the Library in the Park project is located in the Kadriorg Park - the largest park in the centre of Tallinn - and comprises a unique collection of children's books that is open for everyone to enjoy. The selected books are the ones that have been nominated for the IBBY Honour List by the Estonian Section, as well as those that have been awarded the Tower of Babel Honour Diploma: the annual award given by the Estonian Section of IBBY. The library will open again next summer, not only in Tallinn but also in other cities in Estonia. | |
From Poland... |
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The new board of the Polish Section of IBBY continues its activities that support books and reading in Poland and abroad. Thus, in cooperation with DużeKe we began a programme called Czytam tu i tam (I read here and there), engaging publishers and writers – most of them IBBY members – as well as The Book Of The Year Award winners. Details can be found at: http://duzeka.pl Since September 2011 the Fiction Cafe Foundation in Gdansk has been organizing its project A Ja czytam (I DO read), which aims at popularizing reading among the youngest. The project comprises a list of 20 recommended books with reviews under the title Commendable Bauble. The details are available on the foundation’s site at http://miejsce-dla-kultury.org. The year of Czeslaw Milosz, Polish poet and Nobel Prize winner, has now finished, but the fascination with his work has not gone away, resulting in the literary competition with elements of art that will be held under auspices of IBBY Poland. |
The next event for IBBY Poland is the Pomorian Reader’s Marathon: a competition directed at the 2010 grammar school and gymnasium students. The Marathon is an event with a long tradition, you can read about its history at http://www.portalpomorza.pl. The participants of the marathon read Marcin Szczygielski's novel Omega, which was awarded "Book Of The Year 2010”. |
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Exhibition In the library In Zielona Góra. © Natalia Korczyc |
Our exhibition “Polish Section IBBY Awards” has already visited several cities in Poland, and currently it is being shown in the Warsaw Museum of Literature – a new partner of IBBY. The exhibition will shortly be presented at the Book Fair in Krakow as an artistic event connected with the 15th anniversary of the fair. IBBY Poland is supporting the fair this year and is taking part in the book crossing, lotteries and other activities for children. The three nominated books in the category "Literature for children and young people” are: Diabełek (The Little Devil) by Maria Ewa Letki, illustrated by Agnieszka Zelewska – is was also awarded a DONG; Asiunia (Little Joan) by Joanna Papuzińska, illustrated by Marcin Szymanowicz (nomination of PS IBBY); Co z ciebie wyrośnie (What will become of you?) by Aleksandra and Daniel Mizielinscy – which received an Honorary Mention at the 2011 Bologna Ragazzi Awards. |
IBBY Poland is also a supporting organization of the Open Gardens Festival, which is a beautiful event during which the owners of the old villas in one of the Warsaw neighborhoods organize concerts, exhibitions, excursions and workshops – many of them connected with the books for the youngest readers. |
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A series of activities for children were organized by the library in Zielona Góra that were based on Eric Carle’s book From Head to Toe. It was the first project in the library. Over four months, for one afternoon a week 4-5 year olds took part in artistic, musical and theatre activities inspired by good literature - From Head to Toe by Eric Carle and Hallo legs, hallo hands by Klaus W. Vopel. During this year's Biennale of Illustration in Bratislava (BIB'11) the children's jury nominated the book Ottokar, der Elefant aus Sansibar by Polish artists Anita Andrzejewska and Andrzej Pilichowski-Ragno. |
From Iceland... |
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12 year old students at Álfhólfsskóli listening to the story being read. |
Thousands of Icelanders joined by children's literature It is 10:15 on a Thursday in March, 42.000 Icelandic students, aged 6-16, all focus on the same project. The gym class is halted, the English lesson pauses, even recess must wait. What are all these school children are doing? They are taking a break to listen to a brand new story! IBBY Iceland decided to celebrate International Children's Book Day in 2011 in a new way – by giving the nation a story. The section biennially awards the Sögusteinn Children's Literature Prize and it seemed obvious to ask our latest winner, Kristín Helga Gunnarsdóttir, to write the story. The constraints were considerable – it needed to be suitable for children aged 6-16 and it could only take 15 minutes to read out aloud. Kristín Helga accepted the challenge gracefully and delivered a multi-layered story that did indeed speak to audiences of all ages. The Board of the Icelandic section of IBBY was in regular contact with the principals and school librarians in every single elementary school in the country for several months before the story was to be read out, in order to prepare everyone as fully as possible. During preparations a member of our board suggested that we contact the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service. The head of broadcasting services loved the idea, so Kristín Helga went to the studio to record the story. As a result the story was broadcast nationwide on the radio simultaneously with the live readings. When the appointed date and time arrived, everything was ready. Some schools chose to have their students listen to the broadcast, others had a student read the story and some teachers chose to read the story themselves to their students. During the evening news programme a segment was shown from Akureyri in Northern Iceland where the broadcast was put over a swimming pool's loud-speaker system, so everyone swimming could enjoy the short tale. Probably up to a third of our small nation listened to a brand new children's story together that day! As ICBD fell on a Saturday in 2011, we decided to have the story read on Thursday 31 March. On the actual day, 2 April, we awarded the Sögusteinn Literature Prize to Ragnheiður Gestsdóttir, who is a well-known children's writer and illustrator. At that point it was obvious that the event was a roaring success and we immediately asked Ragnheiður to write the 2012 story. Hopefully this was the first step towards a long tradition of celebrating International Children's Book Day the best way we can – with a story. |
Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, former president of Iceland, with the 2011 winner of the biennial Sögusteinn literature Prize, Ragnheiður Gestsdóttir. She will write the story read on April 2nd 2012. © IBBY Iceland. |
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Kristín Helga Gunnarsdóttir, winner of the 2009 Sögusteinn Children's Literature Prize, who wrote the story read to 42.000 Icelandic students to celebrate ICBD 2011. © Einar Falur Ingólfsson. |
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From Belgium... |
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The Libbylit Awards There are two main categories: Libbylit Awards for Picture Books and Libbylit Awards for Novels. In each section, there are three sub-sections: the best Belgian picture book or novel; the best picture book or novel written in French; and then for the picture book category: the best picture book for young children; and for the novel category, the best novel for juniors. It sounds a little complicated, but it isn't really! The Libbylit Awards 2011 for Picture Books are : - Best Belgian Picture Book: Hello, Monsieur Hulot [Hello, Mr Hulot] by David Merveille, Ed du Rouergue, 2010 -
Best Belgian Novel: Onze [Eleven] by Xavier Deutsch, Ed. Mijade, 2011 |
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These awards are always announced at the Children's Book Fair of Namur (Belgium) in presence of the authors and/or the publishers. As we are unable to reward the laureates with a cash prize, we give them a chocolate « Manneken Piss » (a well-known symbol of Brussels) - a gift they really appreciate. The section creates bookmarks that are sent to schools, librairies and bookshops in order to promote the award and the books. Next year, the French-speaking Branch of IBBY Belgium will celebrate its 20th anniversary! Many things happened during these twenty years and we are looking forward to celebrate this birthday with some special events. But more about this in the next issue of the European Newsletter. |
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Do you want to share information on your European National Section? Are you interested in knowing what other sections are up to? Do you want to have updates about children's literature events in Europe? Do you wish to react to what others have posted? |
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| Who can post information? Anyone can post, but in order to do that you should have a Facebook account. Facebook is completely free of charge. If you don't have an account yet, please follow this link to create one: http://www.facebook.com/ If you only want to read what others have written without commenting or posting information that you want to share, you don't need to have an account. |
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| How is the posting done? Please click on the following link to reach our page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/IBBY-Europe/206787579351045 If you're not logged in, the system will ask you to do so. Now that you're logged in, choose the media you will use. Is it a text (post), a photo, a link, a video? Once you have put in what you want to share, just click on the "share" button. It's as simple as that! |
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| How can I react to what others have posted? At the end of each post, you will find "Like", "Comment", "Share". |
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| If you want to show your appreciation of the post, just click on "like". If you would like to comment on it, click on "comment" – a box will appear and you will be able to write what you want. Do you wish to share this post with your friends on your own personal Facebook page? Just click on "Share"! |
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How can I be alerted every time a new item is posted on the IBBY Europe Facebook page? Just click on "Like"! Every item posted on the IBBY Europe Facebook page will then appear instantly on your own personal Facebook page. |
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"Graphic novels around the world". Bookbird, October 2011 The October 2011 issue of Bookbird is a full-colour examination of graphic novels around the world. It features a fascinating trio of articles by and about author, artist, and filmmaker Shaun Tan, as well as insightful pieces about the history, nature, and power of graphic novels in Iran, India, and Korea, an examination of the groundbreaking work of Raymond Briggs and Dave McKean, a look at the evolving picture book in Australia, and the translation of "sound effects" in one exemplary book, Robot Dreams. Taken together, this issue offers a provocative snapshot of how this innovative crossover genre can bridge barriers of literacy, culture and genre. |
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| Lire en V.O. Sélection de livres en allemand With 80 recently published books in German, this selection is an invitation to get acquainted with contemporary German writers and illustrators. The "Lire en v.o." (Read in original version) series, published by IBBY-France, is an indispensable guide to navigate amongst the publications of a country and share the pleasure of reading. Lire en V.O. Livres pour la jeunesse en allemand. [Read in the original version. Books for children in German] Coordination Anne-Laure Cognet. BnF - CNLJ-La Joie par les livres - IBBY France, December 2011. |
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| Reference resource for Turkish teachers Two catalogues of Turkish children's literature books: one introducing books prepared for Pre-School children and the other containing books for Elementary Education, have been published as resource materials for teachers and parents. These reference books were published for the first time as the outcome of collaborative work carried out and completed by the Union of Educators. The objective of this project was to bring to the public a list of children's books that are presently available on the Turkish market. A team of more than one hundred people related to children's literature took part in the preparations of these two volumes. Teachers read the books to their students and got their reactions. They then submitted reviews and their opinions of the books in question. In both volumes, the books are classified according to the age group of intended readers. The cover of each book is displayed along with a short summary of its text. Names of author, illustrator and publisher; date of first edition, genre and the number of pages are listed. As an introduction, each volume contains information on the criteria that make children's books children's literature. It is planned that these two volumes of reference will be updated biennially. |
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Libbylit The review Libbylit has a new layout. The paper is of better quality and the cover is now in colour. Issue number 100 has now been released! The compilers of the Review are very proud of this change and are looking forward to making further improvements in the future. |
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Guest of honour: Egypt For more information: http://www.istanbulbookfair.com/ |
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Guests of Honour: Japan, Moscow and its authors. |
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For more information: http://www.stichtinglezen.be/content.aspx?l=009.003.003 |
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The Leipzig Book Fair is the second largest book fair in Germany. As the first great trade meeting of the year it plays an important role in the market and is often where new publications are first presented. The particular aim of the fair is to be for the public (in contrast to Frankfurt Book Fair, which sees a much larger volume of industry trading) and to emphasize the relationship between authors and visitors. Therefore, Leipzig hosts over 1,800 events during the four-day fair - both in the city and at the fairground - which makes it one of the largest events of its kind in Europe. For more information: http://www.leipziger-buchmesse.de/ |
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Guest of honour: Portugal. For more information: http://www.bolognachildrensbookfair.com/en |
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 23-26 AugustIBBY World Congress, London, UK 33rd IBBY International Congress. "Crossing Boundaries: Translations and Migrations". Imperial College, London. For more information: IBBY Congress 2012 |
Anastasia Arkhipova (IBBY Russia) |
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