2024 IBBY-iRead Outstanding Reading Promoter Award

Basarat Midhat Kazim is a selfless and committed humanitarian, educationist, writer, social activist, as well as a strong advocate of reading by children and young people. Since childhood, Basarat has dreamed of lively libraries containing books with colourful illustrations that could connect cultures and people. At that time, the mainstream schools were rather gloomy and only offered rote education. It was not until 1978 that she heard of a children’s library in a bright, colourful double-decker bus — the first of its kind to be set up in Pakistan. She went to visit it, and there was no turning back.

Starting with just 500 children and one library, Basarat Kazim’s efforts have turned the Alif Laila Book Bus Society into a country-wide movement boasting over 7,000 libraries benefitting one million children and training over a thousand teachers—an ordinary person doing extra ordinary work. To perpetuate this work, Basarat has designed a well-structured library manual and guide that includes detailed instructions, which is shared with all libraries, thus ensuring their smooth operation. Her overall reading and library programme is a highly cost-effective model that has been successfully replicated across the country.

Basarat was a recipient of the 2023 Inspiring Woman Awards because her strong belief in the idea that every child and young person in Pakistan should be able to access books. She has used camels, yaks, rickshaws, boxes, bicycles and motorbikes as libraries, all under the motto: the sky is the limit. Because of her enthusiasm and success, she gained the nickname ‘the woman who turns everything into children’s libraries’.

www.aliflaila.org.pk

Irene Vasco is a Colombian children’s literature expert, lecturer, writer and reading promoter. Her life revolves around readers. Her participation in conferences throughout the South American continent and Spain has made her an international authority in reading promotion.

Irene has participated in the launching of multiple public libraries in so-called ‘red’ territories, which are characterized by social conflict and the presence of illegal armed groups, particularly during the peace processes. She frequently participates in government programmes developed for Indigenous communities and remote farming villages, as well as in programmes for former soldiers who have returned to civil life.

She understands that the connection with books, images, poetry and play is universal. She is also a renowned author of children’s and young people’s literature in Colombia and beyond and has also authored nearly 40 books, many of which have been distinguished with important awards. In both La joven maestra y la gran serpiente and Letras al carbón, Irene has captured the voices of women from all over the country who shared their memories of how they had learned to read. Irene carefully preserves her memories to share her experiences with the new generation of librarians, parents, teachers, and reading promoters, thus ensuring that her work will continue.

Her strong sense of community and social engagement has led her to devote much of her life to offering reading and writing workshops. In 2021, the Colombian Ministry of Education recognized Irene Vasco for her lifetime commitment to education and children’s literature.

www.irenevasco.com