Argentina
Argentinian Section of IBBY
Asociación de Literatura Infantil y
Juvenil de la Argentina (ALIJA)
Biblioteca Roffo
Simbrón 3058, Villa del Parque,
1055 Ciudad de Buenos Aires
Email: infoalija@gmail.com
Facebook: @alija.ibbyargentina
Instagram: alijaibbyargentina
Twitter: @AlijaIbbyArg
President
Mr Mario Méndez
Email: presidencia.alija@gmail.com
(address of the section)
Secretary
Ms Cecilia Repetti
Email: alijasecretaria@gmail.com
(address of the section)
Bookbird Correspondent
Ms Lola Rubio
Email: lolarubio09@gmail.com
History
Our country is still under develop, affected by global crises, and above all, subject to great inequalities. Much of its population face very unequal conditions of progress, product of financial, cultural and political forces, both internal and external. We achieve the first 40 years of uninterrupted democratic government, and fighting for human rights is still a national commitment.
How did ALIJA come about? ALIJA emerged in 1985 as a result of heated debates supported by teachers of literature and didactics in teacher training by observing the little preparation that future teachers had about literature written and edited for children and young people. At that time, the CYL (Children's and Youth Literature) of Argentina did not have the dimensions that currently has, but it already had very good authors: María Elena Walsh, Álvaro Yunque, Javier Villafañe, Graciela Montes, Elsa Bornemann, among others. These teachers proposed to include the CYL in the curricula, and set out a movement to circulate this rich and growing production throughout the country. Also, to spread the notable works that were produced in the rest of the world. Some of the founders of ALIJA are well-known creators, mediators, academics: Carlos Silveyra, Susana Itzcovich, Graciela Cabal, Ruth Mehl, Alicia Salvi, Lidia Blanco, Graciela Montes, Gustavo Bombini, Istvan Schritter, Silvia Schujer, Ricardo Mariño, Pablo Medina, among others.
Our goals. Since the beginning, ALIJA had clear goals. Collect, promote, schedule and execute projects, initiatives and actions to disseminate good children's and youth books, and reading in childhood and youth.
Main projects
Los Destacados de ALIJA = ALIJA´ Outstandings. ALIJA seeks to reward works that are invaluable in the voluminous publishing activity. Since 1987, each year, a jury appointed by the Association selects the best works for children and youths published the previous year in several categories that include narrative, poetry, theater, picture book, illustration, academic research, design, informative, editorial work, translation, among others. The jury is different in each edition and has four members chosen among diverse specialists coming from different places of the country, to guarantee a federal perspective.
Los Favoritos de los Lectores / Los Primeros Favoritos = Readers’ Favorites / The First Favorites. This program gives readers the opportunity to make their voices be heard, because those who evaluate the books are the boys and girls who receive them. Each year, around 25 to 30 schools from all over the country participate by reading and sharing impressions about what they have read, until they select those books which are their favorite.
“Girapalabras”: Literatura, Salud y Otredad = “Spinwords”: Literature, Health and Otherness. It seeks to replenish through language a symbolic, creative and vital space, which sometimes gets ignored in the health and education systems. We work with health workers (doctors, psychologists, therapeutic team and other mediators). Psychophysical aspects are taken into account. Therefore, the actions are linked to themes such as migration, development, confinement or hospitalization environments, abuse, disability, gender and sexual transgender, among other central topics.
De Pie en el Mundo = Standing Up in the World. The main goal of the program is the strengthening of the skills that teachers and mediators develop, sustained training and the generation of projects that have a positive impact on the future of the children. The strategy is to create a space where girls and boys can transform their experiences through literature while they are immersed in other artistical languages.
ALIJA nomina / elige = ALIJA nominates. As a member of IBBY, every two years ALIJA submits nominations for the following awards: Hans C. Andersen (HCA-IBBY), for writer and illustrator categories; the List of Honor; IBBY Asahi Award for Reading Promotion; IBBY I-Read Award for Outstanding Promoter of Reading; IBBY-Yamada Fund; Outstanding Books for Disabilities selection; Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA), and the Ibero-American Prize from the SM Foundation. This selection —the preparation of these candidacies— is an arduous task of curating and valuing an author's work. It also implies the editing of a very complete dossier, and its translation.
Recent news and events
Collective catalogs of literary quotes: fliphtml5.com/hdvwz/vylxand issuu.com/infoalija/docs/catalogo_de_sue_os_y_so_adores.
Travesías = ALIJA's tours with books. Teachers, mediators, parents share with ALIJA´s specialists a tour around the fair, where books and authors are presented and explained. This activity has a long history, and is one of the most successful among our programs.
Workshops. ALIJA convenes experts from different disciplines to lead different workshops. Some examples: Script and realization of book trailers; Literature, photography and games; One-minute poem: how to create audiovisual poetic content; Tracing the steps of the criminal mind; What are young people reading today?; Flip books and other devices: How to put together literary and creative digital content; Tell me: Conversation around literature; Fairy tales as intertextuality of contemporary literature; The selection criteria to build a corpus of literature for children in primary school; Object-books: alphabets; Books and readers are here, what do we do to reach them?; Reading is learned by reading.
Important links to videos:
drive.google.com/drive/u/0/search;
drive.google.com/file/d/1jnSGS_UbsYsIUj4YgjP5DElSz7f9uGa6/view
www.instagram.com/p/CcEUgb-JwR5/