Slovakia

The original Czecho-Slovak IBBY Section had its beginnings in the early 1950s, with the establishment of two central state publishing houses, which specialized in children’s literature: Albatros in Prague and Mladé letá in Bratislava.

In 1959, the Kruh prátel detské knihy (Circle of Children’s Book’s Friends) was founded in Prague and a year later in Bratislava. In 1964 the two organizations – acting together as the Czecho-Slovak IBBY Section – were admitted as members of IBBY. The 10th IBBY Congress was held in Ljubljana, Slovenia in 1966 and the IBBY National Sections were invited to participate in the newly established Biennial of Illustration Bratislava by selecting the national entries. The first BIB – an international competitive exhibition of children’s and juvenile book original illustrations - took place in 1967.

The Czecho-Slovak Section was host to the 1980 IBBY Congress in Prague as well as sponsor of ICBD in 1986 with a message by Rudo Moric and poster by Dusan Kállay (the Hans Christian Andersen Award winner in 1988). Over the years members of the Section have held a number of important posts within the IBBY organisation, notably Dusan Roll who served as a member of the IBBY Executive Committee and was later IBBY President as well as President of the Hans Christian Andersen Award Jury. He was named Honorary Member of IBBY in 1994.

After the split of the Czecho-Slovak Republic in 1993, an independent Slovak IBBY Section was established. The membership of Slovak IBBY Section includes those interested in artistic and cultural activities intended for children and young people, their development, and promotion. Its members are mostly writers, illustrators, teachers, librarians, and workers of other types of cultural institutions.

The Section’s Secretariat is based at the premises of BIBIANA, International House of Art for Children, in Bratislava. In the BIBIANA Library, the Section has archived the IBBY Honour List, making this unique international collection available for study purposes. 

National activities of Slovak IBBY include:

• Days of Children’s Book – a nationwide event organized (and held each year in a different region of the country) as part of the International Children’s Book Day celebrations. The event consists of children’s books authors meeting their readers, exhibitions, and seminars.
• Literary and Illustration Production – a seminar to evaluate the previous year’s book and theatre production intended for children and young people.
•  L’udovít Fulla Award and the Triple Rose Award (Trojruza) – the two most prestigious tokens of appreciation that can be awarded to authors of stories and illustrations for children and young people in Slovakia.
• L’udmila Podjavorinska Plaque – the prize awarded for distinguished service to the promotion of the Slovak children’s literature abroad.
• The Most Beautiful and Best Children’s Books of Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter in Slovakia – a competition to assess the most successful illustration and literary production for children and young people published in Slovakia during the previous year.
• BIBIANA – Revue of Arts for Children and Young People (the official publication of SkBBY) – the only magazine in Slovakia to regularly revue and evaluate the artistic and literary production for children and young people (literature, fine arts, radio, television, film, theatre production…). The revue includes articles, studies, papers, essays, book reviews, polemics and interviews with the most prominent authors in the field.
• Participation in the organisation of the Biennial of Illustration Bratislava (BIB). 

The Slovak IBBY Section also participates actively in the international activities of IBBY including Congresses, nominees for the Hans Christian Andersen Award, Honour List and other IBBY book selections. The Section was sponsor of the 2006 ICBD with a message by Ján Ulicinasky and poster by Peter Cisárik.