It was a real thrill for me to meet not only Dashdondog Jamba at the IBBY Congress last month, having interviewed him last year, but also Anne Pellowski, who worked with him on the Libraries Unlimited edition of Mongolian Folktales. Here’s a photo of us all:
Dashdondog was a member of a superb storytellers’ panel with Michael Harvey telling a tall tale in a mixture of Welsh and English and Sonia Nimr recounting hers first in English then in Arabic. It was fascinating in both cases how much audience participation was possible, regardless of the language they were speaking, simply (and of course, not simple at all really) becasue they were such fine storytellers.
Dashdondog’s story-telling in Mongolian was accompanied by a slideshow that provided the necessary context and I loved his verse rendition of the work of the Mongolian Mobile Library that he founded in 1990 – the onomatopeia could be universally understood. You can watch part of it here. As well as his gift for storytelling, this part of Dashdondog’s presentation provided an indication of how committed the Mobile Children’s Library is in ensuring library books reach as many children as possible, regardless of the challenges of terrain, distance and weather conditions they encounter.
Do read Dashdondog’s article about the library here – and you can read some of his vibrant poems translated into English on his blog.
The 33rd IBBY International Congress starts tomorrow, August 23rd and runs until August 26th at Imperial College, London. The theme of the 2012 congress is Crossing Boundaries: Translations and Migrations and will focus on how books and stories for children and young people can cross boundaries and migrate across different countries and cultures. The Congress will look at issues such globalisation, dual-language texts, cultural exchange and the art of translation and will explore how literature for children migrates and translates in all its forms. PaperTigers Editor Marjorie Coughlan will be presenting a paper entitled Escaping Conflict, Seeking Peace: picture books that relate refugee stories, and their importance.
During the Congress a dedicated team of bloggers will be providing a constant stream of news and reports from the sessions, events and social occasions. The main posts will be displayed on the font page of the IBBY Congress 2012 website. To view the whole blog, just choose BLOG from the HOME menu or visit http://www.ibbycongress2012.org/blog. You can subscribe to the blog by pointing your RSS feed reader (e.g. Google Reader) at the address http://www.ibbycongress2012.org/blog/?feed=rss2. The twitter hashtag for the Congress is #IBBY2012.
The 2011 Bologna Children’s Book Fair takes place March 28 – 31 in Bologna, Italy. The IBBY stand will include the following presentations:
• IBBY Honour List 2010
• Outstanding Books for Young People with Disabilities 2011
• International Children’s Book Day 2011
• IBBY Congress 2012 London
• Bookbird
On March 28th IBBY will hold a press conference at 14:30 (Sala Concerto room) featuring:
• International Children’s Book Day: 2011 Sponsor IBBY Estonia
• IBBY Projects and activities
• Bookbird: introduction of new president
• IBBY Congress 2012 London, United Kingdom
This will be followed by a reception at the IBBY stand: 15:30, Hall 29, stand A 51.
The poster and message to celebrate the 2011 International Children’s Book Day (April 2nd) is now available here. Each year a different National Section of IBBY has the opportunity to be the international sponsor of ICBD and for 2011 the sponsor is IBBY Estonia. This year’s theme is “The Book Remembers”, the poster was designed by Jüri Mildeberg (aka Jüri Mildebergius) and the message written by Aino Pervik.
Registration has opened for the 9th IBBY Regional Conference: Peace the World Together With Children’s Books, to be held October 21 – 23 at the Arne Nixon Center for the Study of Children’s Literature in Fresno, CA, USA. Click here for flyer and go to www.usbby.org for more information and conference updates.
First call for IBBY Cuba’s Congreso Internacional Lectura 2011: Para Leer el XXI Se ha de conocer las fuerzas del mundo para ponerlas a trabajar has gone out. The event will be held October 25 – 29 in Havana, Cuba.
The 33rd International IBBY Congress will be held August 23 – 26, 2012 in London, UK. The theme is Crossing Boundaries: Translations and Migrations. Delegates will explore how books and stories for children and young people can cross boundaries and migrate across different countries and cultures. The congress will look at issues such as globalisation, dual-language tex
The 32nd International IBBY Congress was held in Santiago de Compostela, Spain this past September with the theme The Strength of Minorities:
Why would the majorities want to change a society in which they are perfectly comfortable and privileged? It may seem at a first glance that the majority is the dominant force in every society, but those who dramatically change their world, now and throughout history, always belong to the minority. Minorities –social, ethnic, linguistic, gender, religious- possess a force and an internal dynamism that this Congress will address by critically evaluating and highlighting today’s situation for all minorities. We hope that the Congress will encourage equity that will lead to empowerment of minorities throughout the world.
You can now read the detailed program and speeches from the Congress on-line by clicking here. Photos from the event can be seen here.
Planning for the 33rd International IBBY Congress in London is already underway. The dates are set for August 23 – 26, 2012 and the theme of the Congress is Crossing Boundaries: Translations and Migrations. Participants will explore how books and stories for children and young people can cross boundaries and migrate across different countries and cultures. The congress will look at issues such as globalization, dual-language texts, cultural exchange and the art of translation. For more information, check out the IBBY 2012 Congress website.
