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The IBBY press conference at the 2013 Bologna Children’s Book Fair will take place March 25 at 2:30 pm. Highlights will include:

~ IBBY Documentation Centre of Books for Disabled Young People
~ IBBY Projects (including the the IBBY Children in Crisis Fund and the IBBY-Yamada Programme)
~ International Children’s Book Day 2013
~ 2013 Selection of Outstanding Books for Young People with Disabilities
~ 2014 Hans Christian Andersen Awards

The United Arab Emirates Section of IBBY (UAEIBBY) will organize the First International Board on Books for Young  People Conference for the Region of Central Asia and North Africa (CANA): Bringing Books and Children Together in Sharjah, UAE,  April 21 – 23, 2013.

The Indonesian Section of IBBY (INABBY) has announced the  1st Asia and Oceania Regional IBBY Congress to be held in Bali, Indonesia, May 23 – 26, 2013.

The USA section of IBBY ( USBBY) is sponsoring the 10th IBBY Regional Conference: BookJoy Around the World in St. Louis, MO,  October 18 – 20, 2013.

IBBY Cuba will be hosting the Congreso Internacional Lectura 2013: para Leer el XXI  to be held October 22 – 26, 2013 in Havana, Cuba.

IBBY India and Association of Writers and Illustrators for Children (AWIC) is organizing The International Conference on Literacy Through Literature to be held in New Delhi, India, February 6 – 8, 2014.

The IBBY 34th International Congress: May everyone really mean everyone. Reading as an inclusive experience will be held in Mexico City, Mexico, September 10 – 13, 2014. Submissions are now being accepted for a special issue of Bookbird to coincide with the Congress. Papers are welcomed that examine texts for children from Mexico or the Latin American world as they relate to or intersect with the conference theme. See Bookbird’s website at www.ibby.org/bookbird for full submission details.

The 33rd IBBY Congress took place this past summer in London and a selection of videos of some of the plenary and other sessions are now available on the Congress website. Click here to watch them. Hopefully PaperTigers Editor Marjorie Coughlan’s session Escaping Conflict, Seeking Peace: picture books that relate refugee stories, and their importance will be uploaded soon so that those of us that couldn’t attend can enjoy her presentation.

Good morning!

There are a couple 2013 conferences that have recently announced their call for proposals. Are you interested? 1.

The 10th IBBY (International Board on Books for Young People ) will hold its regional conference 18020 October in St Louis, MO.

This conference will feature a limited number of simultaneous sessions that address the conference theme and/or feature international children’s literature. All sessions will be one hour and can take one of several forms, including but not limited to:

• Single speaker leading an interactive session
• Multiple presentations on one topic
• Workshop or demonstration
• Roundtable discussion

Proposals should include a title and a description of the proposed session (100-150 words). Also include the following contact information: name, affiliation (if any), address, and email. If the proposal has multiple speakers, please include contact information for everyone listed. Proposals should be sent to program@usbby.org.  Please feel free to contact Susan Stan at stan1sm@cmich.edu if you have questions before submitting proposal. Deadline for submission: February 1, 2013

2.

The Library Services to Multicultural Populations Section and Education and Training Section of the IFLA (International Federal of Library Associations invites proposals for papers to be presented at a two-hour session in the next IFLA General Conference on August 2013 in Singapore.

 Theme: Indigenous knowledge and multiculturalism in LIS education and library training: infinite possibilities

 Submission deadline: 15 February 2013. Please visit the following link for the details:

http://conference.ifla.org/ifla79/calls-for-papers/indigenous-knowledge-and-multiculturalism

Filed under: librarianship, professional development Tagged: CFP, IBBY, IFLA

Everybody has a song,
be it short or be it long,
in the right or in the wrong key,
Like the hee-haw of a donkey,
Twitter, tweet, tu-whit, tu-whoo,
howl or growl or quack or moo.
[…]
Don’t be silent
nor afraid,
you must sing
as you’ve been made.

Translation by Stan Dragland of the South African poem “Elke outjie…” by Philip de Vos

Welcome, everybody, to this week’s Poetry Friday, which we are delighted to be hosting.  Please leave comments below with links to your “songs” and I’ll be updating this post throughout the day.

The above poem comes from the joyous anthology Under the Spell of the Moon: Art for Children from the World’s Great Illustrators.  This superb book, first published by Groundwood in Canada in 2004, then in the UK in 2006 by Frances Lincoln, is now available for the first time in paperback (Frances Lincoln, 2012). Produced by the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY), the book is edited by erstwhile President of IBBY and founder of Groundwood Patsy Aldana, and has a thought-provoking Foreword by award-winning author Katherine Paterson.  It provides a fantastic showcase of 32 illustrators from across the globe, who have all donated their work to benefit IBBY – indeed 12.5% of the book’s proceeds go to IBBY.  Illustrators include Piet Grobler, who illustrated the poem cited above, as well as many others of my personal favorites such as Mitsumasa Anno (Japan), Peter Sís (Czech Republic/USA), Anthony Browne (UK), Isol (Argentina), Pulak Biswas (India), Luis Garay (Nicaragua) – and the book has also introduced me to many illustrators whose work I intend to explore further…

Each illustrator was asked to “illustrate a text of his or her own choosing, be it a poem, nursery rhyme, song, piece of prose, riddle or street game.”  The result is a wonderfully eclectic gathering of mostly verse that is given in its original language, sometimes incorporated into the artwork, and, where necessary, in English translation: and indeed a special shout-out must go to Stan Dragland’s virtuoso translations.  The quirkiness of the collection probably comes from this freedom of choice given to the global spread of illustrators: so each page turn brings a surprise, both in text and artistic style.  The one thing that links every page is the joie de vivre of the texts and the virtuosity each illustrator has brought to his or her contribution.

And n

International Books for Young People – IBBY – we’re on our way to London.

www.ibbycongress2012.org

Crossing Boundaries: Translations and Migrations, to be held at Imperial College, London, from 23rd to 26th August 2012.

It’s going to be fantastic and I get to see friends from all over the world.

Shaun Tan, Mark  Greenwood, Frane Lessac – the fantastic Aussie contingent of authors/illustrators from the West are coming.

Can’t wait to speak about ‘Ships in the Field’  on a panel with Marjorie Coughlan editor of Paper Tigers

Picture Books about Migration

Zeynep Bassa (Author and Illustrator, Turkey)
Picture Books on the Theme of Migration in Germany
Questions of migration, discrimination, social marginalisation and integration appear as newly emerging topics in children’s books. Based partially on the author’s personal experiences as a migrant mother of two children in Germany and from work with migrant children, this paper reviews some of the children’s books published in Germany on the subjects of tolerance and acceptance of different identities.

Marjorie Coughlan 
(Editor, Paper Tigers, U.K.)
Escaping Conflict, Seeking Peace: picture books that relate refugee stories, and their importance
Attention is drawn to picture books in English from around the world about children and young people who have been forced from their homes because of conflict. These are stories that need to be told, whether they are biographical or fictionalised accounts, for understanding of the past, healing in the present, and hope for the future.

Susanne Gervay (Author, Society of Children’s Writers and Illustrato

The IBBY CONGRESS London was about making friends across the world from Slovenia to Canada; USA to South Korea, from Mongolia to New Zealand; from India to the world…. to Australia!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Some of the wonderful friends I made are in these photos – and there were other wonderful people too – Dr Veronika Rot Gabrovec Slovenia; Ingrid Kallstrom Stockholm; Merle Harris Edmonton Canada; Swapna Dutta Bangalore India …and …….many friends.

The International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) European Region’s November 2012 newsletter can now be read online by clicking here.

(Click on event name for more information)

American Indian Heritage Month~ USA

November Events for  Kids  at Dar el Shorouk Stores~ Cairo, Egypt

Govenor General’s Literary Award Winners Announced~ Montreal, QC, Canada

SCBWI Write-ins to Celebrate National Novel Writing Month~ France

Sharjah International Book Fair and Announcement of the Etisalat Prize for Arabic Children’s Literature Winner~ ongoing until Nov 6, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

30th Santiago International Book Fair~ ongoing until Nov 14, Santiago, Chile

Nambook-010: The 5th Nami Island International Children’s Book Festival~ ongoing until  Nov 14, Nami, Korea

Entries Accepted for the 2011 PBBY-Salanga Prize~ ongoing until Nov 15, Philippines

The Children’s Bookshow: Stories From Around The World~ ongoing until Nov 17, United Kingdom

2010 Original Art: Celebrating the Fine Art of Children’s Book Illustration~ ongoing until Nov 24, New York, NY, USA

Scholastic Asian Book Award~ submissions accepted until Dec 31, Singapore

Hedwig Anuar Children’s Book Award 2011~ entries accepted until Dec 31, Singapore

An Exquisite Vision: The Art of Lisbeth Zwerger~ ongoing until Jan 9, Hannover, Germany

Monsters and Miracles: A Journey through Jewish Picture Books~ ongoing until Jan 23, Amherst, MA, USA

Drawn in Brooklyn Exhibit of Original Picture Book Art by Brooklyn Illustrators~ ongoing until Jan 23, Brooklyn, NY, USA

National Center for Children’s Illustrated Literature Presents From Houdini to Hugo: The Art of Brian Selznick~ ongoing until Jan 29, Abilene, TX, USA

International Youth Library Exhibit: The World in Miniature. The Family in Historic Picture Books and Children’s Literature~ ongoing until Aug 31, Munich, Germany

EXEtreme Imagination: A Festival of Literature for Children and Young People~ Nov 1 – 7, Devon and Exeter, United Kingdom

Exclusive Screening: Library of the Early Mind~ Nov 2, New York, NY, USA

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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 first issue of IBBY Asian Newsletter has come out and is definitely a must read! This newsletter belongs to all national sections in Asia: from the Middle East to the Far East, and contains a wealth of information and photos. Following the decision of the Asian national sections’ gathering at the 2010 IBBY Congress, two issues of this newsletter will be published each year (April and September).

Included in the April 2011 issue are:
• Report from Australia
• IBBY India’s activities
• News from Iran
• JBBY describes its wide ranging activities
• KBBY reports
• Alif Laila Book Bus Society Brings Children and Books Together!
• Palestinian IBBY

Abigail Sawyer regularly reviews books for us here at PaperTigers, and she’s also, in her own words, “a lifelong library lover and an advocate for access to books for all”, so who better to write an article for us about “unconventional libraries” and the children’s books they have inspired. Abigail lives in San Francisco, California, USA, where her two children attend a language-immersion elementary school and are becoming bilingual in English and Mandarin: an experience that has informed her work on the blog for the film Speaking in Tongues. I know you’ll enjoy reading this as much as I have.

On Traveling Libraries and Heroic ‘Book People’: Inspiring children’s books about getting books to people in remote places and difficult circumstances

My sons and I paid our first-ever visit to a bookmobile over the summer.  For us it was a novelty.  We have shelves of books at home and live just 3 blocks from our local branch library, but the brightly colored bus had pulled up right near the playground we were visiting in another San Francisco neighborhood (whose branch library was under renovation), and it was simply too irresistible.  Inside, this library on wheels was cozy, comfortable, and loaded with more books than I would have thought possible.  I urged my boys to practice restraint and choose only one book each rather than compete to reach the limit of how many books one can take out of the San Francisco Public Library system (the answer is 50; we’ve done it at least once).

The bookmobiles provide a great service even in our densely populated city where branch libraries abound.  There are other mobile libraries, however, that take books to children who may live miles from even the nearest modern road; to children who live on remote islands, in the sparsely populated and frigid north, in temporary settlements in vast deserts, and in refugee camps.  The heroic individuals who manage these libraries on boats, burros, vans, and camels provide children and the others they serve with a window on the world and a path into their own imaginations that would otherwise be impossible.

Shortly after my own bookmobile experience, Jeanette Winter‘s Biblioburro (Beach Lane Books, 2010), a tribute to Colombian schoolteacher Luis Soriano, who delivers books to remote hillside villages across rural Colombia, arrived in my mailbox to be reviewed for Paper Tigers.  I loved this book, as I do most of Winter’s work, for its bright pictures and simple, straightforward storytelling. Another picture book, Waiting for the Bibiloburro by Monica Brown (Tricycle Press, 2011), tells the story of Soriano’s famous project from the perspective of one of the children it

As Grace mentioned, we're in Fresno together for the IBBY regional conference. They asked us to speak together about Where the Mountain Meets the Moon. To prepare, we dug up all of the old drafts of the novel, and also my editorial letters/edits (to my horror, I discovered that although I had saved the different drafts with my edits in Track Changes, I had neglected to save any of my editorial letters, as they had been in emails and not saved as separate documents. Luckily, Grace was able to find them in an old email account. Whew!)

Some of the fascinating (at least to us!) things we found:
The 1st draft was 22,859 words; the final draft was 42,840 words, almost twice as long!
The 1st draft had 26 chapters, and the final book had 48 chapters.
The green tiger was not in the original draft.
In the original draft, the parents didn't try to follow/find Minli.
In the original proposal, Minli was named "Cai" (and then "Kai").
The first working title was God of the West. The next title was Never-Ending Mountain.

I also read a portion of my first editorial letter for the book. As I mentioned at the panel, my letters with Grace tend to be a little more casual than to some other authors who I don't know as well. With Grace, I cut to the chase quickly--but I always start with praise! Here's a sampling:

Hola!

So, I thought I'd get down in writing some of the things we discussed over the phone. But just to reiterate, I loved it. I think overall, it's extremely well crafted with a wonderful story arc. The novel is moving, magical, and engaging. I think this is in really great shape! I have a few main comments, most of which we've discussed:

1) The novel feels a little slight right now, and things overall feel a little too easy for Minli. I'd like to add at least one more big challenge for her, and also make a few of the existing challenges a little more difficult/drawn out. For example, she seems to find the King in The City of Bright Moonlight too quickly--she should struggle with this more. I like the idea you mentioned, of having her spend one night with the boy and the buffalo.

Overall, don't be afraid to put your characters in peril! I don't think I worried once about whether Minli would succeed in her quest, or feared for her safety or her life. This made for a comforting, pleasant read, but I think more conflict overall would go a long way toward making this more rewarding.

...

3) It's not believable that her parents would just wait around for her at home for her to come back--have one or both of them go after her? Or have them send someone else after her? If they do stay behind, you need a convincing reason why, and also her reunion with them at the end needs to be more dramatic. Wouldn't they cry? And what did they do while she was gone? Did they set up a shrine to her? Pray for her every day? Maybe they sent the old man selling the fish after her, or maybe a man from the village, or a kind traveler passing through?