Newsletter
An entire month for children’s literature

The international conference on “The Language of Images in Children’s Literature” was held in Vilnius, Lithuania on 9–10 October 2019, and is becoming one of the most important events of the year organized by the Lithuanian Section of IBBY.

The 21st century is often referred to as the visual age, thus this international conference was organised in order to discuss the growing focus on the role of imagery in children’s literature production and publishing. Illustrations and their presentation, book design and diverse graphic approaches by artists are now more relevant than ever and often have a significant impact on children’s reading habits. The organizers were delighted that the conference responded to today's global trends, including an increased focus on picture and silent books.

Attracting massive public attention with more than 250 registered participants, the conference took place in the Seimas (Parliament) of the Republic of Lithuania. The conference was honoured by guests from abroad: IBBY members from Latvia, Estonia and Sweden participated in the event.

The selected speakers from Lithuania Dr. Jolita Liškevičienė, psychologist Asta Blandė, and illustrator Aušra Kiudulaitė, as well as scholars Kai Mikkonen (Finland), Maria Lassen-Seger (Finland) and Anne Skaret (Norway), shared their insights. Another significant topic – visual literacy – was tackled by illustrator Stella East (Canada/Norway), Anne-Marie Körling (Sweden), former Swedish Ambassador for Reading, and Deborah Soria (Italy), a member of IBBY Italy, while the creators Miriam Moss (UK), Åsa Lind (Sweden), Anete Melece (Latvia) and Joanna Bartosik (Poland) discussed the creation process of picture books.

On the second day of the conference the IBBY’s international collaboration proved to be wonderfully fruitful when Deborah Soria gave a seminar on silent books to the Lithuanian professionals. Librarians and teachers could test their freshly acquired knowledge right on the spot at the international IBBY’s “Silent Books Exhibition”. Artists from Lithuania, Latvia, Poland and Norway gave four creative workshops, which were organized for children.

The Lithuanian Section of IBBY declared October as Children’s Literature Month, supporting another conference-related event that was held at the same time: a personal exhibition by Kęstutis Kasparavičius, the world renowned Lithuanian illustrator and writer, nominee for the Hans Christian Andersen and ALMA Awards, was opened to the public.

The White Wolf books 2019

Jānis Baltvilks prize 2019 © Kristians Luhaers

On 24 July 2019, for the 15th year running, writers, illustrators and translators of books for

children and young adults were awarded the Jānis Baltvilks prize (baltvilks means white wolf) for the best books published in the Latvian language in the period from 31 May 2018 – 31 May 2019.

This year about 70 books were evaluated by a jury comprised of six experts – two experts on literature, two experts on art and two public representatives: the head of the jury Ilze Stikāne, IBBY Latvia president, professor of the University of Latvia, Aiga Dzalbe, assistant professor of the Art Academy of Latvia, Liega Piešiņa, expert at the Literature and Music Museum, Agris Liepiņš, illustrator and writer, Dagnija Baltiņa, director of the National Library of Latvia Department of special collections and Toms Grēviņš, a radio DJ.

In 2019 the European writer and the translator of the winning book into Latvian who received Jānis Baltvilks Prize is the Italian author Angela Nanetti for Mans vectēvs bija ķiršu koks (Mio nonno era un ciliegio, My grandfather was a cherry-tree, Jāņa Rozes publishing house, 2018), and the translator Dace Meiere. The jury emphasized that it was a wonderfully written emotional story which along the existential issues of life and death truly and often comically presented a message about childhood and growing up. Unfortunately, the writer was unable to attend the award ceremony in person, but IBBY Italy delegated David Tolin to attend the ceremony on behalf of the writer. He thanked the jury and stressed the importance of speaking about death and other hard topics in the books for children and young adults. The head of the consular department of the Embassy of Italy in Latvia, Luigi Giovinazzi, joined the event.

David Tolin (IBBY Italy) and Dace Meiere.

© Timurs Subhankulovs, Latvijas Avīze

The Jānis Baltvilks’ prize for literature was awarded to Aivars Kļavis for the trilogy Ceļš uz nezināmo zemi (The road to the unknown land): Melnais akmens (The black stone), Bēgšana no čūsku valstības (Running away from the realm of snakes) and Asinis uz dzintara (Blood on the amber, Zvaigzne ABC, 2018), which depicts the possible historical events in the life of Latvian forefathers 4000-2000 years ago. The arduous and adventurous plot covers both the scenes from separate tribes and their leaders and heroes and emphasizes important ideas for today’s world family and tribe (today – nation) and their unremitting way forward, cravings for freedom on a metaphorical level, as well as every one's responsibility, not only for oneself but also those closeto us and in a broader sense – about one’s tribe (nation).

The 2019 Jānis Baltvilks’ prize for children and young adults’ book art was awarded to Anete Melece for the illustrations in her book Kiosks (The Kiosk, Liels un Mazs, 2019); her contribution to the visual image of Lauris Gundars’ book Vaļa balss (Whale’s vote, Liels un Mazs, 2019) was also acknowledged. Melece with the help of rippling many-coloured drawings in felt-tipped pens conjures up a whole world, a thrilling harmonious environment with easily recognizable details for everyone. Illustrations enrich the literary message allowing us to see the imagined situations from ever-new and unexpected aspects. The artist shares generously with her disarming sense of humour and benevolence in her books. The story is both funny and sad, it allows the reader to think about being stuck in their lives and being unable to fulfil their dreams. Olga is not just a hopeless sales person, who replaces reality with magazine picture, she is also the small centre of the neighbourhood and an important person for other people to talk to and confide in. Originally, Melece made a movie called “The Kiosk”, which is possible to watch on Vimeo.

The winner of the New Growth Prize established by the Joint Stock Company Latvijas Valsts meži (Latvian State Forests) for a first work in children’s literature is Sergejs Timofejevs for his book Pasaka par bruņinieku, kuram sāpēja zobi (A tale of the knight who had a toothache, Liels un Mazs, 2019). Thiswitty but sincere fairy-tale convinced the jury that the approach of Timofejevs is explicitly original; it delights with the independence of the thought, the ability to listen to others and the expressive language. Making his debut in children’s literature, Sergejs Timofejevs inconspicuously speaks to the young readers and their parents about a well-known problem, stimulating their imagination, setting off a burst of laughter and provoking compassion.

Seminar cycle - Open gate to reading

(April - May 2019)

A series of seminars for adults - parents, pre-primary education teachers, librarians and the general public, continued in April with a new cycle - Hide and Seek! The participants of the seminar learned how to discover the 'space' of the book with the youngest children. Space, which is hidden to them, and at the same time, how a meaningful connection or relationship with the child is established through game as a dialogue. Through the game of hide and seek, children gain security and confidence that whatever happens, they shall not be overlooked and shall be found whenever they need to be. The book thus creates an intermediate space through which the parent talks to the child and which helps them to find "bridges" for their experiences. The children take on various roles, in which they can discover the world, observe and get to know the surroundings. In May, the last practical meeting of this cycle was held in which participants shared their own experiences in implementing an innovative reading approach with the youngest children.

Languages in children's and young adults' libraries

Currently in France, one in five children grows up with a language different from French. What place should be given to these "foreign" languages in public libraries, how should one deal with this intercultural challenge? The French national library / IBBY France dedicated a 3-day training session (13 to 15 May 2019) to this topic, under the title "Languages in children's and young adult's libraries". This was the second edition of this training session; the first one was held in June 2018.

Christine Hélot (University of Strasbourg, ESPE Alsace, France) addressed the reality and the challenges of multilingualism in the 21st century. Antonella Saracino, from La Sala Borsa library (Bologna, Italy) presented the collections in different languages in public libraries as well as ideas on how to use these collections with children based on the library's experience in this field. Hasmig Chahinian (BnF/ IBBY France) presented various experiences worldwide as well as tools that could help librarians select books in languages they do not speak. She also talked about IBBY, IBBY Europe and IBBY France. Ramona Bădescu, author and translator, shared her experience as a child arriving in France from Romania without knowing a single word of French and her journey to becoming an author and a translator with a special relationship to languages. Travelling from one language to another through activities in public libraries was the theme of Nathalie Mansuy-Todeschini's talk (Médiathèque départementale de Seine et Marne, France), with practical activities held with the trainees.

Visits to the Institute of the Arab World in Paris and to the Robert-Desnos library in Montreuil gave an opportunity to the participants to see the challenges met by people dealing with these questions on a daily basis, be it in a public or a specialized library, or in a bookshop providing books in Arabic.

The programme (in French) of the training session can be found here.

To read and to dream - Children's literature and handicap

On 22 October 2019, IBBY France participated in a seminar, "To read and to dream - Children's literature and handicap", organised by INSHEA. The INSHEA (Institut national supérieur de formation et de recherche pour l'éducation des jeunes handicapés et les enseignements adaptés) is the first institution for higher education in France dedicated entirely to people with disabilities and special educational needs. Its aims are: to develop interdisciplinary research, to offer training to all stakeholders in the field of inclusive education, and to develop a resource centre. INSHEA represents France at the « European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education ».

Hasmig Chahinian from IBBY France gave a talk about IBBY, IBBY Europe and the IBBY collection of outstanding books for young people with disabilities, explaining how the collection was created and how each IBBY section contributes to this international project. The participants showed great interest for IBBY's work and some of them asked to join the French section.

During the seminar, the IBBY 2019 Selection of Outstanding Books for Young People with Disabilities was displayed; The exhibition drew a lot of attention from the participants who asked many questions about the books. Publishers that specialize in books for children with special needs also displayed their books.

More information on the seminar and its program here.

French books selected for the IBBY Honour list 2020

The members of IBBY France voted online to select the books for the IBBY Honour list 2020. The selected titles are:

Writing

Jefferson, Jean-Claude Mourlevat, Gallimard jeunesse, 2018

Illustration

Une super histoire de cow-boy, Delphine Perret, Les Fourmis rouges, 2018

Translation

Mog, la nuit des renards (Mog on fox night), Judith Kerr, trad. from English (United Kingdom) byr Ramona Bădescu, Albin Michel jeunesse, 2018

The children of Achajur have a new reading corner

On 5 October the community library of Achajur in the Tavush region, was reopened on the initiative of IBBY Armenia and with the support of the IBBY Yamada Fund. At the opening ceremony the president of IBBY Armenia and the director of Khnko Aper National Children's Library Ruzan Tonoyan, the Ambassador of Japan to Armenia Jun Yamada and other cultural figures, each gave a speech. Representatives from different organizations of book sphere and guests were present.

Mrs Tonoyan celebrating the reopening of the library with the attendees, mentioning that it will bring new impetus to the community's intellectual potential and will be an example for other communities. The library, within the Achajur cultural center, opened its doors in front of booklovers to show a completely renovated and technically equipped library that has been replenished with new books. She added that, "this initiative hopes to evaluate the role of libraries and their meaning in the organization and promotion of reading."

H.E. Ambassador Yamada mentioned that the Tavush region has become his favorite place in Armenia, and the library must be the favorite place of children, saying, "I think this is the most important occasion in the lives of your children." After the event, which included the participation of children from the Achajur community, H.E. Ambassador Yamada and Mrs Tonoyan, with the community leader K. Ghaltakhchyan, participated in the ribbon-cutting ceremony. Tavush's provincial administration and Achajur municipality, businessmen also supported the renovation works.

The collection of the library was replenished with over 500 new and colorful children's books donated by Edit Print, Zangak, Antares, GSM publishing houses, and the Noyan tapan, Bookinist bookstores. Letters of appreciation were handed to all supporters of the initiative.

Slovenian Section of IBBY is the sponsor of International Children’s Book Day 2020!

It is a special honour for the Slovenian Section of IBBY to be chosen as the sponsor of the 2020 International Children’s Book Day. It was at the IBBY Congress in Ljubljana in 1966 that April 2nd, Hans Christian Andersen’s birthday, was proclaimed as International Children’s Book Day and has been celebrated ever since. The Slovenian Section of IBBY had previously been the international sponsor of ICBD in 1997, when artists Matjaž Schmidt and Boris A. Novak designed the poster Childhood Is Poetry of Life. Poetry Is Childhood of the World.

Peter Svetina

Damijan Stepančič

For International Children’s Book Day 2020, Peter Svetina wrote Hunger for Words, while Damijan Stepančič illustrated the poster and, together with Melita Rak, designed the message to the children in the form of a cube. Just as we construct words out of characters and stories out of words, you can construct a cube out of 2020’s message to celebrate International Children’s Book Day. We hope our construction will address children all over the world and inspire reading mentors to satisfy children’s hunger for quality literature.

Peter Svetina and Damijan Stepančič are distinguished Slovenian artists and our candidates for the 2020 Hans Christian Andersen Award. They are immensely popular among literary critics as well as young readers. Svetina is a writer and a poet writing for children, young adults and adults, but his works often cross the borders between different target audiences and can be read as crossover literature. Among other things, his works reflect his scholarly interests, as he is also an associate professor of Slavic literature at the Institute for Slavic languages, Alpen-Adria University, as well as translator and editor of several poetry collections. Stepančič has illustrated almost a hundred books to date, co-created many comic books and had several independent exhibitions in the sphere of illustration. The expressiveness of his illustrations is clearly influenced by painting skills, from the underlying colours and composition to the size of formats, which is in line with his conviction that painting and illustration go hand in hand.

In late October, we sent the posters and message cubes to all National Sections around the world. We really hope that you like them as much as we do! We wish you a successful and unforgettable celebration of 2 April 2020 and success in bringing children and books together!

More information on our website.