Focus IBBY

• IBBY Congress 2008: Stories in History – History in Stories

The 2008 IBBY World Congress took place in Copenhagen with all the finesse and excitement that we have come to expect from a successful IBBY congress.

For the first time an IBBY pre-congress workshop/seminar took place. The one-day event was divided into two sessions: the first was devised to focus on how to create dynamic and viable national sections by showing participants how to network, fundraise and establish useful relationships. The second session had the objective of giving concrete examples that are practical and useful ways of helping to relieve the trauma caused by wars, civil disruptions, natural catastrophes and extreme poverty through the use of books and stories. We aimed at encouraging our national sections to support the Children in Crisis projects in other countries or regions, either through fundraising, or technical or logistic support. By sharing the experiences and know-how of the invited experts, the members would be inspired to establish projects or react swiftly in times of crisis.

The invited speakers were Julinda Abu Nasr (Lebanon), who has led the ‘Conflict Management for Traumatised Children of War in Lebanon’ project since 2006; Carole Bloch (South Africa), who co-ordinates PRAESA’s Early Literacy Unit in Cape Town and whose work involves helping to introduce and familiarise educators at all levels with approaches to literacy; Murti Bunanta (Indonesia), who organises IBBY Indonesia and successfully coordinated the IBBY Tsunami relief project in Indonesia; Silvia Castrillón (Colombia), whose project, ‘Creation of Reading Clubs with Children and Young Victims of the Armed Conflict in Colombia’, has just begun; Carmen Diana Dearden (Venezuela), who initiated the ‘Read to Live’ project in 2000, after a devastating mudslide near Caracas; Jacqueline Kerguéno (France), former international development manager of Bayard children’s press and consultant for publishing programmes in developing countries; Ahmad Redza A Khairuddin (Malaysia), who is vice president of Malaysian IBBY (MBBY) and chairman of Rhythm, a book publishing and distribution company; Elizabeth Serra (Brazil), general secretary of IBBY Brazil, FNLIJ; and Ivanka Stričević (Croatia), who was responsible in the early 1990s for librarians’ capacity-building training to support trauma-healing reading programmes during the war in Croatia.

Representatives from sixty national sections took part in the event and special guests included Ingrid Bon from IFLA, Larry Lempart from ALMA and Scott Walter from CODE.The day was sponsored by the Paterson Family Foundation, for which we are extremely grateful.

The grand opening of the congress was in the spectacular Tivoli Gardens Glassalon. The auditorium was full of the chatter of old friends meeting up again, new friendships being made, and an overall feeling that something special was about to happen. Queen Margrethe II arrived and it all began. The evening’s master-of-ceremonies kept the pace and lightness of the programme going throughout the speeches, singing and dancing.

Patsy Aldana in her opening speech talked about IBBY’s growing and expanding work and reminded us of today’s reality:

We have just had a very fruitful day looking at ourselves to see how we can work more effectively to help the children of this world. For amidst the splendour of this congress we must not forget that children everywhere need and have the right to the richness, knowledge, joy and power that comes from being able to read the best books from their own cultures and from other cultures around the world.

… Far too many of the world’s children are tragically denied the decent, full life they are entitled to because of poverty, war, natural disaster, displacement, racism, ignorance and hunger. We cannot fail to be moved by this reality and so we keep trying to improve our work on behalf of the most vulnerable people in the world – the children – and to remember that reading and books can transform a child’s possibilities and even save lives.

The highlight of an IBBY congress opening is always the presentation of the Hans Christian Andersen Awards. The president of the HCA jury, Zohreh Ghaeni, gave a wonderfully succinct and warm laudatio for the...