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  • Editorial
  • Catherine Kurkjian, Editor, Sylvia Vardell, Editor Bookbird, Pep Molist, Guest Editor (bio), and Joan Portell, Guest Editor (bio)

Dear Bookbird Readers,

¡Hola!

This special issue celebrates children's literature in Spain in preparation for the IBBY Congress to be held in Spain in Santiago de Compostela in September 2010. Our guest editors for this special Congress issue are Pep Molist and Joan Portell from ClijCAT, the Catalan Council for Children's and Young Adults' Books. Molist and Portell did an extraordinary job of collecting articles from Spanish scholars representing various historic regions of Spain. All of the articles in this issue are written in English; however, Molist and Portell arranged to have them available in Castellano as well as in the native language of the writers where applicable (Basque, Galician, or Catalan). You will find these articles, written in the languages of Spain, posted on the IBBY website and on the Congress website.

There are many people to thank in producing this issue. First and foremost, we thank Pep Molist and Joan Portell for going above and beyond in their efforts to honor the "minorities" of Spain. We also appreciate the contributions of each of the article authors, illustrators, poets, and translators. Thanks also to Reina Duarte (Vice President of the Executive Board (EC) of IBBY and Vice President of the Catalan Branch of IBBY Spain), who was very supportive throughout the process in helping us coordinate these efforts. Thank you to Glenna Sloan, Department Editor of Postcards Around the World, and Alicia Muñoz Álvarez (IBBY Spain) for working together to review [End Page ii] children's books of Spain and presenting reviews in both English and in Spanish. Incidentally. The "Postcard" reviews in Spanish will be posted online along with the articles written in the languages of Spain. We also thank the EC for making this new online venture possible, supporting our efforts to reach out to Bookbird readers in other languages besides English.

Lastly, we thank Dr. Joan Glazer, President of Bookbird, Inc., for her encouragement and support in making this congress issue of Bookbird available to a wider audience and for all her dedication and service to Bookbird. Clearly, she embodies the inclusive spirit of Bookbird.

Catherine Kurkjian and Sylvia Vardell Editors, Bookbird

Dear Bookbird Readers,

"The Strength of Minorities" (La fuerza de las minorías) and their situation is the motto and general theme of the 32nd IBBY International Congress, which will be held in Santiago de Compostela, from 8th to 12th September 2010. As guest editors of this Congress issue we are delighted to provide a sampling of articles that mirror the theme of the IBBY congress. We provide an overview of children's and young adults' literature that is being developed and has been created during the first decade of the 21st century.

Although from the outside it is customary to associate each country with a single language, in this case there are actually four official languages in Spain. In addition to Castellano, there is also Galician, Basque, and Catalan: languages of communication for the three historical nations of Galicia, the Basque Country, and Catalonia. Each of these languages is thriving, has a significant number of people who use it habitually in daily life, and has a rich, diverse, and changing literature.

In this issue, various specialists, at the state level as well as in each of the official languages and nationalities, take the pulse of children's and young adults' literature that has been generated during the last ten years in each of the four languages. Additionally, this issue delves into the trajectory of Josep Antoni Tàssies, one of the country's most outstanding illustrators and the first Spanish author to receive the Grand Prix of the Biennial of Illustration Bratislava.

IBBY has concerned itself with the situations of minorities for many years. This question takes shape in the 32nd IBBY International Congress in Santiago de Compostela and is mirrored in this special issue of Bookbird. It focuses on children's literature of Spain in all of the richness that exists in a country where there is a majority language, three other official ones, and other minority ones which, unfortunately...

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