IBBY World Congress, Mexico City, 10-13 September 2014: Que todos signifique todos – May everyone really mean everyone

The 34^th IBBY Congress took place in Mexico City between 10 and 13 September 2014. In all, five venues were utilized. The main venue for the academic program was the convention hotel Fiesta Americana Reforma on the Paseo de la Reforma in the cultural-financial heart of Mexico City. The social events took place in four of the most wonderful venues in Mexico City: The opening and the Hans Christian Andersen award ceremony at the Biblioteca de Mexico, the 2014 IBBY-Asahi Reading Promotion Award Ceremony at the Papalote Museo del Niño, the closing concert at the Palacio de Bellas Artes, and the closing ceremony at the Franz Mayer Museum.

In addition to the IBBY and BIB’13 exhibitions at the main congress venue, there were also eight exhibitions scattered around the city. The Franz Mayer Museum hosted the Nami Island Concours 2013 exhibition, the Drawing the World exhibition, and the Storytelling Strokes, Narrating Colours exhibition. The small but chic Sala Margolin hosted the 1000 Litros de Inclusion exhibition. The Italian Institute of Culture hosted the ever-popular Silent Books exhibition. The Alvaro Obregón Corridor hosted an exhibition on the congress theme: May Everyone Really Mean Everyone. The Cultural Centre Brazil-Mexico hosted the exhibition Roger Mello and his Garden in praise of 2014 Andersen Award winner. The informative exhibition Ways out of No Man’s Land: Jella Lepman was brought from the International Youth Library in Munich for the congress and was on show at the Biblioteca de Mexico.

In all, 971 participants from 66 countries took part in the Congress, with representatives from 62 IBBY Sections! The majority of participants were from the Americas—82%, which is an indication of just how important it was to hold an IBBY World Congress in Latin America. The participants enjoyed 34 plenary sessions and 90 parallel sessions; in addition to this rich program, 23 posters were presented. Throughout the whole congress, the main speeches were presented in English, Spanish and Spanish sign language.

The congress opened on the evening of Wednesday, 8 October with the inauguration of the Ways out of No Man’s Land: Jella Lepman exhibition. Wally de Doncker opened the exhibition at the Biblioteca de Mexico saying that Jella Lepman’s life remains an inspiration to us all.

Bruno Newman, President of IBBY Mexico/A leer, opened the official speeches by saying that

Mexico is in the process of a deep educative reform, which will transform public education in our country. Among the many positive attributes that this reform embraces is the opening of opportunities for civil society and the authorities to work together on issues such as reading and inclusion, which are precisely the themes of this Congress.

The presence of Dr Luis Ignacio Sánchez Gómez is remarkable proof of an open dialogue between the education sector and the social civil organizations, which, like ours, are committed to contribute to this important task.

IBBY Vice-President Hasmig Chahinian brought greetings from IBBY President Redza Ahmad Khairuddin, who unfortunately was not able to attend in person. He sent the following message:

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate IBBY Mexico for successfully hosting this Congress. It has been many years of planning and hard work by the committee led by the Mexico IBBY President, Bruno Newman, and Managing Director Azucena Galindo Ortega and many others who have been working behind the scenes to bring us here today.

I would also like to record our warmest appreciation to all partners, sponsors and associates who have played a significant role in making the 34^th IBBY Congress possible. This event would not have been possible if not for the close cooperation and understanding between IBBY Mexico and IBBY members worldwide.

The opening ceremony was also an opportunity to announce the launch of the IBBY Children in Crisis Fund for Gaza as IBBY takes the steps to find funds to reopen the IBBY libraries in Gaza.

An important part of the opening ceremony was the conferring of the Jella Lepman Medal on Nami...