Focus IBBY56.3/2018

Momentous Occasions at the 2018 Bologna Children's Book Fair

Every "even" year, IBBY proudly announces the winners of the IBBY-Asahi Reading Promotion Award and the Hans Christian Andersen Award—2018 was no exception. The announcement has attracted a larger audience over the years, especially since IBBY has made the announcement in the central area of the fair at the Illustrators Café. Every year the IBBY activities at the book fair start before the fair opens with two days of intense Executive Committee meetings, where IBBY's business and projects are discussed. The first day of the fair was on Monday, March 26, and the IBBY press conference was held on that afternoon. The conference was live-streamed so all IBBY members and friends around the world could watch the event. The link is still valid if you missed it the first time: https://goo.gl/iwWMEg.

President Wally De Doncker opened the press conference by speaking of the problems facing the world in general.

As IBBY members, we are very concerned about new developments worldwide. Walls are being built again; people are once again being targeted because of their origin, religion, or conviction. International collaboration—be it on climate change, trade, or immigration—is being questioned. People are being manipulated into believing that closing borders will solve the problems they are facing, although everyone present here today knows that this could not be further from the truth.

The opening of the IBBY Press Conference 2018. Photo: Junko Yokota.

He ended his welcome by thanking all IBBY members with these words:

You are making a difference for future generations. Those who help children to evolve into readers are building a brighter future.

A slide show of IBBY's current activities from the past was then shown, presenting the scope and variety of the work that IBBY members are undertaking to bring children and books together. The image for the 2018 International Children's Book Day was presented, and members of Latvian IBBY distributed copies of the poster at the conference. Valerie Coghlan, the President of Bookbird Inc., presented the journal and introduced the incoming editors. Janelle Mathis and Petros Panaou will start their tenure after current editor Björn Sundmark steps down at the end of 2018. Vassiliki Nika, the chair of the 36th IBBY Congress organizing committee, presented the forthcoming Congress in Athens, Greece, and gave many good reasons why everyone should register and participate in the Congress. The audience responded very enthusiastically.

Next came the first of the big news announcements—the 2018 winner of the IBBY-Asahi Reading Promotion Award. Chair of the 2018 jury, Sunjidmaa Jamba, presented the nominees, thanked the sponsor (the Asahi Shimbun newspaper company from Japan), and made the long-awaited announcement that Les Doigts Qui Rêvent from France were the recipients of the 2018 Award.

Patricia Aldana, the chair of the Hans Christian Andersen Award, held the attention of the audience as she introduced the 2018 Award. It was very rewarding to see the Award sponsors from Nami Island Inc. in the audience. Several members of the 2018 Jury were also in the audience, and they were congratulated; they were Andrej Ilc (Slovenia), Reina Duarte (Spain), Shereen Kreidieh (Lebanon), Yasuko Doi (Japan), Denis Beznosov (Russia), and Junko Yokota (USA). The nominees on the shortlist were also congratulated; of these, Farhad Hassanzadeh (Iran), Igor Oleynikov (Russia), and Xiong Liang (China) were present. Then the big moment arrived, and Patricia announced that Eiko Kadono from Japan was the recipient of the 2018 Hans Christian Andersen Author Award, and that Igor Oleynikov from Russia was the recipient of the 2018 Hans Christian Andersen Illustrator Award. The audience was very appreciative, and Igor could not believe it!

The Chief of the Rome Bureau of the Asahi Shimbun, Shinichi Kawarada, had travelled to Bologna to be present at the IBBY-Asahi Reading Promotion Award announcement. He was very pleased to be there as he had two stories to report on from one press conference—the 2018 IBBY-Asahi Reading Promotion Award and a Japanese...