IBBY Congress: Day 1

Alex Strick reports from the first day of the 33rd International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) Congress held at Imperial College, London

The first day of the 33rd IBBY Congress at Imperial College London was a resounding success and I’m honoured to be blogging about it. 

500 plus delegates from IBBY branches all over the world gathered in the prestigious Great Hall for the Official Opening. Illustrating the congress theme to perfection, a small troupe of children from Theatre Peckham was first to take to the stage. Their songs and dance were from a production based on The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, adapted from Kate DiCamillo’s 2006 children’s book about a china rabbit on a voyage of discovery. With most of the roles played by children, some as young as five, the cast displayed more confidence and poise than many a seasoned adult actor.

Once the audience had given the cast several (well-deserved) rounds of applause, the stage was taken by IBBY UK’s Ann Lazim and Kathy Lemaire who formally welcomed delegates to the 2012 congress. Ann reiterated the extent to which Theatre Peckham epitomised the theme - Peckham being a highly multicultural area of London and the play itself having ‘migrated’ from a book.

The opening ceremony went on to recognise three key IBBY members for their contributions to IBBY - Ana Maria Machado from Brazil, Peter Schnek from Austria and Urs Breitenstein of Switzerland were awarded honorary membership.

Chieko Suemori was then invited to tell the congress a little about an innovative project to provide picture books for the children of the Tsunami-affected area of Japan. Being herself a resident of the area, Chieko told us first-hand about the devastation caused by the events of March 2011. She described how she realised she had to do something. Remembering past efforts such as those following the Indonesian disaster, she set up an appeal for books which was met with great response. 2,300 picture books were soon received, to help children in the affected area. Out of the sadness, she explained, ‘we need strong and happy and hopeful children’. Chieko urged delegates to visit the stand and come to the (very) early bird session on Saturday morning.

IBBY UK’s Ian Dodds then invited members of the congress to adjourn to attend a lively Where's Wally? tea party downstairs. Here we all enjoyed a huge cake and celebrated Wally reaching the ripe old age of 25. Walker Books told of Wally’s own travels and migrations as well as his impressive record-breaking antics - Ireland delegates let out a resounding cheer when it was announced that Dublin was the venue for the event featuring the largest ever number of people dressed as Wally.

Returning to the Great Hall, John Dunne welcomed three of the UK’s Children’s Laureates to the congress to talk about the role and their respective achievements. 

Michael Morpurgo was first up, paying tribute to editor Aidan Chambers and describing how the concept of the Children’s Laureate was first born - over a discussion (and a glass or two of claret) he shared with Ted Hughes. Sadly the Poet Laureate himself did not see the dream realised, dying before Quentin Blake was announced as the first Children’s Laureate.

The Children’s Laureate is all about ‘speaking about what you care about for two years’ and in doing so inspiring government, teachers, children and society at large. It’s a great way to focus our minds and heads on what is out there for children, helping them to grow into readers.

Michael described his loathing for the idea that one's love of books could be quashed from an early age by being 'marked' on reading. He described how he used his laureateship to take his love of books around the world, for example travelling to a remote island of Scotland to talk to 12 children and visiting the Kremlin to see 400 librarians eating caviar with first ladies Mrs Putin and Mrs Bush (as you do!).

Anthony Browne then took over, to share some of the experiences and priorities during his tenure as Laureate. Anthony was keen to use the opportunity to encourage children to try the Shape Game – a simple activity which he and his brother loved as children, and which ‘makes artists of us all’. Anthony explained that drawing ‘isn't about making a glass of water look like a glass or water’. It's rather about trying to share something.

Particularly compelling was the chance to view a picture from Anthony’s own childhood, in which his surrealist tendencies were already apparent, even at the tender age of six. His image of a pair of legs showed a pirate peeping out of one shoe and a second tiny pair of feet disappearing into the top trousers.

Anthony insisted that he doesn’t ‘create’ stories himself. They come from somewhere else. They come to us like dreams. They emerge from the events we see, the stories people tell, from other people's books, from newspapers and art.

He adeptly demonstrated how famous artists have also played the Shape Game - a statue by Picasso was the perfect example of one thing looking like another, creating sometime from something. ‘Nothing comes from nothing’ said Anthony. Creating books is all about borrowing, adapting, stealing!

Interestingly, both laureates agreed that children’s books were at risk of being marginalized – Anthony being particularly concerned about picture books and the tendency to try to drag children away from them and on to ‘proper’ books as early as possible.

It’s true that visual literacy is often underrated. Anthony’s books provide a feast of visual stimulation, full of quirky details and hidden messages (and even a few elements which Anthony admitted he couldn’t explain, he just included for the fun of it).

Anthony showed images from his book Voices in the Park which features four different perspectives of the same events, showing how everyone sees things differently. It’s a perfect example of the way his books boast numerous nods towards ‘spot the difference’ puzzles and of course the Shape Game itself.

Julia Donaldson then introduced herself as the ‘reigning’ laureate, sporting the famous medal to prove it.  She started her ‘set’ with a lively song (accompanied by husband Malcolm on the guitar) developed during their busking days in Italy - and with heavily pasta-inspired lyrics! 

Julia described her three priorities as laureate, drama being one of them. For a lot of children, she explained, drama is a vital way into stories.The local library is also one of things about which she ‘cares passionately’.She shared her concerns about the plight of libraries in this country. As she pointed out, it’s no doubt better to have library run by volunteers than no library at all but surely when our libraries are losing valuable professional expertise we are heading in the wrong direction and cannot simply dress this up as being part of the Big Society. Supporting deaf children was the third of Julia’s particular priorities as laureate, having hearing aids herself and believing strongly in deaf children’s rights to enjoy books. 

She described her 'progress to date' in relation to all three objectives. In terms of deafness, she is listening to deaf children and supporting programmes like Sign 2 Sing and the young deaf poets of Life and Deaf.  Pulling together the other two areas (drama and libraries) Julia wowed everyone by performing an unforgettable rendition of ‘A Squash and a Squeeze’ with the help of audience volunteers (in some cases volunteered by Julia). Particularly memorable performances were given by a South American goat and an Asian cow.

As if this were not enough, Julia ended her ‘set’ by performing The Gruffalo in a medley of different languages.

Between the three of them, Julia, Anthony and Michael no doubt guaranteed the future creation of new Laureates all around the world. And on that note, John Dunne informed delegates that Children's Laureates have already been announced in Wales, Australia, Ireland, Sweden, USA. 

The final session of the day was the presentation of the IBBY-Asahi Reading Promotion Awards 2012. The winners were Abuelas Cuentacuentos – Grandmother Storytelling Programme, Argentina (an amazing project involving older people in reading to children) and SIPAR, Cambodia (a stirring  and clearly long-term programme helping to provide books, libraries, schools, teachers and training, following the four years of genocide perpetrated by the Khmer Rouge).

The day ended with two highly insightful and often moving presentations from the two award recipients, both projects demonstrating the vital role of books in helping children to carve out brighter futures for themselves.

The first day of the congress provided the perfect balance of reflection, celebration and recognition, praising all those who build bridges between books and children.