ALL
CHILDREN HAVE THE RIGHT TO READ!
MEXICO
CITY: IBBY WORLD CONGRESS
On Saturday, 14 September 2014 the
International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) concluded its 34th
World Congress with a closing ceremony at the world-renowned Franz Mayer Museum in Mexico
City. Thus
closing a congress that had attracted over 900 participants!
IBBY is the leading
international organization in the promotion of reading and books for young
people. Established by the visionary
Jella Lepman following the devastation of the World War II, IBBY is committed
to encouraging excellence in children’s books, supporting literacy and reading
projects around the world, and developing international understanding through
children’s books.
In his maiden speech, the newly elected
President of IBBY, Wally De Doncker shared his aims for the future of the
organization: “one of our objectives is battling illiteracy. IBBY wants to promote a reading culture and
give every child the opportunity to become a life-long reader and this is only
possible if the child enjoys reading.”
He went on to say that, “it is
unacceptable that there are countries in this day and age in which girls are
banned from reading or even learning to read. It remains unacceptable that
children’s libraries are being closed because of financial cutbacks, thus
rendering books inaccessible to children from underprivileged families.” He
stressed that IBBY must continue to advocate that all children in all
circumstances, have the right to read.
He thanked all the organisers, in particular IBBY Mexico/A leer;
saying that for all the participants it was an unforgettable experience and
must be one of the highlights of their professional lives.
THE IBBY Executive Committee 2014-2016
The newly elected members
of the IBBY Executive Committee for the term 2014-2016 include children’s
literature experts from twelve different countries.
President of IBBY
Wally De Doncker (Belgium) is an author and a children’s literature
specialist. Several of his books have
been translated and adapted for the theatre, as well as musicals, film
animations and dance films. He served as
a member of the IBBY EC from 2008-2012, with the term 2010-2012 as Vice
President. He has been the IBBY liaison
with the European Union Commission since 2012.
President of the Hans Christian Andersen Award Jury
Patricia Aldana (Canada) founded the Canadian publishing house Groundwood
Books and remained its publisher until 2012.
She was elected IBBY President in 2006 and served until 2010. During her
time on the EC and as President she was instrumental in establishing the
IBBY-Yamada Fund as well as the IBBY Children in Crisis programme.
Vice Presidents
Azucena Galindo (Mexico) is
currently the managing director of IBBY Mexico/A leer. She combines
on-going studies of children’s literature and reading promotion with her
previous professional experience in order to expand the impact of IBBY Mexico's
programmes and projects.
Akoss Ofori-Mensah (Ghana) is the
founder of the award-winning Sub-Saharan Publishing House based in Accra. Akoss was the elected president of the Ghana
Book Publishers’ Association from 2003-2005.
EC Members
Evelyn Freeman (USA) is a Special Assistant for International Projects at
the Ohio State University
at Mansfield College of Education and Human Ecology. Evie served as co-editor of the Journal of Children’s Literature, and
IBBY’s journal Bookbird.
Ferelith Hordon (UK) worked as a professional children’s librarian for
more than 40 years until her retirement from the public library in the London
Borough of Wandsworth. She is currently
Editor of the UK
on-line children’s book review magazine Books
For Keeps.
Sunjidmaa Jamba (Mongolia) is founding member and the current Executive Director
of IBBY Mongolia. She has extensive experience in working
within international organizations such as the World Bank.
Angela Lebedeva (Russia) is an expert in children’s libraries and specializes
in children’s literature. She was the
Executive Director of IBBY Russia
from 2002-2013. Angela also served on the Hans Christian Andersen Award Jury
for the 2004 and 2006 awards.
Vagn Plenge (Denmark) established his own publishing house in 1976 called Hjulet, which specialises in books by
authors and illustrators from what he calls the ‘warm countries’. He was a member of the IBBY EC from 2002-2006
and was the organiser of the 2008 IBBY World Congress in Copenhagen, Denmark. He is the current President of IBBY Denmark.
Serpil Ural (Turkey) is a founding member of the current IBBY Turkey section.
She is also a well-known writer in Turkey
and was IBBY Turkey’s
author candidate for the 2014 Hans Christian Andersen Award.
Timotea Vrablova (Slovakia) has been a researcher at the Institute of Slovak
Literature at the Slovak Academy of Sciences
since 1991, working on the literary culture of the 17th and 18th
centuries and children’s literature. She
has been the President of the Slovak IBBY section since 2010.
Mingzhou Zhang (China) is currently Vice President of the Chinese section of
IBBY. He served on the IBBY EC from 2008
to 2012 and acted as chair of the 2012 IBBY-Asahi Reading Promotion Award. He
was the organizer of the 2006 IBBY World Congress in Macau, China.
Non-voting
Members
Ellis Vance (USA) was
re-confirmed as IBBY Treasurer. Ellis, a
former education consultant California
has been treasurer for USBBY since 2000 and for IBBY since 2008. He served as IBBY Vice President from
2006-2008.
Björn Sundmark (Sweden) was
confirmed as the Bookbird Editor for
the next four-year term. Björn is an
Associate Professor of English at the Faculty of Education, Malmö University, Sweden.
The firm Fröhlicher Treuhand (Switzerland)
was re-elected as IBBY Auditor.
Liz Page was
reconfirmed as IBBY Executive Director and Luzmaria Stauffenegger as
Administrative Assistant at the IBBY Secretariat in Basel, Switzerland.
To find out more about IBBY and the new members
of its Executive Committee, please visit www.ibby.org
