Talk about melting pot – East and West have met with a cheer at the 36th IBBY International Congress in Athens. On the first of the three-day conference, delegates and speakers from many of the 76 member countries presented papers and posters and shared ideas and stories to promote intercultural understanding through children’s books.
From fairy tale retellings to refugee experiences portrayed in literature, talks explored ways of bringing east and west together through books. Themes included the use of boats in stories, real and fictional, to act as bridges between cultures, and depictions of war in Greek literature from Herodotus to modern graphic novels.
And perhaps the highlight - a sung and spoken performance of parts of Homer’s Odyssey, accompanied variously by an Ancient Greek flute, harp and conch shell.   
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Following the Irish tour of the much-admired Silent Books exhibition last year, several libraries are now buying their own sets.
The hundred-plus wordless picture books from around the world visited Ballyroan, Tallaght and Tralee libraries as well as dlr LexIcon between April and June 2017. They were accompanied by workshops in which primary school pupils learned the story behind the collection, one set of which is housed permanently on the island of Lampedusa, a transit point for refugees entering Europe. Children browsed the books; stepped into the shoes, hopes and fears of those forced to flee, and designed their own ideal countries of refuge complete with laws, flags, foods and even languages.
The beautiful exhibition has now inspired librarians in South Dublin and Galway to order sets, and dlr LexIcon is currently cataloguing its recently-arrived collection.
IBBY Ireland is excited and delighted by the noise the Silent Books are making around the country. 

Over the month of March and into the beginning of April 2018, the staff and pupils of Glenveagh Special School based in Belfast were proud to host the IBBY Collection of Books for Young People with Disabilities. As the exhibition took place in the school, it was co-ordinated with other exciting events which kicked off to great fanfare: a BIG PICTURE event led by Laureate PJ Lynch and a book launch among other things.
Many of the pupils in Glenveagh responded to the collection of Ibby books in many different ways. One pupil in particular, who has a very limited reading ability, was able to distinguish between books that were written in various Eastern languages!

Other pupils responded to the books at Finaghy Road Library using art.

And the pupils' favourite books overall were...

Find out all about It Can't Be True and 'Snow White Knits a Monster' in the collection's catalogue over here.
​The books have now left the North and are currently on view in Wexford Town. Go see it!

Over the month of March and into the beginning of April 2018, the staff and pupils of Glenveagh Special School based in Belfast were proud to host the IBBY Collection of Books for Young People with Disabilities. As the exhibition took place in the school, it was co-ordinated with other exciting events which kicked off to great fanfare.
After the BIG PICTURE event, the pupils of the school had another important activity coming up, namely the launch of their very own special needs book called INNER PEACE, A Coping Companion in Times of Stress. 
The book was to be launched in the Seamus Heaney Centre in Belfast at a Fighting Words Belfast seminar, once again in the presence of the IBBY  collection which had pride of place at the venue.

 The pupils had worked so hard to create this book in the hope that it will be included in the IBBY  Collection at some point in the future! They had such a great time signing their book and telling everyone at the conference about the IBBY Collection and their own book and how it had a place at the venue.  As the launch was coming to an end, it was announced that Northern Ireland Libraries would be happy to purchase the book for all its branches. What an achievement for all the pupils who were involved! You can find out more about INNER PEACE in this short video.

After this event,  the collection then moved to Finaghy Road Library where Pat Ryan generously provided a storytelling session. Pat did a marvellous job and ended the session with a look at all the books with the pupils.

Over the month of March and into the beginning of April 2018, the staff and pupils of Glenveagh Special School based in Belfast were proud to host the IBBY Collection of Books for Young People with Disabilities. As the exhibition took place in the school, it was co-ordinated with other exciting events which kicked off to great fanfare! 
Laureate na nÓg and IBBY Ireland Patron PJ Lynch arrived to the school to assist pupils with his BIG PICTURE project while at the same time Máire Zepf, the Seamus Heaney Children’s Fellow, arrived to the school to give a reading session surrounded by the books from the IBBY Collection.
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It wasn’t long before PJ was joined by fellow illustrator and  friend Paul Howard who just couldn’t wait to get stuck in. They were joined by pupils from Glenveagh School, Toughmonagh School and Malone College who were all eager to get their hands dirty! Máire Zepf just couldn’t keep her hands off the chalks as the 19ftx 7ft wall mural began to take shape. This was straight after her story telling session with  pupils from the Middle Department of Glenveagh were they were surrounded by the IBBY Special Collection.

Watch this space over the next few days for more about the Collection's trip to the North!
​And if you've missed it there, you have one more chance to catch it in Ireland before it heads back to Switzerland. Hurry to Wexford Town Library where it will be hosted until the end of April.

IBBY Ireland President Jane O'Hanlon talks about the goals and missions of IBBY Ireland.

Above: From Morgh-e Sorkh-e Pa Kootah (The Little Red Hen) by Setareh Eghtedari and Parvin Dowlatabadi (text), and Badbadak Tactile Group (tactile adaptation), Iran. In this adaptation of a classic tale, Braille on each page and a variety of textures offer a tactile experience for children who are blind or have low vision. 

Primary school pupils have been feeling their way through the IBBY Special Collection of Books for Young People with Disabilities. In an IBBY Ireland workshop to accompany the exhibition on its tour of Irish libraries, the children are discovering new ways of reading, from Braille to pictures to pop-up, and making sense of stories presented in different languages and media.
After browsing the exhibition of 50 books in more than 20 languages, pupils then imagine a world in which one sense – sight – is missing. They put their hands in bags or boxes filled with different materials. Without knowing the content, they use bright pastels and large sheets of paper to translate the texture into a picture or pattern. What colour is it? Does it conjure a bright, cheerful scene or a dark pattern? What memory does it recall: walking on the beach, baking a cake, riding a bicycle on a windy day? All these interpretations and more – sometimes from the same texture – enable children to explore creatively the world of those facing sensory challenges.
As Einstein put it: ‘Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.’