IBBY Ireland is delighted to announce Children’s Laureate and multi-award-winner illustrator PJ Lynch as new patron!
Nearly 20 years after the foundation of IBBY Ireland, PJ Lynch joins original patron Mary McAleese, former President of Ireland.
​​PJ says: “I am very happy and proud to accept the role as Patron of IBBY Ireland. Today, in a world where intolerance and prejudice seem to be everywhere on the rise, I believe that books for children are more important than ever. I passionately believe that we begin to learn to appreciate the world from other points of view when we first lose ourselves in a book. As we get older we learn about other people’s cultures through reading their stories and this is one crucial way in which we learn that everyone has value and dignity just like ourselves. The International Board on Books for Young People takes a global view in its mission to bring children and good books together, and it is an honour to be associated with iBbY Ireland, and its members who are so passionate about sharing their love of books, and sharing the great good that books can do for children far and wide. "
PJ Lynch, Laureate na nÓg
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Following on from the announcement of our shortlist a few weeks ago, IBBY Ireland is delighted to reveal the four titles that have been nominated for the Honour List.

Read on for a short extract of the citation accompanying each nominee...
Irelandopedia (John and Fatti Burke), nominated for illustration:
Bold and wonderfully witty illustrations keep the text wonderfully lively, while their deceptive simplicity are an invitation to budding artists to reach for their drawing material.
​A Lonely Note (Kevin Stevens), nominated for writing:
Peace and violence, faith and mistrust, thriller and literary fiction – this is a supreme story of a young man caught between two worlds.
​Ná Gabh ar Scoil! (Myra Zepf & Tarsila Kruse), nominated in the Irish language category: 
A witty and humorous take on the classic ‘starting school’ story that has something for everyone.

Wherever It Is Summer (Tamara Bach, translated by Siobhán Parkinson), nominated for translation:
Beautifully translated by Siobhán Parkinson, this touching story of the power of friendship is now available to readers in English.
​Congrats to all!
​To find out more about the Honour List, head over here.

A selection of 100 books for children and young people in Arabic from different countries in the Arab-speaking world is now available in English. The list was originally in French and was collated by the Arab World Reading Committee of the journal Takam Tikou, which brings together professionals from different horizons: the French National Library / IBBY France, the Institute of the Arab world, Libraries of the City of Paris... IBBY Ireland is very proud to have been involved alongside IBBY France, IBBY UK and IBBY Europe  in the English translation of this exceptional catalogue.
Organised by genre and in alphabetical order by title in English, this guide also includes a few translations into Arabic of books originally published in different languages, to encourage the building of bridges between languages and cultures. 
The selection will be presented in the Frankfurt Bookfair later this week, but the PDF can be downloaded, right away, on the IBBY Europe website, for free.
​And don't forget that on the same website you can find recommendations of great books for children and young people written in all the languages spoken in Europe, including the main languages spoken by migrant or refugee families such as Dari, Farsi and more. What better way to say 'Welcome' than with a book in a language the young new arrivals understand?