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Ibby Ireland NEWS
The Irish Section of the International Board on Books for Young People

'One world, many stories'

Living Libraries

10/8/2018

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We had an unforgettable midnight tour of the new Greek National Library during the Athens Congress with our wonderful spontaneous tour guide Sofi Gilda of IBBY Greece. The Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Centre library was alive in the darkness with readers, browsers, students drinking coffee and chatting amid the halls and shelves and walkways of this state-of-the-art work of art. 

There must be so many beautiful, creative libraries and library services in IBBY countries around the world. Two of Ireland’s treasures are the 18th Century Long Room at Trinity College Dublin and the Marsh Library a few blocks away. The Long Room is a Hogwarts-worthy wonder lined with marble busts of great philosophers and writers.



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Marsh’s Library, beside St Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin is Ireland’s first public library dating from the 17th Century. The interior is beautifully preserved with oak shelves and three ‘cages’ in which scholars were locked to protect the books, complete with a skull on their desk to remind them of their mortality.  A serious business, reading …
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European News

10/2/2018

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​Hello Albania!
A warm welcome from IBBY Ireland to Europe’s new section, IBBY Albania.
 
Looking for books in a different language? The IBBY Europe website https://www.ibby-europe.org/ promotes books in European languages. To find out how to use the website to add new books and replace those out of print, contact Hasmig Chahinian at ibby.europe@gmail.com).
 
The European Newsletter: October 15 is the deadline for sending your news and pictures for the next edition. For more details, contact Hasmig at the above email.
 
The IBBY European Conference: thanks to the support of the Bologna Children's Book Fair and IBBY Italy, the second regional Conference will be held in Bologna on 4 April 2019. The conference theme is Languages in Europe, supporting the right of every child to access books in his/her own language. As well as exploring theories of language learning, speakers and participants will share experiences and ways for national sections to increase the availability of books in different languages. All ideas and suggestions for speakers are welcome. Please contact ibby.europe.conference.2019@gmail.com
 
The organising committee are: Doris Breitmoser, Hasmig Chahinian, Eva Devos, Pam Dix, Sabine Fuchs, Deborah Soria, David Tolin.
 

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Lighting a dark world

9/2/2018

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A powerful theme at this week’s IBBY Congress in Athens was the ability of children’s books to bring hope in chaotic, confusing and, for many, terrifying times. In her talk ‘Before they Give the Order’, author Deborah Ellis (The Breadwinner etc. http://deborahellis.com/) spoke of books as prevention not cure. Children brought up on stories about vastly different lives and perspectives will grow into global citizens - politicians, truck drivers, lawyers, parents, teachers, shopkeepers - full of empathy, compassionate curiosity and the ability to connect with other cultures. This generation of peace-lovers, she said, will be equipped to resist and drown out the voice of anyone who ‘gives the order’ to shoot, abuse, ethnically cleanse or hate in any other terribly human way.

Gregory Maguire (Wicked etc. http://gregorymaguire.com/) turned on ‘The Light Within the Story’. He celebrated fairy tales as beacons of ‘heroic generosity … small and intense like garlic’ that endure because they champion love, kindness, justice and mercy. (Of course they do a good line in sexism, ageism, ugly-ism etc. too, but his enchanting talk swept us above the isms and into their beauty.)

​Inspiring, thrilling stuff – all made possible by the wonderful generosity and organisation of the hosts, IBBY Greece. Where better to light up the darkness than the birthplace of democracy? Go raibh míle maith agat from IBBY Ireland for a wonderful three days.
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East meets West at the IBBY Congress

8/30/2018

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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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Picture This: IBBY Ireland at the YLG Annual Seminar

6/12/2018

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Not everyone likes reading; not everyone can write, but who doesn’t love a good story? And where words fail pictures can prevail, as the Silent Books (IBBY’s travelling collection of more than a hundred wordless picture books) have proved, crossing continents and connecting cultures around the world.
At the Youth Library Group (YLG) Annual Seminar this month, librarians from across Ireland gathered in Ballinasloe, County Galway, to explore ways of encouraging a love of books in children and young people.
After a session on recommending good reads, the focus turned to pictures. YLG participants heard how the first set of Silent Books was brought to the Mediterranean island of Lampedusa in 2012 to bring comfort, escape and delight to refugees on their journey to Europe. They learned about the set of Silent Books that visited libraries around Ireland last year. This travelling exhibition was accompanied by IBBY Ireland’s Nation Creation workshops in which primary school pupils dreamed up, drew and described their ideal countries, complete with laws, flags and anthems.

Participants then browsed the Silent Books themselves, kindly loaned by Marian Keyes at dlr LexIcon who collated the library’s own set after the Irish tour. The beauty of the books, both visually and conceptually, inspired ideas for their use in libraries and schools, such as creating new stories from a single page of pictures; encouraging children to tell the stories from the pictures; asking questions to provoke curiosity and wonder, and using the calming environment of a book in a library to teach English to immigrant children and their families. The wild visual adventures between the covers are a wonderful springboard for language learning, imaginative play, confidence building, intercultural communication and celebration of difference.

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Taking Leave of Your Senses in Wexford

4/24/2018

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For the final leg of its Irish tour, the IBBY Collection of books for and about young people with disabilities is stopping over in Wexford Town Library where author-illustrator Tatyana Feeney brought it to life for local school children through a workshop called 'Take Leave of Your Senses'.
​Exploring the collection and a range of props, the children were invited to respond to various objects and textures using only their senses of touch and smell. They then produced images inspired by their experience and things got very colourful!

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Shhh – the silence is spreading

4/24/2018

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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. 

‘The exhibition was an absolute gift. It appealed to all ages from babies to primary and
secondary school pupils, artists and illustrators, storytellers, authors and of course the
public. The workshops were a brilliant, a thought-provoking way to encourage children's
creativity, problem-solving and team work. They could be replicated in any classroom in the
country, bringing understanding and sensitivity in a really practical way … of the plight of
refugees and displaced peoples.’

Marian Keyes, programmer of events and exhibitions at the dlr LexIcon.
‘Tralee Library enjoyed hosting the Silent Books exhibition in June. We did have a number of
classes who visited specially to view it. It was great to see the children engage with the
concept of books not needing words to tell a story - books that children of all nationalities
can enjoy.'

Maria Doyle, Tralee Library
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The IBBY Collection Goes North: Inspiration

4/14/2018

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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!
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The IBBY Collection Goes North: the Launch of INNER PEACE

4/14/2018

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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.
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The IBBY Collection Goes North

4/8/2018

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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.
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The collection was set up in a private room in the school and the local Special needs schools were then invited to come along and have a look at it which they did upon appointment. The response from the other schools was completely positive.
Not surprisingly, the whole morning event was over in a snap as there was so much fun being had in the school! The wall mural was completed in a record 2hrs and when PJ was asked how the chalks on the wall could be preserved, he just said, ‘Use hairspray!'

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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.
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  • Home
  • about
    • What is iBbY?
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    • Become a member
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  • Blog
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