(Click on event name for more information)

Books Illustrated Exhibition: Animalia and other Animals – from Real to Fantastic~ ongoing until Jul 12, Middle Park, Australia

International Youth Library Exhibit: Darkness Had fallen, The Night-time World in International Children’s Literature~ ongoing until Jul 31, Munich, Germany

Hollins University: Children’s Literature Lectures~ ongoing until Jul 31, Roanoke, VA, USA

An Exquisite Vision: The Art of Lisbeth Zwerger~ongoing until Sep 26, Amherst, MA, USA

Dromkeen National Centre for Picture Book Art Exhibit: From the Collection~ ongoing until Oct 24, Riddells Creek, Australia

Expo 2010~ ongoing until  Oct 31, Shanghai, China

International Youth Library Exhibit: Shaun Tan, Pictures and Books~ ongoing until Oct 31, Munich, Germany

Everyday Adventures Growing Up: Art from Picture Books~ ongoing until Nov 28, Chicago, IL, USA

Hedwig Anuar Children’s Book Award 2011~ entries accepted until Dec 31, Singapore

Manchester Children’s Book Festival~ Jul 1 – 4, Manchester, United Kingdom

Beyond The Border International Storytelling Festival~ Jul 2 – 4, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales,United Kingdom

Children’s and Young Adult Literature Festival: Reaching the World ~ Jul 3, Rozelle, Australia

aWAy With Words: Exploring the Ambiguities in Literacy and English Education~ Jul 4 – 7, Perth, Australia

West Cork Literary Festival~ Jul 4 – 10, Bantry, Ireland

NAIDOC Week~ Jul 4 – 11, Australia

Voices on the Coast, A Youth Literature Festival~ Jul 7 – 12, Sunshine Coast, Australia

Tokyo International Book Fair~ Jul 8 – 11, Tokyo, Japan

4th Annual Book Passage Children’s Writers & Illustrators Conference~ Jul 8 – 11, Corte Madera, CA, USA

The National Center for Children’s Illustrated Literature Exhibit: Golden Kite, Golden Dreams: the SCBWI Awards~  Jul 8 – Oct 1, Abilene, TX, USA

Children’s Literatrure Conference: Changing A-genders in Children’s Literature~ Jul 9 – 10, Hatfield, United Kingdom

UKLA’s 46th Annual International Conference: The Changing Face of Literacy: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow~ Jul 9 – 11, Winchester, United Kingdom

Hey, Your Pixels are Showing! A Photoshop Workshop and Creative Exchange with Illustrator Jed Henry~ Jul 11, Tokyo, Japan

2010 Bologna Illustrators Exhibition of Children’s Books~ Jul 11 – Aug 16, Tokyo, Japan

World Congress on Reading~ Jul 12 – 15, Auckland, New Zealand

Mazza Museum: International Art from Picture Books Summer Conference~ Jul 12  – 16, Findlay, OH, USA

Children’s Book Fair~ Jul 12 – 31, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Whitsunday Voices Youth Literature Festival~ Jul 14 – 17, Mackay, Australia

Chapter & Verse, a Book Club for Adults Discussing Children’s Lit~ Jul 15, USA

19th Storytelling Festival at the Edge~ Jul 16 – 18, Stokes Barn, United Kingdom

Storytelling Saturday at Fully Booked~ Jul 17,  Quezon City, Philippines

11th Annual Pacific Northwest Children’s Book Conference~ Jul 19 – 23, Portland, OR, USA

National Children’s Book Day~ Jul 20, Philippines

White Ravens Festival For International Children’s and Youth Literature~ Jul 20 -  25, Munich, Germany

Racial Harmony Day~ Jul 21, Singapore

Book Launch and Art Exhbition of the Winning Book from the Romeo Forbes Children’s Story Writing Competition~ Jul 21, Philippines

Hong Kong Book Fair~ Jul 21 – 27, Hong Kong

Lima International Book Fair~ Jul 22 – Aug 4, Lima, Peru

Storytellers of Canada Annual Conference~ Jul 28 – Aug 1, St. John’s, NF,  Canada

Southampton Children’s Literature Conference~ Jul 28 – Aug 1, Southampton, NY, USA

Text+Image: Picture Books and Graphic Novels One Day Seminar~ Jul 30, Melbourne, Australia

Cape Town Book Fair~ Jul 30 – Aug 2, Cape Town, South Africa

The 39th Annual SCBWI International Summer Conference~ Jul 30 – Aug 2, Los Angeles, CA, USA

(Click on event name for more information)

World Book Fair~ ongoing until Jun 7, Singapore

SCBWI Hawaii Illustrators’ Exhibit: The Art of Picture Books~ ongoing until Jun 16, Honolulu, HI, USA

Skipping Stones Magazine’s Youth Honor Award Program – Multicultural Awareness and Nature Appreciation~ entries accepted until Jun 25

Dromkeen National Centre for Picture Book Art Exhibit: Seven Little Australians~ ongoing until Jun 25, Riddells Creek, Australia

The National Center for Children’s Illustrated Literature Exhibit: Why Grow Up? Etienne Delessert~ ongoing until Jun 26, Abilene, TX, USA

Monash Woodfest~ ongoing until Jul 31, Monash, Australia

International Youth Library Exhibit: Darkness Had fallen, The Night-time World in International Children’s Literature~ ongoing until Jul 31, Munich, Germany

Monsters and Miracles: A Journey Through Jewish Picture Books~ ongoing until  Aug 1, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Dromkeen National Centre for Picture Book Art Exhibit: From the Collection~ ongoing until Oct 24, Riddells Creek, Australia

Expo 2010~ ongoing until  Oct 31, Shanghai, China

Everyday Adventures Growing Up: Art from Picture Books~ ongoing until Nov 28, Chicago, IL, USA

Hedwig Anuar Children’s Book Award 2011~ entries accepted until Dec 31, Singapore

Canadian Library Association National Conference and Trade Show~ Jun 2 – 5, Edmonton, AB, Canada

Tracing the History of Translated Children’s Fiction in New Zealand: Problems and Insights~ Jun 3, Wellington, New Zealand

The 2010 Young Authors’ Fiction Festival Celebration~ Jun 4, Paris, France

Once Upon an Island: The Waiheke Festival of Story~ Jun 4 – 7, Auckland, New Zealand

Nairn Book and Arts Festival~ Jun 5 – 13, Nairn, United Kingdom

Librarian’s Day~ Jun 7, Cuba

The Frances Lincoln Diverse Voices Children’s Book Award Winners Announced~ Jun 8, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom

Children’s Literature Association’s 2010 Conference: Children’s Literature and Media~ Jun 10 – 12, Ypsilanti/Ann Arbor, MI, USA

International Youth Library Exhibit: Shaun Tan, Pictures and Books~ Jun 10 – Oct 31, Munich, Germany

SCBWI Tokyo Translation Day 2010:  Bringing Japanese Children’s Books to the World~ Jun 12, Yokohama, Japan

3rd Annual Mixed Roots Film and Literary Festival~ Jun 12 – 13, Los Angeles, CA, USA

SCBWI Philippines Children’s Lit Booktalk~ Jun 14, Makati City, Philippines

International Day of the African Child~ Jun 16

The Torquay Froth and Bubble Literary Festival~ Jun 16 – 20, Torquay, Australia

Biennial Conference on Literature and Hawaii’s Children~ Jun 17 – 19, Honolulu, HI, USA

Borders Book Festival~ Jun 17 – 20, Melrose, United Kingdom

Children’s and Young Adult Literature in New Zealand Symposium~ Jun 18 – 20, Wellington, New Zealand

World Refugee Day~ Jun 20

CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Children’s Book Awards Winners Announced~ Jun 24, London, United Kingdom

American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference~ Jun 24 – 29, Washington, D.C., USA

ALSC Activities During the ALA Annual Conference~ Jun 24 – 30, Washington, D.C., USA

YALSA Activities During the ALA Annual Conference~ Jun 24 – 30, Washington, D.C., USA

ALA Kidlit Drink Night hosted by SCBWI Mid-Atlantic~ Jun 25, Washington, D.C., USA

“Libraries to the World” National and International Library Collections of Materials for Young People ~ Jun 26, Washington, D.C., USA

Sunthorn Phu Day (celebrated poet)~ Jun 26, Thailand

Canadian Multiculturalism Day~ Jun 27, Canada

Third Annual Children’s Literature Conference~ Jun 28, Los Angeles, CA, USA

PROtrack Program Children’s Publishing in the Digital Age~ Jun 30, Fairfax, VA, USA

One of my highlights from the 2010 Bologna Book Fair was attending the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award announcement and seeing the winner, Kitty Crowther, who unbeknownst to us had been sitting next to us,  accept the award. The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award is announced  every year in March and then in  late spring, the ALMA winner visits Sweden and Europe to partake in Award Week: A Spotlight on Children’s Literature. This year Award Week will take place from May 23rd to June 1st and highlights will include:

May 25 ~ Meet Kitty Crowther, House of Culture, Stockholm, Sweden

“If I had to choose one word to describe myself, it would be storyteller,” says Kitty Crowther. Listen to her presentation of her work and her inspiration. Kitty will be joined on stage by  illustration expert Ulla Rhedin and Johanna Lindbäck, one of Sweden’s top literature bloggers, for a program that will showcase Kitty’s work and contextualise her inspiration and development as an artist.

May 26 ~ Presentation at the International Youth Library, Münich, Germany

After a welcome speech by head librarian Dr. Christiane Raabe, German illustrator Judith Drews will give a lecture on the work and importance of Kitty Crowther. Kitty will also present her work.

May 28 ~  Astrid Lindgren Conference, Vimmerby, Sweden

The bi-annual Astrid Lindgren conference in Astrid Lindgren’s childhood town, Vimmerby, gathers academics and scholars to discuss children’s literature and its development. Kitty Crowther will give the key-note address.

June 1 – Awards Ceremony, Stockholm Concert Hall, Stockholm, Sweden

This  evening celebrates Kitty Crowther and her world of images  and also spotlights the importance of children’s literature. The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award will be presented to Kitty Crowther in front of  1,000 invited guests. Kitty will receive the award amount of 5 million SEK (which makes the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award the world’s largest children literature award) as well as an original work by Swedish illustrator Eva Lindström.  The award will be  presented by H.R.H. Princess Madeleine of Sweden.

For more information on the ALMA Award Week check out the ALMA blog.

After a busy day of presentations on Day 2, Day 3 of the Bologna Book Fair was spent meeting people and absorbing the different books on offer.

First up was a lovely chat with poet Jorge Luján, whom we’d caught up with on the Tuesday evening… He shared his brand new book with us and I will share some photos with you when I work out how to get them off the camera (as opposed to a storage disc)… but in the meantime, enjoy this gorgeous poster for the exhibition of Isol’s illustrations from his recently published Pantuflas de perrito which is on-going until 25th April, if you happen to be in Bologna…

Other highlights included:

The presentation of the International Youth Library‘s newly announced 2010 White Ravens Catalogue:

I had a great discussion with Janet Evans from Liverpool Hope University, UK, who is currently spending some time with the Library in Munich

while…

next door at the IBBY stand, Corinne and Aline had a good chat with Sylvia Vardell, editor of IBBY magazine Bookbird and host of the wonderful Poetry for Children blog (Don’t miss out on her current game of Poetry Tag for National Poetry Month in the US).

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Meeting Danilla Marii, an Australian writer based in Rome, who had come to the Fair to seek out a publisher for her beautiful and vibrant book The Rainbow Tree – it was a real privilege to be able to see the original draft that includes some intricate collage work. We loved the story too.

Catching up with Antoinette Correa from B.L.D. – Bibliothèque Lecture Développement (Senegal)

and Pilli Hamidu Dumea of the Children’s Book Project for Tanzania.

Meeting author/illustrator/stroyteller John Kilaka, an erstwhile winner of the BolognaRagazzi New Horizons Award (for New Friends in 2005), and seeing his new book, The Amazing Tree.

…And of course, the books…

A display of Mitsumasa Anno’s books at Fukuinkan Shoten Publishers‘ stand, including his new Anno’s Journey across Asia – and if you look at the first photograph for this post you should be able to spot it among the White Ravens 2010 selection too…

A display devoted to Jimmy Liao’s books – what a feast of color and imagination they are. Wouldn’t it be great to have more of his books available in English!

And the much-loved Guji Guji by Chih-Yuan Chen in lots of different languages – interesting, also, to see the different illustrations chosen for the covers.

You can see these and more photos from Day 3 here…

An invitation to attend an informal reception at the International Youth Library stand, “to chat and to browse the 2008 White Ravens catalog,” came before we went to Bologna, and the appointment immediately made it to the top of our list of places to be and people to see.

The lovely and well-attended gathering took place on the third day of the fair and, indeed, we had a chance to chat and meet face to face with Claudia Soffner, one of the International Youth Library’s language specialists who help select the titles that go into the White Ravens annual catalog. Their selection of noteworthy titles points children to books that foster intercultural understanding and offer an expanded vision of the world – one that addresses its scale and complexity.

Since 2002 PaperTigers has been familiar with the goal of promoting cross-cultural understanding through books, so it was wonderful to encounter so many like-minded folks under one stand’s roof. I can think of few things that are more important, in this day and age, than teaching and inspiring our children to understand and respect each other.

The International Youth Library, started by Jella Lepman in 1949, is the largest in the field of children’s and young adult literature. With nearly 600,000 titles in more than 130 languages, it is an internationally recognized centre of study that collects, documents and effectively promotes international literature for children. The library’s international outreach efforts include conferences, a scholarship program and a broad selection of traveling exhibits, such as “Children Between Worlds: Intercultural Relations in Books for Children and Young Adults” and “Hello, Dear Enemy! Picture Books for Peace and Tolerance.” Permanent collections of the IBBY Honour List books are also kept at the library.

Since 1983 the IYL has been housed at the Blutenburg Castle, a 15th century construction located west of Munich, in Germany. If you find yourself around that part of the world during your travels, make sure to stop by for a visit. The library’s vast collection, lively events and idyllic surroundings should make for a magical and enlightening experience.

White Ravens’ titles up until 2007 can be found online, at the International Children’s Digital Library‘s website. Catalogs can also be requested via the IYL’s website. Some of the English titles selected for the 2008 White Ravens catalog include the following titles, featured on PaperTigers: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian; Sky Sweeper; A True Person and Tyger! Tyger!.

Ah, Bologna!

Aline and I have much to tell about our fantastic trip to the Bologna Children’s Book Fair at the beginning of this month. There really is no better event to take the pulse of the children’s book publishing world: and what a world that is!

We’ve met so many interesting people and enjoyed putting faces to names of organisations and publishers; we’ve attended inspiring presentations; and have been dazzled by the quality and endlessly varied styles of the illustrations we’ve come across, both in the books we have browsed through and as part of the fair’s special exhibits. The overall impression was of immense industry – people in deep discussion, buying and selling rights; looking through artists’ portfolios; rushing between presentations – what a buzz!

Over the next few weeks, Aline and I will be posting on a variety of topics. In the meantime, here are some of the highlights for us, in no particular order:

Looking at the proofs for Ed Young’s new book, Wabi Sabi (written by Mark Reibstein);
Meeting librarians from all over the world at a session organised by the IFLA (International Federation of Libraries Associations and Institutions) – so lively that we were asked to be quiet…! – and hearing IBBY President and Canadian Groundwood Books publisher, Patricia Aldana’s presentation entitled “Books as Mirrors”;
Attending the launch of the International Youth Library’s White Ravens 2008 catalog;
Listening to poets Michael Rosen (UK Children’s Laureate) and Jorge Lujan’s contributions to a panel titled “Poetry Break: Poetry in Children’s Books”;
Attending the award-presentation of the Bologna Raggazzi “New Horizons” Award to Chennai-based Tara Publishing, for the hand-made book The Nightlife of Trees, and watching how the book came into being;
Hearing illustrators Robert Ingpen and Paul O. Zelinsky talk about their contributions to the book Artist to Artist: 23 Major Illustrators Talk to Children About Their Art (the proceeds of which go to the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art.)…

Well, I could just keep going – and I will. And so will Aline: so keep coming back as the full picture unfolds…