As a follow-up to our recent post on the International Conference “What a Story: Children’s Literature Today” held in Beirut, Lebanon, here is author Elsa Marston’s feed-back on the event:

A quick report on the international conference on children’s literature held in Beirut, June 12-14, which by all evidence came off very well indeed–especially for something that has never been done before in the Arab countries (at least on this scale). I was able to attend only the third day, when I spoke on U.S. children’s/YA literature about the Arab world. I was most impressed by the eager attendance and high energy, and was told that the first two days were the same. There were presenters from the U.K., Denmark, Germany, Iran, Tunisia, Egypt, France, Italy, as well as Lebanon; and the simultaneous translation was quite amazing.

Later I met with a couple of the women who had organized the conference, to brainstorm ideas for the next, planned for 2011. One thing will have to be different: box lunches instead of the lavish gourmet meals the hotel served, Beirut cuisine at its most elegant! (This conference was paid for by corporate, governmental, and NGO contributions, with no registration fees; but that kind of thing can hardly be counted on in the future.) Something else struck me: the need for writers to develop a certain spirit of “critical encouragement,” or “encouraging criticism,” as they work together to develop their craft professionally. Anyone who has ever been in a writers’ group, or critiqued a work in progress, knows that constructive criticism, that neither praises too much nor hurts too much, is a fine art….and it doesn’t come naturally in every culture.

The papers and presentations (the majority in English, I think, the rest in Arabic) will be published in a volume, presumably by the end of the year. I will welcome inquiries from anyone who might like to get a copy.

Born and raised in the USA, Elsa Marston is a children’s author who specializes in books, both fiction and non-fiction, about the Middle East. “A lot of my writing is about the Middle East and Arab-Americans.” says Elsa. “That’s because my late husband, Iliya Harik, was from Lebanon; family connections and his work as a political scientist (Indiana University) took us to that part of the world many times. I want to share with young readers my own interest in those lands and peoples, and equally important, help contribute to better understanding of the Arab/Muslim world. In that way I hope to continue Iliya’s life’s work, along with my own.”

From June 12 to the 14, Elsa will be attending an international conference on children’s literature in Beirut, Lebanon and told us:

I think this is the first time anything quite like this, at least with this scale and scope, has been done in the Arab countries, although there are IBBY chapters in Lebanon and Palestine and probably elsewhere. The preliminary program looks very interesting… an idea of some of the concerns that are gradually starting to take hold in the literature of that part of the world. Up till very recently, literature for children and teens consisted mostly of translations of European fairy tales and simplified western novels, and Arabian Nightsy stories. The idea that fiction for young people could reflect the lives of those young people and their societies had not quite caught on. (It must be admitted, the same thing was true here with respect to the Middle East, until about a dozen years ago! And that’s basically what I’ll be talking about.)

Elsa expects the conference to be largely in Arabic, with English and French mixed in liberally; and program highlights include: (more…)