Building Bridges Through Story

23 May 2011

On Saturday 2nd April, iBbY Ireland was delighted to welcome guests from all walks of life to our “Building Bridges Through Story” event which was held in the Central Library in the Ilac Centre, Dublin.

This was a lively, informative and fun afternoon where we enjoyed presentations and workshops from speakers with very varied areas of expertise.

Tríona Stokes from Froebel College of Education set the ball rolling with an interactive drama workshop. Tríona introduced participants to methods of using picture books as a way of exploring multicultural issues. Groups were asked to partake in a range of activities which prompted collaboration and sharing of ideas.    

iBbY Ireland was also delighted to welcome Enda Wyley, author of the very successful children’s book I Won’t Go To China from the O’Brien Bridges series. Enda gave a comprehensive overview of the development and realisation of her book and provided a step-by-step account of each stage in the process of writing and working with publishers. Enda also answered questions from budding authors in the audience. 

The final element of the afternoon was an introduction to the multicultural book collections and services provided by Dublin City Libraries. Librarians Beata Molendowska and Padraic Staic introduced the varied and impressive dual language and multicultural collections available in the Central Library. They gave an insight into how information is researched and collated in order to provide an up to date range of books to suit the ever-changing public demand.

IBBY Ireland would like to express its warmest appreciation to all of the speakers on the day and indeed to Dublin City Libraries for facilitating the event. We hope that it was beneficial as well as enjoyable to all in attendance and will provide plenty of food for thought in the future!   

Books used throughout the afternoon were:

• Drama Workshop – The Colour of Home by Mary Hoffman and Karin Littlewood, ISBN 13:978-07112-1991-5.
• Author presentation – I Won’t Go To China by Enda Wyley, O’Brien Press Bridges Series ISBN: 978-1-84717-159-7

The Dublin City Public Libraries multicultural collection may be searched through the library catalogue. These books may be borrowed from any public library service in Ireland using Borrowbooks.