iBbY Info is the e-newsletter of iBbY Ireland, the Irish national section of IBBY, an organisation dedicated to promoting intercultural dialogue through children's literature iBbY Info is the e-newsletter of iBbY Ireland, the Irish national section of IBBY, an organisation dedicated to promoting intercultural dialogue through children's literature

iBby Ireland and IBBY news

2012 IBBY Congress

Registration for the 2012 IBBY Congress in London is now open. The theme of the Congress, which will be held from 23rd to 26th August, is "Crossing Boundaries: Translations and Migrations". Visit www.ibbycongress2012.org for more information and to register online. A range of accommodation has been ear-marked for delegates close to the venue, including student and hotel accommodation. Details on pre- and post-congress tours are also available.

Recent Noteworthy Children's Literature Books

Etisalat Award for Arabic Children's Literature

The 2011 winner was Fly Away, Kate, written by Amani Al Ashmawi and illustrated by Hanadi Sleet. The prize aims to raise standards and quality within the children’s book industry and to stimulate the imagination and creativity of children. The award also aims to encourage publishers, authors and illustrators to develop high-quality books that are suitable for children in terms of text, content and graphics, as well as to increase the number of top-quality publications produced annually by Arab publishing houses. The 1 million AED Etisalat prize is shared 50% for the author and illustrator and 50% to the publisher, Nahdet Misr.

Australia's First Children's Literature Laureates Announced

Alison Lester and Boori Monty Pryor were appointed as Australia's first Laureates for Children's Literature at a ceremony in Adelaide today. During their two-years as Laureates, they will travel to every state and territory to inspire as many children to read as possible. The Laureateship position was initiated by the Australian Children's Literature Alliance. Pryor, who won the 2011 Prime Minister's award for Children's Fiction, said that as Laureate he will continue the work he is already doing, travelling to remote communities to teach children to read, write and dance their own stories.

Walter Dean Myers Appointed as US National Ambassador for Young People's Literature

Congratulations to Walter Dean Myers who has been appointed as the third US National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, succeeding Katherine Paterson and Jon Scieszka in the role. This post was created in 2008 by the Library of Congress, the Children’s Book Council, and Every Child a Reader.  During Walter’s two-year term, his platform will be “Reading is Not Optional,” chosen as a result of his lifelong advocacy for reading among young people. Myers' distinguished career includes having won two Newbery Honors, five Coretta Scott King Awards, five Coretta Scott King Honors and a Michael L. Printz Award for Monster. He has also been a US National Book Award Finalist three times.

2011 Peace Literature Award

The winner of this Australian award for fiction was Arnie Avery by Sue Walker. The novel chronicles the experiences of a boy who is about to turn 13 in a family still struggling with the accidental death of his older brother. During the twenty-plus years since the inauguration of the award, focus has been given to writers with vision who have been able to stimulate children and adolescents to think, to dare, and to imagine taking control of their lives, believing that peace is both possible and desirable.

2011 National Jewish Book Award Winners

The winner of the Children's and Young Adult award is Julie Chibbaro for her historical novel, Deadly: How Do You Catch an Invisible Killer, about a seventeen-year-old Jewish teenage living in New York in the early 1900s. The National Jewish Book Awards program began in 1950 when the Jewish Book Council presented awards to authors of Jewish books at its annual meeting. Past notable literary winners include Chaim Grade, Deborah Lipstadt, Bernard Malamud, Michael Oren, Chaim Potok, Philip Roth, and Elie Wiesel.

Children's Literature Activities and Events

The Learning and Teaching of Children's Literature in Europe Project

This project had as its centrepiece a large-scale survey (both quantitative and qualitative) of 7-11-year-old pupils and their teachers in the UK, Spain, Iceland and Turkey, centred on attitudes to children's literature, literacy and teaching. Resources that may be downloaded from the website  http://www.um.es/childrensliterature/site/ include the Project Report, including analysis and discussion of the data; the survey data (anonymised), which is free for future researchers to explore; continuing Professional Development packs designed for use by teachers interested in exploring this area with children; a number of presentations on the project (Powerpoint and video and a forum for discussing the issues raised by the project. All the materials are available in English; and many also in Spanish.

Laureate Event, 20th January

Laureate na nÓg Siobhán Parkinson and the UK Children’s Laureate Julia Donaldson will be appearing together at a special event to be held at 2pm on Friday 20th January 2012 at the Royal Irish Academy, Dawson Street, Dublin 2.  This is an adult event and not suitable for children.  Spaces will be limited so booking is required via info@childrenslaureate.ie.

Irish Society for the Study of Children's Literature (ISSCL) Conference

The next biennial ISSCL conference, celebrating the Society’s first 10 years, will take place in Dublin City University on Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th February 2012. The theme is “Is Féidir Linn! [Yes We Can!]: Politics and Ideology in Children’s Literature.” For enquiries about the conference, contact Dr Áine McGillicuddy – aine.mcgillicuddy@dcu.ie- and for website/online registration enquiries, contact Dr Nora Maguire – info@isscl.com.

IMMA and Laureate Na NÓg Event

The Irish Museum of Modern Art has commissioned author and Laureate na nÓg Siobhán Parkinson to write a tour for children of her favourite outdoor artworks in the museum grounds. The booklet has been designed by Peter Maybury and is available free of charge in the New Galleries at IMMA. The museum has collaborated with Poetry Ireland on a short film of the trail. Look, No Cows will be launched at IMMA on Sunday 29th January 2012 at 1.00pm. All are welcome, especially children. At 3.00pm, actor Louis Lovett will perform a dramatic reading of some stories from the Arabian Nights. As usual, IMMA’s Sunday family programme Explorer for children aged 4 to 10 will take place from 2.00pm to 4.00pm.

Writing for Children Online Course

This Writing for Children course, which is tutored by Oisin McGann, will cover the basics of storytelling and the specific aspects of writing for children and young adults. The course lasts 6 weeks and will begin on 16th January. Areas that will be looked at include how to generate ideas; how to use observation; description of both character and setting; using dialogue and ensuring a good pace and plot, as well as how to tailor your writing for different age groups. There will be practical exercises and a final writing task at the end of the course. Oisin will also be giving tips on how to get published, and how to market your books once you get published. For more information, see http://creativewriting.ie/writing-for-children-course or email info@creativewriting.ie

Calls for Papers and Academic Events in Children’s Literature

The Fairy-Tale Vanguard

This conference will take place at Ghent University, in collaboration with the University of Antwerp from 20th to 22nd August 2012. Proposals for papers are welcome with possible topics including theoretical and historical reflections on the literary discourse of the fairy tale genre; the metaliterary use of fairy tales; literary experimentation in fairy tales; fairy tales and the formation of national literatures; the fairy tale’s response to and impact on developments within the larger literary field, e.g. its active participation in literary vanguards and movements, its shifting properties in globalized literature, its response to the introduction of new media. Send a 300-word-abstract and five-line biography to fairytale@ugent.be by the deadline of 1st March.

After Grimm: Fairy Tales and the Art of Storytelling

Papers are invited for this conference from 6th to 8th September 2012 at the Kingston University and the University of Chichester's Sussex Centre for Folklore, Fairy Tales and Fantasy. 2012 is the bicentenary of the publication of the first volume of the Kinder- und Hausmärchen [Children’s and Household Tales] by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. This conference explores the trajectory of the Grimm phenomenon in Britain and the English‐speaking world. The Grimm bicentenary will also be celebrated through story‐telling events, readings, a creative writing prize, and an exhibition of illustrations. Papers are invited on the Oral Tradition within Grimms’ Tales; translations of Grimms’ tales into English; the impact of Grimms’ tales upon world literatures in English; Grimms’ tales and Romanticism; Grimms’ tales in colonial and post-colonial contexts; Grimms’ tales in the electronic age; packaging Grimm (illustrations, book covers, merchandising etc); fairy tales in (popular) culture. Send a 300-word abstract and a brief contributor’s biographical note online by 31st January at http://fass.kingston.ac.uk/activities/conferences/abstracts/

International Folkloristics Series, Call for Manuscripts, Peter Lang Publishing

This series, originally founded by Alan Dundes and edited by Wolfgang Mieder, includes theoretical studies of any genre or aspect of folklore. The series welcomes individually authored and collaboratively authored books, monographs, collections of data, bibliographies, and Festschriften of at least 40,000 words. The emphasis will be on analytic and methodological innovations in the consideration of myth, folktale, legend, superstition, proverb, riddle, folksong, festival, game or any other form of folklore as well as any of the interpretative approaches to folklore topics. For inquiries or to submit proposals/manuscripts, contact Caitlin Lavelle, Acquisitions Editor, caitlinl@plang.com

Homelessness in Children's Literature

Articles are invited on the theme of homelessness in children's literature for a special issue of the peer-reviewed journal, Barnbroken. Send 300-word abstracts to barnboken@sbi.kb.se by 1st February. Barnboken – Journal of Children’s Literature Research is the only scholarly journal in its field published in Sweden. The main language of the journal is Swedish, but articles written in Danish, Norwegian and English are also welcome. Articles accepted for this issue will be published in 2013. A guide to the reference and note system may be found at www.sbi.kbse/stylesheet 

Supporting Transgender and Gender-Nonconforming Youth

This special issue of the Journal of LGBT Youth will move beyond studies of the experiences of transgender teenage and college students to discuss ways to support these students. Articles might investigate such issues as best practices to assist transitioning or gender non-conforming students; innovative and successful strategies to improve the school climate for transgender people; the policies and practices to support transgender youth outside of the U.S.; the incorporation of transgender experiences into the curricula; the development of a transgender ally training program or a transgender-inclusive anti-bullying program. Send 20-30-page-long essays (double-spaced with 12 point Times New Roman font) by the deadline of 1st March to Genny Beemyn: genny@stuaf.umass.edu. For detailed author guidelines, see the journal website:  http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/WJLY

Teaching Popular Film and Television: Critical Media Literacy and Narratives in (Teacher) Education

Essays for this special issue of the Journal of Popular Film and Television are invited on the interconnection between learning and teaching, (narrative, ethical and rhetorical aspects of) popular film and television, and critical media literacy.  Submissions should be 20 to 25 pages, double-spaced, and conform to the MLA style sheet. Include a 50-word abstract and five to seven key words to facilitate online searches. Send your paper by 1st March to  Geert.Vandermeersche@UGent.be

Children’s Literature and European Avant-Garde

The ESF-Liu-Research Conference will be held at the Linköping University, Sweden from 26th-30th September 2012. Possible topics include theoretical and historical reflections on the literary and artistic discourse of the relationship between children’s literature and Avant-Garde movements; artistic and literary experimentation in Avant-Garde children’s literature; the impact of European Avant-Garde on Non-European children’s literature; Avant-garde publishers for children; children’s culture and the Bauhaus at Weimar/Dessau; Avant-Garde toys and films for children. Grants are available for students and early stage researchers to cover the conference fees and possibly part of the travel costs (see application form on the ESF-website). The deadline for proposals is 1st March 2012. For submitting an abstract and for further information about the conference please go to the ESF-website at www.esf.org/index.php?id=9078. For any inquiries concerning the conference, contact the chair Bettina Kümmerling-Meibauer at: bettina.kuemmerling-meibauer@uni-tuebingen.de