Focus IBBY

Focus IBBY Carolina Ballester (bio) It is with great excitement, and a little bit of nervousness, that I am writing for Bookbird for the very first time as IBBY executive director. I started working with and for children’s books ten years ago when I joined the Shanghai International Children’s Book Fair organizing team. There, I was lucky enough to witness the astonishing development of the Chinese children’s literature scene. I also met a great number of writers, illustrators, publishers, and reading promoters from all around the world—many of whom became friends. I immediately admired their boundless dedication to children. This gave me a rapid realization: I would never want to work in another field. So, it is a big honor to officially be part of the IBBY family, a community that embodies the values and commitments of “children’s book people” better than any other. So, what job—a real one, not a dream one—allows you, on your very first day in office, to travel across the planet to attend one of the most anticipated children’s literature events in the world? This is exactly how my IBBY life started on September 1, 2022, when Liz Page and I hopped on a plane from Zürich to Kuala Lumpur to attend the 2022 IBBY International Congress. “The Power of Stories”: Insights on the 38th World IBBY Congress in Putrajaya, Malaysia In March 2022, the Malaysian authorities announced that the country would lift all COVID-19 restrictions for international travelers, paving the way for the 38th IBBY International Congress to take place as a fully in-person event. It was certainly a huge relief since an IBBY World Congress requires four to five years of intense preparation work. Despite the uncertainties and slowness of the pandemic years, the Congress Committee was ready to welcome all guests, speakers, and delegates from September 5 to 8 in Putrajaya, the administrative and judiciary capital of Malaysia. The preparations were spearheaded by Ahmad Redza Ahmad Khairuddin, president of the Malaysian Board on Books for Young People (MBBY), who also acted as the Congress chair, while the MBBY vice president, Sidin Ahmad Ishak, served as chair of the Congress Scientific Committee. The event, the first IBBY World Congress organized in Southeast Asia, was held in Kompleks Perbadanan Putrajaya. One auditorium, two ballrooms, and three meeting rooms were mobilized to host nineteen plenary speeches and sixty-one parallel presentations. In addition, several special exhibitions organized by IBBY International and some of its longtime partners were on display in the congress center lobby, together with a space dedicated to poster sessions. Throughout the Congress, numerous MBBY members oversaw on-site services and acted as moderators, masters of ceremony, and technical coordinators. They were backed up in their duties by a joyful team of student volunteers eager to expand their language skills and knowledge of literature. [End Page 79] Over 300 participants attended this four-day event and around forty countries were represented among the speakers and attendants. While most national delegations were made up of no more than one or two representatives, transcultural conversations rapidly bloomed everywhere, reflecting the purest spirit of IBBY. The Congress launched on the morning of Monday, September 5, with an opening ceremony where Zhang Mingzhou delivered his final speech as IBBY president. He said: International understanding is essential for peace and prosperity and as members of IBBY we believe that it can be achieved through children’s books despite new challenges and uncertainties. Not only is IBBY’s mission of bringing children and books together as important as ever in our endlessly changing world, but we are facing new challenges as the danger of climate change and the resulting havoc affects every corner of our fragile world. Honorary Membership was bestowed to Ellis Vance for his outstanding contribution to the development of IBBY since he joined the Executive Committee in 2006, first as IBBY vice president and, from 2008 until the end of 2022, as treasurer. The ceremony was concluded with an intergenerational performance mixing storytelling and traditional dance. For many people, this was their first contact with Malaysian culture. Discovering Malaysian Children’s Literature and Culture...