Editorial 269

We began this year in fairly optimistic mood, celebrating the rise in the quantity and quality of ethnically representative and inclusive literature, as highlighted by CLPE’s 6th annual Reflecting Realities Survey, the work of then Children’s Laureate Joseph Coelho in supporting libraries, and the establishment of new prizes, the Adrien Prize and the first Inclusive Books for Children Children’s Book Awards. Twelve months on and after a summer marked by racist riots in England and with Donald Trump heading triumphantly back into the White House, finding reasons to be cheerful feels a harder task, particularly following the release of the National Literacy Trust’s latest report which revealed that only 1 in 3 (34.6%) 8 to 18-year-olds now say they enjoy reading in their free time, the lowest level recorded by the charity since it first started surveying children about their reading 19 years ago. Elsewhere, the IBC’s new annual Excluded Voices report, found that over half of children’s books with main characters from marginalised groups were written by white, non-disabled, neurotypical authors and illustrators (Of 568 books with marginalised main characters, only 41.5% were by British Own Voice creators). Read the report in full and browse the specially curated IBC Own Voices booklist, featuring books with main characters from marginalised backgrounds that have been produced by creators sharing the same marginalised backgrounds.

Initiatives like these are more important than ever, and we will continue to report on this and the work being done to counter the decline in children’s reading for pleasure. This year’s Reflecting Realities report will be published later this month (November 2024) and will be covered in full in BfK.

IBBY Congress, Trieste, 2024

Pam Dix of IBBY UK reports on this year’s IBBY congress.

IBBY congresses are always momentous occasions, 600-700 people spending three days together talking about children’s books and their power to influence lives and promote international understanding. Trieste 2024 was no exception and it was a joy to be there representing the UK and to think (somewhat anxiously) about how to strengthen and build our membership and profile.

Michael Rosen was the Congress opening speaker and his presentation was, as always, both entertaining and challenging. I was sitting next to the IBBY Bookbird editor, from Indonesia now an academic in Sweden, who said that Michael is his favourite author and elaborated on a wonderful programme he had done with his students in Malmo and students in Columbia using Michael’s work. This completely embodies the IBBY spirit for me.

It was good to meet up with so many colleagues from around the world, particularly those from Africa where both Morocco and Ethiopia are new members and there is beginning to be a stronger focus. We had some good discussions about collaborations. It was also wonderful to hear the delight of the Hans Christian Andersen Award winners, Sydney Smith and Heinz Janisch, at receiving the award and to hear their analysis of their own careers. And indeed to meet the other IBBY award winners, reading promotion winners and members of the IBBY Executive.

Those of us from the UK have come back with some great new authors and illustrators to invite to our IBBY ‘Reading round the world’ zoom events and some good ideas for new projects, particularly the No Borders project working with refugees, and illustrator exhibitions.

The next congress will be in two years’ time in Ottawa, Canada, but in the meantime there is always the Bologna, Book Fair where IBBY has a big presence and this year the IBBY European section will be holding its biennial conference on 3 April 2025 on the theme ‘Books make a difference. Children’s right to read in challenging times’.

Why not make joining IBBY your New Year resolution?