The 36th International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) Congress was take placed in Athens – UNESCO World Book Capital 2018. IBBY’s biennial international congresses bring together IBBY members and other people involved in children’s books and reading development from all over the world. The congresses are excellent occasions to make contacts, exchange ideas and open horizons.
Today, IBBY’s mission – more urgent than ever before – becomes the vehicle for studying the way stories and fairy tales mix, mingle and interact through different peoples’ visions. Understanding and good will among peoples, as well as equal opportunities for all children in the world can be attained only when books offer a bridge between different peoples and civilizations. This is the only way for the word “ξένος” (foreigner) to acquire its initial meaning again.
The theme of the 36th IBBY Congress was “Where the East and the West Meet”. The country of Greece is where the three continents of Asia, Europe and Africa are linked with different cultures. The 36th Congress also addresses the role of children’s literature in linking East and West cultures. Roya Maktabifard was invited as one of the main speakers with the article “Two Women, Two Climates and One Ideal: Yela Lipman and Turan Mirhadi”.
The Spring of Ishraq with the article “The Little Prince’s Footprints in Iran’s National Childrens Literature and Hamid Peymani, and delneshin danaei with the article “The Perspective of Publishers of the Book on the Copyright in Iran” were also attended by the The 36th International Board on Books for Young People.
Soodabeh Nozari and Mitra Samiei (two other Iranian researchers) also presented their poster entitled “The Perspective of the Iranian Child and Adolescents to the World: A Report of a Thirty-Eight Year Project in Iran”.
