IBBY Ireland held a symposium recently on the theme of children’s books in wartime. The symposium was dedicated to the memory of our dear deceased founding member Michael O’Brien and our honoured friend Sue Miller, who died while serving on the board of IBBY Ireland.

Among the speakers was Liz Page, until recently executive director of IBBY, who was invited to speak about the work of IBBY worldwide, especially in the face and aftermath of war. We were very glad to have Liz with us, because we had decided to award her the IBBY Ireland Honour 2024. IBBY Ireland has long admired Liz, and we like to believe that Liz reciprocates.

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Citation by Dr Siobhán Parkinson on behalf of the board of IBBY Ireland

I am delighted to commend the recipient of the IBBY Ireland Award 2024 to all friends of IBBY Ireland, and indeed of IBBY worldwide. It is impossible to think of anyone so deserving of this honour, for our awardee has worked tirelessly on behalf of IBBY over almost three decades.

As IBBY people know, working on IBBY’s behalf means working on behalf of children, especially children caught up in war, famine, disaster, displacement and poverty, bringing into their lives, however stricken, the joy of the imaginative life that is the gift of children’s books. It also means working hard to realise Jella Lepman’s dream of building peace through children’s literature. Not only is our awardee deeply committed to the work of IBBY worldwide, but she also has a warm relationship with IBBY Ireland, and is a consistent visitor to this country to participate in IBBY  Ireland events.

Liz Page, self-confessed ‘camp-follower’ from Birmingham to Basel; long-time-ago English books specialist with the Interkulturelle Bibliothek für Kinder und Jugendliche in your adopted city of Basel; over many years patient and tolerant right-hand woman to a range of high-profile IBBY leaders, from the legendary Helene Schar and Leena Meissen to Patsy Aldana and Peter Schneck; ‘probably’ the most widely travelled person on the planet; until recently executive director of IBBY worldwide from the mothership in Basel; chair of the 2024 Hans Christian Andersen medal jury; constant support and confidante of so many of us who are committed to IBBY; passionate, engaged, knowledgeable, experienced, cheerful hub of the fantastically fast-spinning wheel that is IBBY’s international work; Englishwoman, Swisswoman and citizen of the world, it is my inexpressible honour to confer, on behalf of IBBY Ireland, this honour on you, my old friend and long-time friend of IBBY Ireland.

Dr Siobhán Parkinson and Dr Patrick Ryan present Liz with charcoal drawing by PJ Lynch

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After that joyful  moment, the symposium opened with the keynote annual lecture, delivered on this occasion by Professor Andrew Pettegree of Saint Andrews University (in Scotland), which began with an account of Alison Uttley’s (1942) Hare Joins the Home Guard and went on to examine how war was represented in books and magazines for children in Britain around the time of

World War II, and also how children’s literature was used to promote NAZI ideology in Germany. There were depressing parallels to our own war-plagued times.

Click here to listen to Andrew Pettegree’s presentation

Professor Andrew Pettegree

 

On the following morning, picking up on the theme of World War II and its aftermath, Valerie Coghlan (President of Bookbird Inc) gave us a fascinating account of Jella Lepman’s life and work and the founding of IBBY. Valerie’s presentation led seamlessly into Liz Page’s overview of some of IBBY’s work internationally with children caught up in adult conflic

Valerie Coghlan

                                                                                                                                                              

 

In the afternoon, we had two extraordinary and very different presentations on Ireland’s great mythic warrior hero Cú Chulainn, from Dr Becky Long and Professor Alan Titley, with an emphasis on the hero as child warrior (Becky) and on the subject of violence in a mythic story retold for young readers (Alan).                                                                              

 

 

Dr Becky Long                                                                                                                                                                                                      Professor Alan Titley

 

Many thanks to Dublin City University for their generous support of this symposium and, as always, to the Arts Council of Ireland for ongoing financial support of IBBY Ireland.