IBBY

IBBY
Name	International Board on Books for Young People
Formation	1953
Type	Non-governmental organization
Status	International non-profit
Headquarters	Basel, Switzerland
Location	International
Leader title	President

IBBY

The International Board on Books for Young People is a global non-profit organization promoting children's literature through collaboration among libraries, publishers, schools, museums, and cultural institutions. Founded in the early 1950s, it connects authors, illustrators, translators, educators, and policymakers across continents to improve access to quality picture books, novels, and storytelling traditions. The organization engages with international prize systems, festivals, and cultural preservation efforts to advocate for diverse voices in juvenile literature.

History

IBBY was founded in 1953 amid post-World War II cultural rebuilding, influenced by figures active in networks surrounding UNESCO, Sierra Leone, Switzerland, France, and United Kingdom. Early supporters included librarians and publishers connected to institutions like British Library, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Swiss National Library, Royal Society of Literature, and International Youth Library. Through the Cold War era, IBBY maintained contacts with practitioners in United States, Soviet Union, East Germany, Poland, and Czechoslovakia, engaging with authors associated with Hans Christian Andersen and illustrators in the tradition of Beatrix Potter and E.H. Shepard. In the late 20th century, IBBY expanded networks to include activists in Nigeria, India, China, Brazil, and South Africa, participating alongside NGOs and cultural bodies such as UNICEF, Save the Children, World Health Organization, and regional literary festivals like Hay Festival, Edinburgh International Book Festival, and Bologna Children's Book Fair.

Mission and Objectives

IBBY's mission is to promote international understanding through children's books and to support access to high-quality literature for young readers. Objectives have included fostering cooperation between national organizations like American Library Association, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Istituto Centrale per il Catalogo Unico, Canadian Library Association, and Australian Library and Information Association; supporting authors linked to associations such as Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators; and advocating with cultural bodies including European Commission and Council of Europe. The organization emphasizes translation initiatives involving publishers like Penguin Books, HarperCollins, and Scholastic Corporation and preservation projects with archives such as Library of Congress and National Library of China.

Structure and Membership

IBBY is organized through an international board, national sections, and volunteer committees integrating professionals from entities like International Youth Library, National Council of Teachers of English, International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, International Board on Books for Young People Argentina, and national cultural ministries including Ministry of Culture (France), Federal Office of Culture (Switzerland), and Ministry of Education (Japan). Membership encompasses authors represented by J.K. Rowling, Roald Dahl, Maurice Sendak, and Quentin Blake; illustrators akin to Eric Carle and Kay Nielsen; translators associated with specialists in works by Gabriel García Márquez, Chinua Achebe, Astrid Lindgren, and Tove Jansson; and institutions from cities hosting major libraries like New York Public Library, Biblioteca Nacional de España, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, and National Library of Australia.

Programs and Activities

IBBY convenes international congresses, congresses on illustration, and collaborates with festivals such as Bologna Children's Book Fair, Frankfurt Book Fair, Salon du livre de Paris, and Taipei International Book Exhibition. Programs include translation grants supporting works by authors like Elsa Morante, Clarice Lispector, Haruki Murakami, and Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o; literacy campaigns partnered with UNICEF and World Literacy Foundation; and emergency book drives coordinated alongside Red Cross and Médecins Sans Frontières for crises similar to events in Syria, Haiti, Nepal, and Ukraine. Educational workshops link to curricula from institutions such as University of Oxford, Harvard University, University of Tokyo, and University of Cape Town. Digital initiatives intersect with platforms run by Google Books, International Publishers Association, Electronic Frontier Foundation, and university presses like Oxford University Press.

Awards and Recognitions

IBBY administers or endorses honors and compendia that elevate creators and translators, paralleling awards like the Hans Christian Andersen Award, Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, Carnegie Medal (literary award), Newbery Medal, and regional prizes such as Premio Andersen, Kate Greenaway Medal, Noma Prize, and Primavera de los Libros. The organization compiles lists and delivers acknowledgments akin to the IBBY Honour List and partners with national awards bodies including Canada Council for the Arts, Arts Council England, Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis, and Council for Cultural Affairs (Taiwan). Honorary recognitions have spotlighted creators connected to C.S. Lewis, Lewis Carroll, A.A. Milne, Shel Silverstein, and Michael Rosen.

Publications and Resources

IBBY produces newsletters, catalogues, and thematic bibliographies distributed to libraries and cultural centers such as International Youth Library, National Library of Scotland, Biblioteca Nacional de Chile, and Biblioteca Nacional de México. Publications include curated lists of outstanding books that reference works by Roald Dahl, Astrid Lindgren, Maurice Sendak, Tove Jansson, and Katherine Paterson; research reports produced in collaboration with universities like Columbia University, University of Toronto, University of Melbourne, and Heidelberg University; and digital archives interoperable with repositories like Europeana, HathiTrust, and Digital Public Library of America. Resource guides address translation policy, copyright topics involving World Intellectual Property Organization and publishing practices of houses like Random House.

Regional and National Sections

IBBY operates through national sections and regional groupings across continents, collaborating with organizations such as Children's Book Council (Australia), Children's Book Council (United States), Fédération Internationale des Traducteurs, Association of Children's Authors and Illustrators (India), and national libraries in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Israel, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Colombia, Mexico, Costa Rica, Cuba, Brazil, South Africa, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Nigeria, Ghana, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, China, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Australia, and New Zealand to run local projects, reading campaigns, and translation networks.

Category:International non-governmental organizations Category:Children's literature organizations