Languages in Europe

Children reading in a multilingual environment

The IBBY European Regional Conference 2019 was held on 4 April 2019 at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair.

The programme of the conference can be downloaded here.

IBBY Sweden presented a poster during the conference on "The Official Minority Languages of Sweden".

Welcome – Elena Pasoli, Exhibition Manager, Bologna Children’s Book Fair

Roberto Piumini's speech in Italian - in English

IBBY President’s speech of welcome – Mingzhou Zhang, IBBY President

From Bi/multilingualism to Bi/multiliteracy: why should children read books in different languages – Dr Christine Hélot, University of Strasbourg, France

Brilliant brains: neuroscience evidence for holistic understandings of reading development in multilingual settings – Professor Carole Bloch, PRAESA, South Africa

Universal alphabet project (in English and French)– Marion Bataille, author and illustrator, France

Experiences

• Basque Children's Literature: difficulties and formulas to develop children’s literature in minority languages  – Amaia Hennebutte, Galtzagorri Association, Spain
• Mamma Lingua (Mother Tongue). Books to Read in One's Own Language – Giovanna Malgaroli, Nati per Leggere (Born to Read), Italy
• 'Discovery bags’ of children's books in foreign languages – Myriam Jeanne and Aïcha Marok, Public library of Châlons-en-Champagne, France

Languages and Storytelling – Leila Garsi, Enrica Menarbin, Antonella Saracino, Biblioteca Salaborsa Ragazzi, Italy

Publishing, distributing,…

• The Kalimat Foundation for Children’s Empowerment – Amna Al Mazmi, Kalimat Foundation, United Arab Emirates
• Mantralingua, international publisher of multilingual books – Mishti Chatterji, UK
• Kommt ein Boot - Comes a boat - 1 lyric, 11 pictures, and 22 languages –  Sabine Fuchs, University College of Teacher Education in Graz/Styria, Austria
• Reading Promotion in Latvia as an Integration Project for National Minority Schools and Latvian Diaspora Centres – Silvija Tretjakova, Latvia National Library

Resources

• Examples of European resources – Eva Devos, IBBY Belgium, Flemish branch
• Rhymes everywhere – multilingual access to a rich cultural heritage – Barbara Jakob, Swiss Institute for Children’s and Youth Media SIKJM
• The Anthology of the Contemporary Children’s Literature of the Peoples of Russia – Denis Beznosov, publisher
   

Discussion groups and informal reports

Ways forward – Hasmig Chahinian, IBBY France and Pam Dix, IBBY UK.