IBBY, Part Two

Last fall, delighted that IBBY would be so close, I bought airfare to Mexico City, before I saw the registration fees. I got a little sticker shock. $665 for the early-bird? But this is a different sort of conference. There's aren't add-ons, no ticketed events, many meals are provided, and frankly, the amenities justify conference registration fees. There is constant availability of coffee and tea (in ceramic mugs), snacks, bottled water as well as nicely branded bags and pens.

Also included is simultaneous translation. It's like the U.N.. You leave an ID and get a headset. The interpretation switches between English and Spanish depending on the language of the speaker. The distinction between interpreters reminded me of differences between translators.

This whole experience makes me cognizant we do things on a shoestring stateside. I'm guilty of it myself, planning a conference -- what can we cut? Who can we get to speak cheaply, or for little? It's our society, isn't it? I am suddenly feeling the small and false economies we relentlessly pursue in the market economy.

I've also become really aware of other countries' national engagement in reading promotion in general. The NYTimes piece about relative educational attainment seem aptly timed. I'm dogged by a persistent sense that the U.S. is behind is developing countries in particular posses this joy in education, in being an educated person, whereas we seem to have no real pride in culture, no shared culture, no interest in culture of other countries, just a ceaseless emphasis on work and satisfying the faceless corporate overlords. I think about the great library-building industrialist, Andrew Carnegie, and how he would have despised Thomas Friedman's column extolling the role of corporate mentor over educators' in shaping young people's successes, and our disappointingly offhand and cavalier president who doesn't seem to take anything seriously. I spent an unhappy night feeling down about this, but I'm returning today to be surrounded by optimists, to those whose believe in the abstract good, and that reading and education are part of that.

I used to feel very fortunate to be born where and when I was -- I'm still happy about when, but as I get older and see more distinctions between what has become American culture and that still existing elsewhere, I'm not so happy about where.

IBBY, Part One

The last international conference I attended, Forbidden Fruit in the U. K. in 2008, was very small, so I was surprised at the scale of the International Board on Books for Youn People biennial event. There are more than 500 elegates from 65 countries, including many Mexican nationals who are attending in conjunction with an effort to jump-start intensive reading promotion as part of extensive education reform.

We went to the National Library, a gorgeous space blending old and new, enclosing the colonial courtyard with a rather industrial ceiling, the darkening sky peeking out just between. Before dinner, we saw an exhibit about Jella Lipman and the founding of IBBY. It covered her personal history first as a pioneering editor, then her fleeing the Nazis, culminating in her work in rebuilding post-War German society. I hadn't thought about the rarity of pre-Reich twentieth century German children's literature -- much of it destroyed -- or the Reich-era literature, which Lipman was sure to include in her collection but designated for "adults only." The castle outside Munich which houses the collection she began is a place I now desperately want to go...

And I also learned about the role of German author Erich Kostner in founding IBBY, reminding me of the terrific book Lisa and Lotte (the basis for The Parent Trap), which in one of those wonderful coincidences, I possessed in an Apple paperback edition. Was it the first piece of translated literature I read? Perhaps. 

We had a lovely meal there, with cream of Camembert soup with raspberries a definite highlight. After dinner, we heard the Hans Christian Anderson award speeches -- Japanese fantasy author Nahoko Uehashi, cultural anthropologist by profession, who did Australian fieldwork on aboriginal storytelling. She spoke of "multicultural coexistence," a lovely way to embody the goals of the IBBY organization and its national affiliates. Then we heard from the amazing Brazilian illustrator Roger Mello, who was raised in utopian Brasilia, in an era when a book could get you "disappeared." Lots of food for thought already...

Books I Wish I Own But I Don’t

There’s a meme going around the biblioblogosphere...books you don’t own, but want. My contribution:

Books I Can't Afford:

Women are Beautiful (1975) by Garry Winogrand

I kept this book checked out for months from my college art library. So ‘70s, street style before it was a thing. Gorgeous, and prohibitively expensive.

The Girl From the Candle-Lit Bath (1978) by Dodie Smith

My public library had a horrifically ugly large print copy, but it disappeared, probably weeded. I haven’t seen a decent copy for an affordable price. I’m waiting on a re-issue. 

Exactitudes (2002) by Arie Versluis and Ellie Uyttenbroek

This is described as a typology of clothing presentation, as collected over time by a duo of Dutch photographers. Yes, I know these photos (and more) are available online, but something about having the physical book appeals. 

Zelda: An Illustrated Life: The Private World of Zelda Fitzgerald (1996) by Zelda Fitzgerald and Eleanor Anne Lanaham

I’ve never managed to get my hands on this one, with lots of her art, by Scott and Zelda’s granddaughter.

Books Where I Own a Different Edition

All Change (2013) by Elizabeth Jane Howard  

The publication of the fifth book was delayed, again and again. When it came it was enormous, a doorstop of a thing with the Mantle imprint. I held on to it, waiting until I need something especially comforting to read. Well, the Cazalets go bust and lose their home, so this wasn’t that. I’ll never find a version to match the rest of my Cazalet Chronicles (Washington Square Press), it doesn’t look like they are being re-issued.

The Provincial Lady in America (1934) by E.M. Delafield

I’d like a copy of this to match my other four Provincial Lady books. I have the Heinemann editions. There’s not a Heinemann edition of this one in WorldCat.

Waiting for the Price to Drop:

The Third Wife (2014) by Lisa Jewell

I’ve learned my lesson about paying $20 for a UK paperback, when the price will drop to pence within the year. Insult to injury, it was just 2 GBP for Kindle for weeks, but it’s not available digitally state-side.

Liberty British Colour Pattern: A Voyage of Discovery Through the Archives and Memorabilia of the Last Great Emporium for Innovative British Design (2013)

It’s a recent title, so I’m hopeful I’ll be able to find one for a little less.

Two Rizzoli titles from former Ralph Lauren stylist Mary Randolph Carter:

Never stop to think... do I have a place for this: how to make room for all the stuff that makes your home warm, happy, fun and one-of-a kind (2014)

A paen to collecting, or to clutter.

Perfectly Kept House is the Sign of A Misspent Life: How to live creatively with collections, clutter, work, kids, pets, art, etc... and stop worrying about everything being perfectly in its place. (2010)

How can you not love that title? 

  

Get festive!

It's the season for book festivals...

Labor Day weekend, the National Book Festival will be held, not on the National Mall as is traditional, but at the Convention Center. I'm curious to know how that goes. My can't-miss authors include: Raina Telgemeir, Jacqueline Woodson, Bryan Collier, Gene Luen Yang, Rita Williams-Garcia, Jack Gantos and Kate DiCamillo.

That same weekend, the AJC-Decatur Book Festival will transform the very walkable downtown of suburban Decatur. They've got Pat Conroy (who I'm just realizing I've never seen speak...), Emily Giffin, and Lev Grossman.

I have to go to visit in-laws over Labor Day, and we have another tripped plan for our fall break, so I won't make the Southern Festival of Books this time, either -- going last year was my first time, and a real treat. It doesn't look like they have their author list up yet, but it's October 10-12, in downtown Nashville on the Warm Memorial Plaza.

While I won't make these three of my favorites this year, it makes me happy just to know they're going on...bookish people, talking about books, together.

Tell me, what is SO exciting?

You may have seen these images which are making the rounds from Fast Company, "Is this the school library of the future?"

I, for one, am unimpressed.

I just see NO connection whatsoever between decorating and the quality of connection and student support in school library spaces.

The article offers scant little support for the assertion. So it has presentation equipment? How is that new? Ten years ago, I used to haul around a desktop on a cart and a digital project. I had a very log ethernet cable. Same result.

If "the school library didn't get a lot of use," I really don't see how that will change because of aesthetic improvements (if you can call it that -- this library will date SO quickly.) I put that on the school librarian entirely.

I believe that amazing things could very well have happened in the old space, with the right point-person.

Most of all, I have talked several times about how images of school libraries should always include students.  These don't. And I would rather see a closet filled with active and engaged students than some geometric shelving.

Don't drink the kool-aid, ya'll.