Culture & Education | Tuesday 23 August, 2016 6:15 am |

The UAE Board on Books for Young People (UAEBBY), the national branch of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY), has concluded its participation at the 35th edition of the IBBY International Congress and General Assembly, which took place in Auckland, New Zealand.

 

Held this year under the theme ‘Literature in a Multi-Literate World,’ the congress is a biennial conference to outline the international network’s plans for the forthcoming years. It functions to bring together members from its national sections to discuss the challenges and opportunities available across regional domains.

 

Marwa Obaid Al Aqroubi, President of the UAEBBY Executive Board, headed the Congress’s UAE delegation, which included Meera Al Naqbi, the UAEBBY’s General Coordinator and Joshua Dunning, Executive of its International Projects. The UAEBBY also sponsored the participation of Emirati author and illustrator Maitha Al Khayyat and Professor Osayimwense Osa, lecturer at the American University of Ras Al Khaimah.

 

“The UAE Board on Books for Young People is delighted to continue its policy of sponsoring leaders in the UAE’s literature field, with the most recent example seeing the organisation providing for Maitha Al Khayat and Professor Osayimwense Osa to participate at the IBBY International Congress. The opportunity allowed both to present their research and act as illustrious representatives of the UAE’s vibrant literary sector,” said Marwa Obaid Al Aqroubi, President of the UAEBBY Executive Board.

 

During the four-day congress, the UAEEBY delegation held talks with an elite group of professionals and experts in children’s literature from around the world. The representatives highlighted the efforts made by the UAE to support children’s books and to promote reading in the UAE and beyond through its initiatives and activities conducted in collaboration with various bodies.

 

Al Aqroubi moderates ‘Landscape in Literature’

Day one of the Congress saw Marwa Al Aqroubi moderate a seminar session titled, ‘Landscape in Literature’. Speaking at the platform was Dr. Veronika Rot Gabrovec from Slovenia, who presented ‘Places And People: To Be Virtuous Or Virtual, Is That A Question?’; Associate Professor Sachie Asaka from Japan, whose talk was titled ‘“Youkai”, Supernatural Beings as Friends in Children’s Books and Other Media’; Associate Professor Anna Jackson from New Zealand who spoke on ‘The Gothic in an Oceanic Context’ and Mrs. Catherine Mayo, also from New Zealand, who discussed ‘A Reader’s Odyssey: Parallel Journeys on the Far Side of the World’. 

 

Author Maitha Al Khayyat participated at the Congress in her capacity as a board member of the UAEBBY, giving a presentation titled ‘E-Books and Print Books: Which attracts Young Readers?’ while Professor Osa, for his turn, gave a talk on reading promotion in the UAE.

 

“The UAEBBY’s decision to sponsor both Maitha Al Khayyat and Professor Osa comes as part of its strategy to ensure the UAE’s representation at the most important events on the IBBY’s agenda and to strengthen its cultural presence among members. The UAEBBY delegation fully utilised the opportunity it provided to make participants aware of the UAE’s drive to increase the engagement of young people with books, enhance their critical thinking abilities and to foster a culture of reading for all,” added Al Aqroubi.

 

The UAEBBY is the national branch of the IBBY, a non-profit organisation that represents an international network of institutions and who are committed to bringing together children and books. The IBBY strives to promote global awareness through children’s books, give young people access to reading material with high literary and artistic standards, and provide support and training to authors and illustrators who are interested in children’s literature.