BOOKS IN ACTION - LITERACY ACTIVITIES AND COLLABORATIONS AROUND THE WORLD

International Illustration Showcases
One of the features of the Regional Conference is the effort to encourage more representation of and participation by U.S. illustrators throughout international illustration showcases and competitions. USBBY 8-person Illustration Committee collects information about these competitions, like the Bologna Book Fair and the Nami Island Concours, in order to be able to post the information encourage and facilitate applications from U.S. illustrators. USBBY’s own Brenda Dales was in Bratislava for the Biennial of Illustration 2019 Awards, which ran concurrently with our Regional Conference, to foster these efforts, as well. 

Speaking of illustation, it’s thrilling and encouraging to see that so many titles on the 2019 New York Times/New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children’s Books list all have international roots, connections, accolades or feature friends of USBBY, (like Regional Conference guest, Christian Robinson.)

ILA’s Children’s Rights to Read
In 2018, the International Literacy Association (ILA) launched a new initiative aimed at ensuring that every child has access to the education, opportunities, and resources needed to read. Children’s Rights to Read—and its 10 fundamental rights—frames reading as an equity and social justice issue. ​

​USBBY members were invited to participate in finding young people throughout their communities who would be able to translate and read the rights for a video which ILA premiered at its annual conference in early October of 2019. View the resulting video here.