KEEP THE CONVERSATION GOING AT ALA

ALA Annual Conference attendees can attend
Read Around the World: Innovative International Publishing in the US

Four distinguished, award-winning publishers with roots in Nigeria, The UK, New Zealand and Iran will engage in conversation about their varied publishing philosophies.  We’ll explore the challenges and benefits of publishing International Children’s Books in the United States.

Moderator: Caroline Ward, ALA Representative to the USBBY Board               
Panelists:                                                                                                                   
Bibi Bakare-Yusuf, Publishing Director, Cassava Republic Press                                             
Dr Alice Curry, Founder & CEO, Lantana Publishing                                                    
Delaram Ghanimifard, Publisher, Tiny Owl                                                                           
Julia Marshall, Publisher, Gecko Press  

The program will be available for "on demand" viewing throughout the virtual conference for all registered participants.    

Caroline Ward, Moderator.  Caroline is a Youth Literature Consultant with more than 40 years’ experience in public library service to children.  She is the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC)/ALA representative on the USBBY Board.
 
Bibi Bakare-Yusuf   Bibi is co-founder and publishing director of Cassava Republic Press.  She has worked as a research and gender consultant as well as in academia.  She sits on the editorial board of a number of influential journals. Bibi is also a Yale World Fellow, a Desmond Tutu Fellow and a Frankfurt Book Fair Fellow.  She is Chair of The Initiative for Equal Rights, the largest organization in West Africa devoted to LGBT advocacy.  Cassava Republic Press was founded in Abuja, Nigeria in 2006 with the aim of bringing high quality fiction and non-fiction for adults and children alike to a global audience. 
 
Dr Alice Curry. Alice is the founder and CEO of Lantana, an award-winning children’s publishing house and social enterprise with a mission to see all children reflected in the books they read. A former lecturer, Alice holds a PhD in children’s literature, has published regularly in international journals, and is a frequent keynote speaker at conferences across Europe. Passionate about entrepreneurship in publishing, Alice is committed to widening access to inclusive children's books by authors from under-represented groups and to minimizing Lantana's carbon footprint. Alice was the 2017 winner of the Kim Scott Walwyn Prize for women in publishing.   

Delaram Ghanimifard, Publisher, Tiny Owl  Delaram Ghanimifard, co-founder of Tiny Owl, was born in Iran and moved to the UK in 2010 with her husband Karim and their two sons to work on her PhD in sociology; however, in 2012 she ended up starting a children's book publishing company. Her 9 year-old son was learning English and needed books that he could relate to, but she couldn't find many diverse inclusive books.  It was this need for diverse books that inspired her to start publishing  books that represented their children and connected them culturally to their school friends so she and her  husband started Tiny Owl. Their first books came out in 2015 and were translations from Persian. As they grew they embraced an increasingly more global approach; they now publish inspiring books that celebrate diverse, inclusive stories for all children.                                                                                                     

Julia Marshall.  Julia is the founder and publisher of Gecko Press, international publishers of curiously good children’s books from around the world since 2004. Gecko Press books are sold in New Zealand, Australia, the UK and the USA. Julia also translates children’s books from Swedish to English. Gecko Press was awarded New Zealand Publisher of the Year in 2017 and the Margaret Mahy Award 2021 for a lifetime contribution to children's publishing in New Zealand. She is currently President of the Publishers Association of New Zealand Te Rau o Tākupu.