 In 1945 Jella Lepman, a Jewish journalist and author who had fled her native Germany, returned to help rebuild the country. Four years later she founded the International Youth Library in Munich as part of her effort to open the minds of young people everywhere by sharing the children’s books of the world. Today, on the seventy-fifth anniversary of the library, we are gathered to celebrate and continue her legacy. In these tense and divided times where nations clash, countries are splitting into hostile factions, and populist leaders seek to stoke xenophobia, her example is an antidote we all need. We come together to share some exciting ways librarians can bring international youth literature into their collections – and to be inspired by the dual Newbery-medalist Katherine Paterson, who is the author of the forthcoming middle grade biography, Jella Lepman and Her Library of Dreams (Handprint / Chronicle, 2024). The presentation includes Kathy Short who is a Regents professor in the College of Education at the University of Arizona, where she is Director of Worlds of Words: Center of Global Literacies and Literatures (wowlit.org). Marc Aronson (Rutgers University), Annette Goldsmith (Kent State), and David Jacobson (independent scholar researching an adult biography of Lepman) will present the ALA Carnegie-Whitney Grant-funded website “Building a Global Youth Literature Collection 101” that will allow any youth services librarian to find, explore, and share selected translated books from other countries (globalyouthlit.org). We hope to provide both concrete resources for librarians and, through Katherine, the living, inspiring, legacy of Jella Lepman. This event is co-sponsored with the American Library Association's three youth services divisions, the Association for Library Services for Children, the American Association of School Librarians, and the Young Adult Library Services Association. Saturday, June 29, 2024 1:00pm – 2:00pm Pacific
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