Crossing Boundaries

London – a city of many cultures – provided the early inspiration for the theme of this congress.  Within this one vibrant city, communities from Asia, Eastern Europe, Africa, the Middle East, China, Greece and Latin America have made their home.  And so it is in cities and countries all over the world.  People and cultures migrate, travel and resettle and with them go their stories.  The old traditional stories that have been passed down from generation to generation, as well as the new stories that they have created on their journeys. 

In the 2012 congress, we explored how books and stories for children and young people can cross boundaries and migrate across different countries and cultures. The congress looked at issues such globalisation, dual-language texts, cultural exchange and the art of translation and explored how literature for children migrates and translates in all its forms.

Programme Content

The congress programme included plenary sessions with keynote speakers and a variety of seminars and workshops exploring different facets of the main congress theme. In addition, the congress played host to the IBBY General Assembly and to the presentation of the IBBY Honour List, the IBBY Asahi Reading Promotion Award and the Hans Christian Andersen Awards. There was also the opportunity to meet colleagues at professional meetings.  The official congress language was English. A simultaneous translation service was provided into Spanish wherever possible.

Pre- and POST- Congress Tours

Pre- and post- Congress tours were provided by our partners GTI tours. These ranged from half day to three day tours taking in sites of special interest to our delegates as well as general interest tours.