The UAEBBY Celebrates International Children’s Book Day with Great Fanfare

Coinciding with the birthday of Hans Christian Andersen, a famous author known for many children's stories including The Ugly Duckling and The Princess and the Pea, the International Children's Book Day (ICBD) is an annual event celebrated around the globe to inspire a love of reading and to call attention to children's books, sponsored by the international non-profit, International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY).

The UAE Board on Books for Young People (UAEBBY), the UAE’s national section of IBBY, was one of the organisations in the UAE to host the world’s premier celebration of children’s literature with a set of innovative activities and workshops for children to bring them closer to books and reading yesterday (Monday).

They organised a fun storytelling session in collaboration with the popular Fairytales Centre in Dubai, followed by creative crafts workshops where children were engaged in making several reading accessories like book marks, etc.

The UAEBBY also extended the ICBD celebrations to various cultural organisations via their social media channels, encouraging them to share posts of the ways they celebrated this important day with the hashtag #International_Children's_Book_Day.  

Meera Al Naqbi, Manager of “Read, Dream, Create,” campaign, a UAEBBY initiative, said: “Good children’s literature shares the role of parents, teachers and schools in nourishing and developing a child’s intellect, attitude and their view of the world. A celebration like the International Children’s Book Day helps us reaffirm this and come together as a global community in enriching the lives of future generations by trying to shape their minds by igniting their curiosity to know more about the world through the vast window of books.

“As a national section of IBBY, we strive to promote any endeavour that tries to inspire a love for reading among the youth. ICBD holds a special place in our hearts not only because it was born out of the IBBY, but because it is the most important global event that calls attention to children’s books throughout the world and inspire young people to read.”

Fatima Al Madani, Co-Founder of Fairytales Dubai, which rolled out the ICBD activities with the UAEBBY as part of their corporate social responsibility initiatives, said: "Our whole enterprise is dedicated to developing children's interests and talents in the most imaginative ways. We were excited at the opportunity to collaborate with the UAEBBY for this wonderful celebration dedicated to inspire children to broaden their horizons with the knowledge and experiences contained within books. We added the element of 'creative play' in the day's activities as it has proven abilities in shaping successful young personalities with enhanced problem-solving skills. We look forward to more successful collaborations with the UAEBBY in future."

Each year a different National Section of IBBY has the opportunity to be the international sponsor of ICBD. The Latvian section was chosen as the sponsor this year, and created its ICBD message, ‘The Small is Big in a Book’ and an illustration based on it. The message was contributed by the prominent Latvian writer Inese Zandere, and the poster is created by a well-known Latvian illustrator and animation film artist Reinis Pētersons.

Through their beautiful ICBD 2018 message, the Latvian section of IBBY that has been in existence for 25 years, coveys to the world is: “The word “small” is a relative concept. With courage, belief in our ideals, foresight, perseverance and the power of talent we make our literature and the art of books significant and meaningful.”

Food for thought…

The UAE Board on Books for Young People (UAEBBY) is the local branch of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) that was founded in  2010 upon an initiative by Sheikha Bodour bint Sultan Al Qasimi to encourage publishing and distributing high quality Arabic children’s books. UAEBBY aims to provide publishers, authors and illustrators as well as publishing houses, with opportunities to network and share expertise with other professionals in the book industry and help them build their capacity.