Philology would be a lot poorer without children’s literature. To remind us about its significance, the International Children’s Book Day has been celebrated around the globe since 1967. This event was conceived and is still organised by the International Board on Books for Young People. For 26 years, Kęstutis Urba, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Philology, was the head of the Board’s Lithuanian chapter. Late last year, Inga Mitunevičiūtė, a graduate of the Faculty’s Russian studies, assumed this position.
The International Children’s Book Day is celebrated on the birthday of Hans Christian Andersen, 2 April. Traditionally, a poster and an address to both adolescent and adult readers is published to commemorate this occasion. In 2019, this honour was bestowed on the Lithuanian chapter of IBBY. Kęstutis Kasparavičius, a renowned children’s literature author and Deimantė Rybakovienė designed the poster.
The poster and booklets with the address were translated into official IBBY languages—English, German, French, and Spanish—and distributed in more than 80 countries. The booklet also contains concise information about Lithuania, which will help millions of children and adults worldwide to learn about our country for the first time.
Most IBBY chapters issue the address in English, and the Secretariat of IBBY organises its translation into other languages. Associate Professor Kęstutis Urba organised the translation of the address from Lithuanian into the four official IBBY languages in Lithuania. The translators Daina Valentinavičienė, Carmen Caro Dugo, Liucija Černiuvienė and Lina Plaušainytė are members of the Faculty, and they provided high quality translations of this brief, but very significant address. The Lithuanian chapter of IBBY and the Faculty are grateful to the translators and to everybody who contributed to the poster and the address.
The poster and the address were published in IBBY’s international journal Bookbird. Click here to view the booklet.