Marit Törnqvist wint IBBY-prijs

Toch even vermelden, want dit is een bekroning die de Nederlandstalige pers zelden of nooit haalt en toch van enig belang is. Marit Törnqvist is een van de winnaars van de IBBY-iRead Outstanding Reading Promoter Award. Dat werd op 4 mei bekendgemaakt tijdens een online persconferentie van de International Bord on Books for Young people, zoals IBBY voluit heet.
En wel hierom:

She has developed reading programmes for children that focus not only the story, but also on the experience of reading itself. Her readingaloud activities strive to create a warm and joyful atmosphere that make children want to come back for more and inspire them to pick up a book and read. She encourages children to identify with the stories that they read, leading them to narrate their own stories and holds reading and illustrating activities with groups of children from different countries, resulting in a closer understanding of each other’s life and culture. She also conducts bibliotherapy programmes for children living in difficult circumstances, often helping them to face the grim realities of life by encouraging them to express their own stories.
She started a programme that provides books for refugee children in their own language so that they can read their own stories as a first step towards accepting the culture of their new home. In Iran, she has contributed, both professionally and personally, to giving support to street children, children from disadvantaged neighbourhoods, refugees and victims of natural disasters. Törnqvist’s work reaches children as well as families, caregivers and people working with children at home and around the world. She is a towering personality in reading promotion for children of the world.

Waarvan akte.
Hier een opname van de betreffende persconferentie. Hier meer over deze prijs.
Marit Törnqvist deelde de prijs met de Chinese docent en onderzoeker Zhu Yongxin.

De jury bestond uit Anastasia Arkhipova (Rusland), Carole Bloch (Zuid-Afrika), Sophie Hallam (Groot-Brittannië), Basarat Kazim (Pakistan), Ahmad Redza Khairuddin (Maleisië, voorzitter) en Nora Lía Sormani (Argentinië).
IBBY hoopte de winnaars bijeen te brengen op de aanstaande conferentie in Moskou, in september dit jaar, maar helaas:

It is with great sadness that we must announce that the 37th IBBY World Congress due to be held in Moscow, 5-7 September 2020 has been postponed. Unfortunately, the coronavirus pandemic has made it impossible to continue with the current dates. Therefore, the Congress has been postponed until September 2021. 


 
Marit Törnqvist.

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