International Board on Books for Young People

The International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) is a Swiss non-profit organization based in Zurich committed to bringing books and children together. The headquarters of the IBBY are located in Basel, Switzerland.

In 1952 Jella Lepman organized a meeting in Munich, Germany, called International Understanding through Children’s Books. Many authors, publishers, teachers and philosophers of the time attended the meeting and as a result a committee was appointed to create the International Board on Books for Young People – IBBY.

A year later in 1953, IBBY was registered as a non-profit organization in Zurich, Switzerland. The founding members included: Erich Kästner, Lisa Tetzner, Astrid Lindgren, Jo Tenfjord, Fritz Brunner, Bettina Hürlimann and Richard Bamberger. IBBY established an international award in 1956 and since then the Hans Christian Andersen Award has continued to be awarded every two years.

IBBY has six key aims:

IBBY was founded in Zurich, Switzerland in 1953. Today, it is composed of more than seventy National Sections all over the world, including IBBY Canada, IBBY Ireland, IBBY Australia, and the United States Board on Books for Young People (USBBY).

It represents countries with well-developed book publishing and literacy programmes, and other countries with only a few dedicated professionals who are doing pioneer work in children's book publishing and promotion.

IBBY's policies and programmes are determined by its Executive Committee: ten people from different countries and a President, elected biennially by the National Sections at a General Assembly during the IBBY Congresses. They work on a voluntary basis. The daily management of IBBY's affairs is conducted from its Secretariat in Basel, Switzerland.

The annual dues from the National Sections are IBBY's only source of regular income. Independent financing is necessary to support IBBY activities.

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