Monica Edinger's Blog, page 75

IBBY Congress Day Three

The day began (for me as there was an early bird session I didn’t attend) with the one and only Shan Tan. He spoke about critical literacy, how feelings and ideas go hand in hand in good art. “Don’t try to figure out what the author/illustrator was trying to do. It is irrelevant.” Shan feels strongly that the reader/viewer is the decider, not the artist and doesn’t expect viewers to know his references. He just wants readers to have an emotional response, whatever one is the correct one for t...

IBBY Congress Day Two

The day opened with a talk on “Why Translate Children’s Books?” byEmer O’Sullivanfollowed by a conversation about translation between two writers,Bart MoeyaertandAidan Chambers. Said Aiden, “Translation is a political act.”

I went to a session on historical representation (not a surprise to anyone who knows my interests:) which began with a very interesting talk by Patricia Kennon, “The American Girl Franchise: Historical Fiction and Imagining the American Past.” She was followed by Chris Crow...

More on the Broadway Chaplin Musical

I’m in England, but if I were home in New York today I would have taken up an invitation by the folks doing the new Chaplin musical to attend a brunch and then the matinée for the show. Instead, as soon as I get home I plan to see it. Meantime, here’s something from the guy who is playing Charlie.

IBBY Congress Day One

The IBBY International Congress was fantastic and unlike anything I have done before. Because of my lifelong interest in international issues I have long been a member of USBBYand attended their events at NCTE and ALA, but this was my first international conference with its parent organization, IBBY. The Congress was perfectly located at theImperial Collegejust steps from Hyde Park and the Victorian & Albert. People really were from everywhere; it was the most international conference I have...

Bunnies and Butties

The IBBY Congress offered several pre and post tours and I was delighted to see one for the Lake District, long a place I’d wanted to visit for all its literary sites. The group was also an attraction as it was full of children’s literature enthusiasts from all over the world: US, UK, Australia, Thailand, Japan, Russia, and Finland.

On the first day we headed up to Windermereand took a boat ride across to Ambleside, a pleasant little village. The next day we went to Coniston and visited the ec...

London Day Two: Dennis Severs and Matilda

On my second day in London which was still hot and a bit more…er..humid I did two things I had wanted to do for ages.

First of all I headed toSpitalfields for Dennis Severs House. It was a Sunday and I was surprised at the crowds coming out of Liverpool Station until I realized that they were all headed to the Petticoat Lane Market, somewhere I’d been too many years ago. (At the time I picked up what I thought was a lovely heavy sweater which my British relatives thought horrid. My sister, I b...

London Day Two: Dennis Sever and Matilda

On my second day in London which was still hot and a bit more…er..humid I did two things I had wanted to do for ages.

First of all I headed toSpitalfields for Dennis Severs House. It was a Sunday and I was surprised at the crowds coming out of Liverpool Station until I realized that they were all headed to the Petticoat Lane Market, somewhere I’d been too many years ago. (At the time I picked up what I thought was a lovely heavy sweater which my British relatives thought horrid. My sister, I b...

Long Sweltering London Day

I think the heat just knows how much I hate it and follows me everywhere I go, in this case across the Atlantic to London. Ah well, at least the humidity stayed home and, besides, this warmth is making the folks here very happy indeed.

So arrived early yesterday, dropped off my luggage at my hotel near the Imperial College (where I will be in a few days for the IBBY conference) and strode off to Hyde Park. There I saw a huge sports thing being disassembled (enormous ramps et al) and excitedly...

England Bound

I’m heading across the pond today. I don’t promise, but will try to blog while over there. Some of my plans:

Seeing the musical version of Roald Dahl’s Matilda which Ifirst wrote about in December 2010 when it was first staged at Stratford. It moved to the West End where I will be seeing it and then will be opening on Broadway this coming spring.
Going on a short jaunt to the Lake District with a chance to see Beatrix Potter’s farm among other places of literary greatness.
Attending IBBY’s Inter...

Remy Charlip

Remy Charlip has died. I knew him best for the one-of-a-kind brilliant Fortunately, but he also was a dancer, co-founder of the delightful children’s theater company The Paper Bag Players, and the model for Georges Méliès in Brian Selznick’s Hugo Cabret. In his Caldcott Acceptance Speech Brian spoke about him at length and links to this essay(and has this page all about him on his Hugo site).I was privileged to be on hand for that speech (as it was the year I was on the Newbery Committee and...