New issue of Nordisk Blad published

The latest issue of Nordisk blad, published jointly by the Nordic IBBY sections, is out.

Due to financial crisis it is only published electronically this time and has been put up on the IBBY Iceland website, www.ibby.is. The theme is ghosts and the supernatural in Nordic Childrens literature. All articles are written in one of the Nordic languages but each one is followed by a summary in English. The editor of this issue is Dr. Anna Heida Palsdottir, board member of IBBY Iceland. The illustration on the cover is by Halldor Baldursson, one of Iceland´s best illustrators.

IBBY Iceland was founded in 1985 by a group of librarians and other friends of children´s literature. It is a membership-based organization, with approximately 240 members, half of them private and the other half mainly public and school libraries. Although IBBY Iceland does have its own office, the board members meet once a month in the house of the Writer´s Union of Iceland.

IBBY Iceland publishes the biannual magazine, Born og menning (Children and Culture), which is the only magazine of its kind in Iceland that is written by experts on children´s literature and other aspects of children´s culture.

Together with the other Nordic Sections, IBBY Iceland annually publishes Nordic Blad (Nordic Magazine). The Nordic Sections also meet once every year.

IBBY Iceland annually presents the Vorvindar award for outstanding work in the field of children´s books and/or cultural activities especially aimed at children. The section also participates in conferences and book meetings every year.

In 2005 IBBY Iceland organized a reading promotion project with financial support from both governmental and private sources. A large, full-colour calendar was produced with pictures from Icelandic picture books and was presented to over 1200 play-schools across the country in order to stimulate interest in books and reading by teachers, parents and children alike.

Publications in co-operation with the Edda publishing house:

Ormagull (1994); stories based on Icelandic folk lore

Auga Óðins / Odin´s Eye (2004); stories based on Norse mythology

To be published in April 2006; more stories based on Norse mythology