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“Silent Books, from the world to Lampedusa and back” is the title of an exhibition that will take place at Tralee Library from June 2 to June 30.
It consists of over 100 recent, wordless picture books from around the world, from Mexico to the U.S. via Denmark, Iran and beyond.
The exhibition will be officially launched at 10.00am on Friday, June 2 by Cllr. Michael O’Shea, Cathaoirleach, Kerry County Council, followed at 10.30am by a workshop titled ‘Nation Creation, invent your own country’ for primary school pupils to be delivered by children’s author, Debbie Thomas.
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The exhibition project was developed in 2012 by IBBY (the International Board on Books for Young People) in response to the arrival of refugees from Africa and the Middle East on the Italian island of Lampedusa. It involved firstly creating a library on Lampedusa for the use of local and immigrant children.
The second part of the project created a collection of silent books (wordless picture books) that could be understood and enjoyed by children regardless of language. These books were collected worldwide, over one hundred titles from over twenty countries.
One set of books was deposited at the documentation and research archive in Rome, another was delivered to the library in Lampedusa and a further set was part of a travelling exhibition.
Speaking ahead of the launch, Kerry County Librarian, Tommy O’Connor, noted that Tralee Library is one of only four locations in Ireland to host the exhibition and is the only one outside of Dublin.
He said that ‘the project is motivated by the idea that every child has a right to become a reader, a sentiment we echo every day throughout the Kerry Library service. By highlighting picture books as a collection, it ensures that they are accessible to every child, regardless of age, language or culture.’
The exhibition, “Silent Books, from the world to Lampedusa and back” will be open at Tralee Library during library opening hours: Monday, Friday and Saturday, 10.00 am – 5.00pm and Tuesday and Thursday, 10.00 am – 8.00pm. All welcome.
