The Ns Biennal Report 2008 - 2010

THE NS BIENNAL REPORT 2008 - 2010

1. GENERAL INFORMATION

1.1 Country: Albania

1.2 Name, address, telephone, fax, e-mail and website of the National Section: Home of Books for Children “Hermann Gmeiner”, Rr. “Jordan Misja”, Unazë, te Konvikti i Shkollës elektrike, Tirana. Albania

1.3 Representatives 1.3.1 President of the National Section (NS) Mrs. Shpresa Vreto. Address of the section; tel.00355 42 22 96 65; e–mail: [email protected] 1.3.3 IBBY main Liaison Officer or contact person Viktor Canosinaj. E-mail; [email protected]

1.4 Organization Structure 1.4.1 How is your NS organized? Describe the structure of the NS in general. The Albanian IBBY is a NGO composed by a small group of specialists on children’s literature such as writers, researchers, illustrators, translators, librarians, publishers and teachers. 1.4.2 Is your NS affiliated to or a branch of another organization or institution? If so, which one? Albania jointed to IBBY immediately after 1990 and its admission was approved by IBBY- Basel, in January 1992. Since the spring of 2008 we have cooperated with a group of writers and librarians from Kosova that aspirate to have their own National IBBY Section. 1.4.3 Do you have an office and paid staff? No. We work on voluntary bases. We organize our meetings in the library’s settings. There isn’t any paid person responsible for the work related to IBBY’s association. 1.4.4 How often do you have business meetings? It depends on the purposes. One, two times. or more. Regularly a few days before 2nd April and before Christmas – Day. Membership 1.4.5 Does your NS have organizations as members? How many? What kind of organizations?

1 We have not organizations as members. We cooperate with homologous institutions or associations in special occasions. The National Center of Children Culture, The National Puppet Theatre,The Writer`s Association of Albanian created that recent time,and for the first time in 2009, we collaborated with the Ministry of Turism, Culture, Youth and Sport for a special activity. (Described below). 1.4.6 Does your NS have individual members? How many? How do they contribute to the NS activities? Individual members: 18 1.4.7 Who are your members? What percentages are: teachers? Authors? Illustrators? Publishers? Students? etc. Most of them are writers and translators, three illustrators, three publishers, four researchers,two actresses (storytellers), three librarians. Some teachers joined to Albanian IBBY for different activities. 1.4.8 What categories of membership, if any, does your NS have? (The fifths category of IBBY`s). 1.4.9 How often do you keep in touch with your members? How? (Not very often, but each time it is necessary. We meet in the library or get in contact by phone, e-mail, and letters).

2. FUNDING

2.1 Annual Budget 2.1.1 What is your average annual budget in US$? Is it increasing or decreasing? We don’t have a specified budget. Our only income came from the subscriptions and selling of the monthly children’s magazine “The Little Mermaid”, which was published during the academic year, but not during the summer months. 20% of the 3000 copies print run is distributed for free. The incomes from the magazine was 20cent/copy and it was the only income that have covered the expenses for our activities, bying books for the library, including the annual fee. Unfortunately the” Little Mermaid” has been not published any more since the end of the last year. Since January 2010 till the December 2010 the budget of the Library was zero. We have worked in the Libray on voluntary basis.

2.2 Sources of income 2.2.1 Is there a membership fee? How much is it? What percentage of your budget does this account for? Some of members paied a modest fee. 2.2.2 Do you receive financial support from individual sponsors and/or donors? If so, how much? What percentage of your budget does this account for?

2 The only self support came from the distribution of “Little Mermaid” Magazine, since the second year of established of Albanian IBBY Section in 1994 till the end of 2009. 2.2.3 Do you receive grants from government or national institutions? If so, how much? What percentage of your budget does this account for? Yes, last year, 2009, for the first time we have been supported by the Ministry of Turism,Culture,Youth and Sport for supporting of the project ” To the LIBRAY LAND with the BOOK SHIP – a discovering travel”. The sum of about 5500 USD is used for the 5 months activity, the publishing of a professional book and the performance of the 'travelling with the Book Ship" in the Library Land. This activity was considered as a very interesting one for the reading promotion project. Six writers estimated with special diploma and modest gifts given both from Albanian IBBY and the Ministry of Culture. 2.2.4 Do you receive grants from other organizations? If so, how much? What percentage of your budget does this account for? No. 2.2.5 Have other NS contributed any financial support? If so, how much? No 2.2.6 Do you generate income through publications? If so, how much? What percentage of your budget does this account for? As it was mentioned above, the main source of covering the annual membership dues has been the” Little Mermaid” magazine. It is now closed. 2.2.7 Do you have other sources of income not mentioned above? What are they and what percentage of your budget do they account for? Thanks to “Save the Children” support for the Library,we covered the annual budget of it in 2009. 2.2.8 Are the sources of income listed in points 2.2.1 to 2.2.7 regular contributions? No. Please see the answers given to respected points 2.2.1 to 2.2.7 2.2.9 Do you receive support specifically for your IBBY dues? If so, from whom? No. The only support for our IBBY dues of 1000US D it was the “Soros Foundation”, in 1994. Please see the answers given to respected points2.2.2 2.2.10 Describe successful fundraising strategies your NS has developed. We are not successful because we are volunteers with work besides and we spend a lot of time in managing our current activities,.keeping the Library, created by our President Shpresa Vreto, ten years ago till now.

3. THE NATIONAL SECTION´S ACTIVITIES

3.1 Main activities

3 3.1.1 Has your NS organized regional activities? Not in the recent years. The only regional meeting has been the one organized on 2000: The First Balkan Meeting of Authors for Children’s books. 3.1.2 Have members of your NS represented IBBY at other national, regional or international meetings and/or conferences? Yes, in Bulgaria, in the regional Festival organized by the South East European Centre of Literature and Media, in Banky, May 28th – June 2nd 2007. (Shpresa Vreto took part; she was awarded with the first prize for South East European literature for children, in category Librarian). In the seminar organized in Cyprus, on October 2007, we presented a theme and three posters on the activity of Albanian IBBY and of the library “Home of Books for Children, H. Gmeiner”. In September 2009 we took part in IBBY Congress in Denmark. 3.1.3 Does your NS organize courses or seminars at a local level? Who are these aimed at? No. 3.1.4 Does your NS organize or host exhibitions and/or fairs? No. We have organized exhibitions with drawings and paintings made by Albanian children, with topics concerning the subjects of their favorite books, children’s rights or free topics. 3.1.5 Does your NS administer awards or prizes? Does it organize contests? From the spring 2009 in cooperation with Ministry of Turism,Culture, Youth and Sport we established the Literary national prize “ORET” .( The hours). 3.1.6 Does your NS run a library or bookstore? Yes, since September 2000 we manage the free access Library “Home of Books for Children” in Tirana. 3.1.7 Has your NS organized other activities? Which ones have been especially successful in your country? Please specify. Usually we organize writer-readers meetings, roundtables, celebrations of the birthday jubilees of famous writers, Albanian or not: we celebrated the 100th birth anniversary of A. Lindgren and the 100th birth anniversary of Mitrush Kuteli, Albanian writer. “The birthday Chair” is the name of an activity dedicated to our contemporaneous authors in their jubilee. Another very interesting activity hold to the Library, under the name: “To the Library Land with the Book Ship – a discovering travel” will be organized every 2 years with pupils from the schools. In 2009 in cooperation with Mrs. Liz Page we prepared three boxes of selected Albanian books for JU KI BU in Switzerland. We supported with 250 books a new small library in a village nearby Durres. We planed to support with books the children of Shkodra, (North Albania), that is suffering by a natural disaster.

4 3.2 Communication 3.2.1 Does your NS have a website? What is its URL? No. 3.2.2 Does your NS publish a regular newsletter? Who receives this? Is it available online? No. 3.2.3 Does your NS develop lists of book selections? Which ones? No. 3.2.4 What, if any, are your other regular publications? Please give names (original and translation into English) and a description of their content and purpose. Four researchers and writers, all members of Albanian IBBY, have published their books: (Prof. Dr. Ramazan Çadri, “The Albanian Literature for Children”; Prof. Dr. Astrit Bishqemi, “Albanian authors of the Children Literature”; Prof. Dr. Klara Kodra, “Pinocchio, Piter Pan and Liz in the Wonder Land – expression of the child personality in the world literature”; Viktor Canosinaj, “From Liz in the Wonder Land to Piter Pan”). An interesting book of Anne Pellowski has been translated and published by us under the title “The world of fairy tales and how to make cloth books”. 3.2.5 Does your NS work with national media to promote your own activities or the work of IBBY? Rarely. We invite them in case of events.

3.3 Cooperation at a national level 3.3.1 Is your NS consulted about children’s books in your country? By whom? We consult with homologous associations and institutions. 3.3.2 Are there NGOs [non-governmental organizations] or established institutions in your country for which the development of a children’s reading and publishing culture is an objective? Which ones? Are you informed of their projects and needs? We don’t have enough information. 3.3.3 Does your NS collaborate with these agencies?

4. COOPERATION WITH IBBY

4.1 International activities in cooperation with IBBY Congresses and General Assemblies 4.1.1 How many of your members participated in the last two IBBY Congresses and General Assemblies? In 2006, one member of our IBBY section took part in Macao (China), Ferit Lamaj, nominee for the IBBY - Honour List 2006. In 2008 Shpresa Vreto took part in

5 Kopenhagen, (Denmark). Meantime, in order to be represented (involved) we responded with materials to almost all the requests that have been addressed to us by the IBBY center in Basel or the NS. We have contributed with books, requested by the KBBY, for the Book Fair 2006, 2007; with a promotional material from Albania for the IBBY Congress in China. We have sent books, requested by the AWIC, in India, in the framework of the international conference on storytelling, etc. 4.1.2 Does your NS participate in IBBY regional conferences? In Bulgaria, see point 3.1.2.

International Children’s Book Day (ICBD) 4.1.3 What activities, if any, does your NS organize to celebrate the ICBD? Mainly promoting activities, with the participation of children, writers, representatives of institutions, illustrators, actors, teachers and parents, etc. each year, (from the 1994) and now, ICBD is celebrated in Albania and, in these recent years, in Kosova regularly. We sent them the Posters and the message of ICBD. 4.1.4 Did you design your own poster? If not, did you use the message and poster of the sponsoring NS? Yes, the posters coming regularly from the NS. They are published in the cover of the “Little Mermaid” magazine and is promoted even in the Albanian RTV and the Kosova one. These years IBBY Ns in collaboration with the Writers Association & The Puppet Theatre Albania, organised in Tirana,the celebrity of ICBD. 4.1.5 How do you disseminate information about the ICBD? By e-mail, mail, TV interviews and different meetings. The “Little Mermaid” have had regularly special information about this event.

IBBY Awards and projects 4.1.6 Did your NS present any nominations for the Hans Christian Andersen Awards? If so, who were the nominees? If not, why not? We haven’t presented any nomination yet. 4.1.7 Did your NS present any nominations for the IBBY Honour List? If so, who were the nominees? If not, why not? Yes, since the 1998 we have proposed four time the nominations. 4.1.8 Did your NS nominate a project for the IBBY-Asahi Reading Promotion Award? If so, which one? No. 4.1.9 Did you nominate any titles for the Outstanding Books for Young People with Disabilities selection? Unfortunately we don’t have any similar center.here in Tirana. 4.1.10 Did you donate or recommend any books for the IBBY Documentation Centre of Books for Disabled Young People? If so, how many? No, because there are not such books in our country.

6 4.1.11 Did you host any IBBY traveling exhibitions (Honor List, HCA, Books for Disabled, etc.)? If so, where and when were they exhibited? No. Bookbird and other projects 4.1.12 How many members of your NS have individual subscriptions to Bookbird? We get 2 copies as an IBBY NS and those copies circulate. 4.1.13 Does your NS have a Bookbird associate editor? Have you contributed any articles to or cooperated with Bookbird? Yes – but it is still not functioning regularly. We keep talking about sending the materials, but it has not been done. 4.1.14 Have you participated in any other IBBY international activities not listed above? If so, which ones? No. 4.2 Cooperation with other National Sections 4.2.1 Are you involved in regional cooperation with other NS? What is the nature of this cooperation? Those two recent years, no. 4.2.2 Do you cooperate bilaterally with other NS? What is the nature of this cooperation? No. 4.2.3 Do you exchange newsletters or information with other NS? If so, how often? No. We exchanged for some years our magazine with the magazine “Barnboken” of the Swedish IBBY Section. But, because of the language this remained formal and at the end was interrupted. 4.2.4 What, in your opinion, have been the major obstacles to greater cooperation between NS? The travel between the countries, then it have been the visa problem, the economic problem. From 15th of December 2010 Albanian people have the rights to travel without visa.

5. ADDITIONAL COMMENTS The Albanian IBBY faced a lot of problems: Money to do the work – we have to use a lot of time to ask for money. A paid secretary would be a great help, especially because of the fact that the English language is not spoken by everyone, here in our country.