The International Youth Library (IYL) in Munich is a magical place. It is housed in a medieval castle, Schloss Blutenburg in Obermenzing, a quarter in the western part of Munich. Jella Lepman, a woman of great vision and energy, founded the library in 1949, calling on other countries to send some of their best books to inspire the young people of war-ravaged Germany. She was also the founder in the 1950s of IBBY (The International Board on Books for the Young), a great and still flourishing postwar organisation powered by the hope of building international understanding through children’s books. Australia became part of IBBY in 1963, with Ena Noël as first National President.
My mother, Beryl Moncrieff Matthews, and I opened The Children’s Bookshop Beecroft in 1971. My mother made a number of trips to Europe in the late 70s and early 80s, when she would fly to London and then make her way to the Bologna Book Fair in Italy. On one such journey she stopped off in Munich to visit the IYL in its original home in Kaulbachstrasse, Schwabing.
At an author visit in our bookshop in 1976, Christobel Mattingley spoke of her recent time as the first Australian stipendiate at the IYL, researching YA literature in translation. She told how, while under the influence of the magical snowy winter and Christkindlmarkt, she wrote two picture book texts, Lexl and the Lion Party and The Magic Saddle. I secretly resolved to see it for myself one day.
Then Maurice Saxby, the pioneering historian of Australian youth literature, enthused about his time there in 1980. He and his wife Norma were billeted with an unforgettable landlady, as was also Albert Ullin the Melbourne bookseller, and Serpil Ural from Turkey (who later wrote Candles at Dawn). Maurice spoke of the tremendous hospitality of the staff to these researchers from other countries. He found it ironic that much of the primary material he needed was under one roof in Munich, whereas in Australia he would have had to ferret among a number of collections around the country.
By the time I first glimpsed this legendary library, the collection had moved to its new and spacious home in Schloss Blutenburg. Trish Saxton (children’s librarian at Ku-ring-gai Library), my teenage daughter Jane and I were travelling in October 1992, after the IBBY Congress which that year was held in the newly-unified city of Berlin. We were shown around the library by Martha Baker, who was then in charge of English language services. As we walked with her to have lunch at a nearby Greek restaurant, we admired the sunshine reflected on the lake by the Schloss. I should have appreciated that more, as at my later midwinter visits the lake was frozen . . .
Later in the 1990s, two academics from South Australia, Maureen Nimon and then John Foster, spent time as stipendiates at the International Youth Library.
In 2006, having at last completed my PhD on Australian picture books, I was able to fulfil my ambition to join the Library’s stipendiate program for two wintry months. My research project was a search for picture books for the very young that revealed aspects of life in the country of origin; in this I was largely unsuccessful, as the rapid growth in production of such books had coincided with the rise of globalisation in publishing. But my days spent with the excellent resources of the Studiensaal (study library) were not wasted. With its vast stock, the library is a research treasure-house, although I did find the system of filling in request slips frustrating. Although I do not read German, I read widely in French-language books and journals; I interviewed local surrealist picture book maker Binette Schroeder and wrote about her work; and I studied Jella Lepman’s career, the origins and ethos of the IYL and IBBY. Unsurprisingly, I learned that Lepman could be an exhausting leader. In the words of Bettina Hürlimann Founders of ideas who follow a vision are never comfortable, not for themselves and not for the world around them. But the more I learned, the more determined I became to work at revitalising IBBY Australia.
It was a record-breaking winter for snow, and the lesson I learned most thoroughly was how to walk on ice-covered footpaths. On Sundays I took four forms of transport (all punctual and efficient, of course), to attend an Episcopalian church where services were bilingual. And following valuable advice from Jochen Weber (now head of the international language sections at the IYL) I explored the museums and galleries of Munich. A friendly English-speaking staff member of the lending library (Bibliothek Ausleihe) helped me feel less lonely and she and I went into the city for Fasching, eating Krapfen although not drinking beer as true Bavarians. I gave talks to students at the local Gymnasium about Australian children’s books. As spring approached, I was able to be part of the IYL contingent attending the Bologna Book Fair. All of us from the Library were rostered to help at the stand there, which seemed easy to me as inside I am still a helpful bookseller, keen to answer queries about specific books and even to pack heavy boxes of books. After the fair ended, I travelled by train to Assisi for a memorable stay there, in the footsteps of St Francis and St Clare.
Junko Yokota, our chairperson from Chicago, USA, was to lead our confidential discussions in a room provided by IYL in Schloss Blutenburg. It was a scary responsibility. The only previous Australian member of this panel had been Maurice Saxby in the 1980s. Those who met Maurice know that he was quite small in stature, but I was aware of the proverbial large shoes to fill. I had been on many judging panels in Australia, but they were usually for individual books, whereas the Hans Christian Andersen Award is for a whole body of work, and its international character adds extra challenges.
The ten panel members were Cecilia Ana Repetti, Argentina; Robin Morrow, Australia; Mariella Bertelli, Canada; Nadia El Kholy, Egypt; Viviane Ezratty, France; Eva Kaliskami, Greece; Yasuko Doi, Japan; Denis Beznosov, Russia; Tina Bilban, Slovenia; Ulla Rhedin, Sweden. Liz Page, acting as Jury Secretary, had driven from Basel to Munich, bringing a carload of the physical copies of the nominees’ books, which we could consult in our deliberations (digital files had been sent to us many months earlier).
HCAA Jury meeting in 2020 L to R Cecilia Ana Repetti (Argentina); Denis Beznosov (Russia); Mariella Bertelli (Canada); Nadia El Kholy (Egypt); Viviane Ezratty (France); Tina Bilban (Slovenia); Ulla Rhedin (Sweden); Yasuko Doi (Japan); Robin Morrow (Australia); Eva Kaliskami (Greece); [Junko Yokota Chairperson not in photo].
We began with a one-day excursion into the centre of Munich, walking to many of the important sites as we got to know each other. This included a visit to the Haus der Kunst, a small gallery in the characteristic Nazi neoclassical style, which was requisitioned by US troops in postwar years, and was the site of Jella Lepman’s inaugural exhibition of foreign books for children (see The Lady with the Books).
Then the days of serious discussion began. We all stayed at a local hotel and walked to the Schloss, across ice and snow of course, each morning The room we met in for our deliberations was, I think, the same room in which I had sat, years earlier, enraptured by a storyteller who told the whole plot of The Magic Flute to a crowd of attentive four-year-olds, in Mozart’s 250th birthday year. Junko led us through the judging guidelines, and I admired her chairing of the sessions, so that each nominee received a fair share of jury attention, but nonetheless we kept on schedule. We had short breaks for lunch each day, in the same café/staff canteen I had known in my stippi days. Director of the IYL, Christiana Raabe warmly welcomed us; Petra Wörsching gave hours of organisational support; and Claudia Söffner guided us on a tour of the Schloss. This included the Michael Ende Room which I had not visited earlier, and also a current exhibition of Arabic illustrators. In the evenings Liz would lead us to nearby restaurants where we enjoyed a variety of cuisines and much booktalk around the table.
In a spirit of camaraderie, and proud of our decisions for these important awards, we left the beautiful Schloss Blutenburg and set out to return to our scattered homelands. We were unaware that COVID-19 was about to change the world, including the manner in which HCAA judging would proceed. Two years later, when I was again a panel member, we did not meet in Basel as planned, but used Zoom meetings throughout for the days of deliberations.
I commend the IYL, the world’s largest library for international children’s and youth literature, and a welcoming place for all who share enthusiasm for its founding principles.
References:
Richard Bamberger, Lucia Binder, Bettina Hürlimann, 20 Years of the International Board on Books for Young People IBBY 1973
Foster, John ‘The end of the rainbow’ in Reading Time Feb 1997 Vol 41 Issue 1 (Foster became national president of IBBY Australia, 2001 to 2006)
Lepman, Jella A Bridge of Children’s Books Dublin, O’Brien Press 2002 (originally in German Die Kinderbuchbrücke 1964)
Morrow, Robin Article about Australian stipendiates, Reading Time 2006
Morrow, Robin ‘Jury Duty for the Hans Christian Andersen Awards’ in Magpies Vol 35 Issue 4, Sept 2020
Stinson, Kathy, illus Marie Lafrance The Lady with the Books: a story inspired by the remarkable work of Jella Lepman hb Kids Can Press 2020
Ural, Serpil Candles at Dawn Limelight Press 2004 (junior novel about Gallipoli)
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