By Diana Maliszewski
An international trip to Ottawa doesn’t sound like much of a voyage when home is in Toronto, but in August 2026, the world came to Canada’s doorsteps and I was privileged to be surrounded by delegates from sixty countries around the globe at the IBBY 40th World Congress.
IBBY stands for the International Board of Books for Young People, an organization founded in Switzerland in 1953. IBBY Canada is one of 80 National Sections, as shared on their website. This was my first time attending an IBBY event. If I had to select a few adjectives to describe the experience, I’d list “grand” and “full”. IBBY offered banquets for the mind and body for all four days, beginning on August 6th through the 9th. The actual dinners included the Celebrating Indigenous Voices Dinner, the Hans Christian Andersen Awards Gala (both hosted at the Canadian Museum of History), and the Once Upon a Saturday Costume BBQ at Lansdowne Park. Delicious food, delightful company, and deserving honourees punctuated the evenings.
My favourite moments from these socials were two-fold: making connections with table mates, such as Samina Mishra and Kavita Singh Kale from India on Thursday, and Džiuljeta Maskuliūnienė and Viltare Mickeviciene from Lithuania; in fact, I even drove the latter two back to Toronto with me on Sunday! The other significant memorable interaction was during the Saturday BBQ. I was dressed as the protagonist from the classic Canadian fairy tale, The Paperbag Princess. I was chatting with two Pippi Longstockings, Pete the Cat (aka Cathy Fowler) and Max (Danny Neville) from Where the Wild Things Are outside the venue when I was notified that someone wanted to speak to me. It was a little girl who was with her grandparents. She recognized my character and wanted to say hi. We had a delightful conversation about the book (and why the paper bag Princess Elizabeth wore wasn’t burnt up like everything else in her castle). I mentioned that there was someone else that was dressed as a character from another Robert Munsch book, Stephanie’s Ponytail. When I asked if she’d like to meet “Stephanie”, she enthusiastically said yes. I fetched Kirsten Brassard from the dance floor, and when the little girl saw her, she ran to her and gave her a huge hug. We took photos together. It was magical.
There were so many sessions that I’d find it difficult to select just one to exalt. You can read detailed descriptions of every talk I attended on my blog, both the Part 1 and Part 2 of my reflections. Jon Klassen was hilarious. Senator Kristopher Wells’ talk resulted in a standing ovation. Jan Beaver – I still hold my rock from your panel. Deborah Soria – every time I find a wordless picture book, I think about the migrants of Lampedusa.
Special mention must go to my travel companion and co-presenter, Cathy Fowler. She and I gave a presentation on “What Does Sexually Explicit Mean in Canadian School Libraries?”. These slides will evolve into both an article for *Rubinaitis*, a Lithuanian magazine dedicated to children’s and young adult literature, as well as a submission for Treasure Mountain Canada 9. Cathy is wise, patient, thoughtful, and I look forward to further collaborations with her. I may not be able to travel with her to attend the 41st IBBY World Congress, which will be held in Barcelona, Spain, but there are so many voices I can amplify from the Ottawa congress that I will have plenty to do for the next while. A big thanks Patti McIntosh and her team for organizing a fabulous conference full of learning.