CAMathories recently spent some time in mighty Chicago exhibiting at the annual American Librarians’ Association (ALA) Conference. Our books were well received, our stock a sell out success, and we created quite the email list of interested libraries to potentially work with in the future.
What was significant was the interest in our books available in both English, and the language of folktale origin, for example Paco and the Giant Chili Plant in both English and Spanish. As a response, CAMathories now aims to translate all folktales into the language of folktale origin in the future. Much interest was shown in ‘The Kind Fox and the Little Cat’, our Ukrainian folktale, which has already been translated. It seems that there are Ukrainian refugees worldwide who need support.
For myself, the conference was eye-opening. Libraries in England do not enjoy the same status as in America. In fact in the UK, we are fighting to keep our public libraries open. They still favour the 'Shh!' approach. American libraries have moved with the times, responding to their communities with appropriate resources and sessions. Libraries are hubs for activity with librarians dedicated to the communities who use them, and attuned to their needs.
I was privileged to read 'The Goodnight Gecko', a folktale from Hawaii, and one of our latest publications, with one young child. I hope to be able to participate in some storytelling sessions in the near future with some of the librarians we met. Get in touch with us if this might appeal to your setting too!
