Symposium
a symposium to open up participation in books
Every day, all over the world, thousands of children make up stories and put down on paper everything they see around them and everything they imagine. Some write and draw their own stories and others participate in creative workshops where writers, illustrators and teachers give them pointers and encourage them to do better work. At the end of the workshop, all the drawings and writings are distributed to their authors and, in the best case, end up stuck with magnets on the door of a fridge. Or on a wall or on a window pane, when there is no fridge. In any case, publications that bear witness to the excellent individual and collective creations of children are rare, if not exceptional. However, only by making books can we older people get to know these mysterious objects better, and only by making books can the younger ones form a personal opinion about them, while learning to make them better.
In this proposal to promote reading, which we have called Aún Aprendo, after Goya's drawing in which an old man begins to walk using walking sticks, we want to open a discussion about participation in books. We also want to encourage the conversion of experiences made in creative workshops into books, so that children can take part in them and not just settle for being their main consumers. Doing is how we learn best, and how we come to acquire a critical view of things. This wonderful tool that we have to explain the world and promote harmonious coexistence, we do not use it as much as necessary or in the most effective way: books should be made by everyone. At the very least, they should be open to the participation of a majority, and not just a small group of people whose professional lives are spent in their domains; who, in many cases, value exclusively their commercial aspects.
For several years now, our publishing house has been organising workshops that aspire to become a publication, published on paper, that can be shared and disseminated beyond the area in which the activity was carried out. We wish to share our experience with the general public, as well as with specialists working in the world of books, and to contribute to the promotion of various initiatives that we consider relevant in this field - some of which have been in existence for many years - but which are certainly not the most widely heard.
To communicate and disseminate these concerns, we thought that a symposium would be an appropriate format. The word symposium is less solemn than congress and somewhat more eloquent than meeting. By its etymology, it has the character of a shared celebration, which is particularly pleasing to us.
The people invited to this first edition are, for the most part, authors and publishers with whom we have spoken on other occasions about these subjects, but never in depth: José María Peguero and Rosa Pérez, teachers at the Gloria Fuertes special education school in Andorra, Teruel; Roger Omar, publisher of El monstruo de colores no tiene boca, Valencia; Arnal Ballester, illustrator and teacher, Barcelona; Ellen Duthie, publisher of Wonder Ponder, Madrid; Juanjo Oller, publisher of Milimbo, Rocafort, Valencia; Alain Regnier, head of the MOTAMO biennial dedicated to children's books, La Louvière, Belgium; Lisa Lugrin and Clément Xavier, authors and publishers of Editions Na, Marseille, France; Piu Martínez, independent publisher, Barcelona; Ramona Corder, illustrator and teacher, Almería; Álvaro Ibáñez Solaz, librarian and publisher of Creaciones Alalimón, Requena, Valencia; Marta Pina, illustrator and publisher of Industrias Lentas, Valencia; and Begoña Lobo and Vicente Ferrer, publishers of Media Vaca, Valencia.
In this symposium we want to present a sample of experiences carried out in the field of books and children (and not only children), compare these experiences with other people who work with similar criteria of inclusion and participation and disseminate them as widely as possible among mediators and prescribers.
Our main objectives are:
—To exchange knowledge and opinions and generate a dialogue on the participation of non-regular actors in the book world.
—To support the establishment of a network of contacts through which people and groups committed to certain population groups that are invisible in the commercial book market can join forces and collaborate on common projects.
—To promote - through specially designed workshops - reading, writing and graphic and artistic creation in population groups that have their backs turned to books and are often left out of the action of traditional mediators.
—To form a catalogue of 'interesting' publications, based on the work carried out in the workshops, which preserves the memory of a valuable experience and constitutes the most effective means of transmitting the need to democratise participation in books. In other words, to ensure that the publishing world corresponds, as far as possible, to the variety that exists in society.
Here is a preview of the programme of activities, which is subject to change:
Friday, 18 October
10.30-12.00: Welcome and presentation / Workshops*.
12.00-12.30: Coffee break
12.30-14.00: Interventions 1*.
14.00-17.00: Lunch
17.00-18.30: Interventions 2* 18.30-19.00: Break
18.30-19.00: Coffee break
19.00-20.30: Interventions 3
21.00: Dinner
Saturday, 19 October
10.30-12.00: Interventions 4*
12.00-12.30: Coffee break
12.30-14.00: Exhibition of publications
14.00-17.00: Lunch
17.00-18.30: Interventions 5*
18.30-19.00: Coffee break
19.00-20.30: Farewell and closing ceremony
21.00: Dinner
*Presentations
0 (welcome): Begoña Lobo and Vicente Ferrer
1: José María Peguero, Piu Martínez and Juanjo Milimbo
2: Álvaro Ibáñez Solaz, Ellen Duthie and Roger Omar
3: Marta Pina, Lisa Lugrin and Clément Xavier
4: Alain Regnier and Arnal Ballester
5: Ramona Corder, Silvia Millán and Alejandro Comrayo
*Workshops
Friday, 18 October: 9.00-14.00
Friday's workshops are intended for Rubielos school children only, and will be given by Roger Omar, Ramona Corder and Alejandro Comrayo.
Saturday, 19 October: 10.30-14.00
Saturday's workshops are open to children and adults, not only from Rubielos, and will be given by Roger Omar, Ramona Corder, Silvia Millán and Alejandro Comrayo (see poster on this page).
If you are interested in coming to Rubielos to attend the symposium, you should register in advance, as seating is limited. You can do so by sending an email to simposio@mediavaca.com.
The sessions will take place in the Plenary Hall of the Town Hall, admission is free and seats are currently available. For those who would like to have lunch or dinner and spend the night in Rubielos, we recommend that you contact the Tourist Office of the Town Hall for information about hotels and restaurants.
Through this page, and through the Instagram account @editorialmediavaca, we will give more news before the date of the symposium, and, subsequently, of all the activities carried out.
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Symposium reporters needed
