Italian embassy participates in the Doha International Book Fair

The 31st edition of DIBF, organised by Qatar Cultural and Heritage Events Centre, will take place from Thursday January 13 until January 22 at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Centre.The Italian pavilion, one of the biggest at DIBF, is organised and managed in cooperation with “Reggio Children”, a leading Italian organisation in the field of early childhood education and children’s rights promotion. This institution is renowned for its educational project, the “Reggio Emilia Approach”, which develops and renews itself every day in Reggio Emilia’s municipal infant-toddler centres and preschools. “We are particularly proud of our pavilion at the Doha International Book Fair. This year’s will be the first edition featuring an institutional Italian participation and we have chosen to bet on younger generations. Indeed, both Italy and Qatar give great importance to education and promotion of children’s potential and rights and I think that our intense programme during the fair fits perfectly within our shared policies and ambitions towards childhood,” said Italian ambassador Alessandro Prunas in a statement.Subject to the latest regulations by health authorities, the Italian booth aims to introduce children to reading by offering them a space for active exploration and learning through Italian books, illustrations, and workshops. Special attention will be also dedicated to introducing new methods, books, and tools to educators. The booth will display and sell a selection of children’s books published by Italian publishing houses or by Italian authors. Moreover, the agenda should include different free of charge activities during the whole duration of the fair, including the workshop “Mosaic of Marks, Words, Materials” and readings for children of books by Italian authors in English, Arabic, and Italian. (For more information and registration, visitors can submit their email to italy.dohabookfair@reggiochildren.it)One of the programme’s highlights will be the official presentation of the translation in Arabic of two books by Italian writer Gianni Rodari, 1970 winner of the Hans Christian Andersen Award – the Nobel Prize for children’s literature, “La torta in cielo” (The Cake in the Sky) and “Fiabe lunghe un sorriso” (Fairy tales long a smile).The joint project by the Embassy of Italy and the Ministry of Culture of Qatar will be presented on January 17 at 10.30am at the fair’s conference venue.Those interested in Rodari’s work will also have the opportunity to visit the exhibition “Illustrations for Gianni Rodari”, a selection of pictures by 21 Italian artists realised by “Bologna Children’s Book Fair” and displayed in Qatar for the first time in the Italian pavilion.The booth will also feature the exhibition “Out of silence. Yesterday, today, tomorrow, narrating through wordless books” by “Bologna Children’s Book Fair”, a selection of 41 wordless books by Italian authors who have experimented this particular and innovative form of narration.The Embassy of Italy has also announced the participation of Italian artist Enrica Pizzicori, specialised in children’s illustrations and author of the booth’s main logo. He will perform live digital painting sessions throughout the fair’s days.