The Centrum české dětské knihy (Czech Children's Book Centre) (CČDK), which is a project of the association Knižní stezka k dětem (Book Path to Children), will open on the 15th of September at Jánský vršek 5 in Prague 1. The Centre's activities also include workshops, seminars, exhibitions and events for adult audiences.
In the former Czechoslovakia, the BIBIANA House of Arts in Bratislava was founded in 1987 to promote children's art books and develop their creation, working with children's books and artistic illustrations (among other things within the BIB - Biennial of Illustrations Bratislava) in both countries. After the dissolution of Czechoslovakia, BIBIANA remained active only in Slovakia. In the 1990s, the idea of establishing a new institution in the Czech Republic on the Bratislava model was born by Ivana Pecháčková (Meander), the founder of the Knižní stezka k dětem (Book Trail for Children Association) and publisher, and Vít Herman, who founded one of the first children's literature websites, Čítárny.cz.
However, it was only this year that this idea could be implemented thanks to the EEA Funds. The mission of the newly established Centrum české dětské knihy (Czech Children's Book Centre) is to promote reading and literacy (including the dissemination of quality children's literature through the Best Children's Books catalogue, in which the best children's titles awarded with the Golden Ribbon, Magnesia Letters, White Raven Award, etc. are selected by an expert committee each year), but especially to support children's artistic activities.
The Knižní stezka k dětem (Book Trail to Children Association) (formerly Book Highway to Children) was founded by ten small publishers such as Meander, Baobab, Raven, Brio, WALD Press. In recent years, however, it has been working under the guidance of Ivana Pecháčková's team. This year, the Knižní stezka k dětem (Book Trail to Children Association) is organising the 13th year of the literary festival Children, Do You Read?!, which is part of four major literary festivals under the UNESCO title Prague - City of Literature. The association has been trying to promote children's reading for decades and also publishes a unique teaching methodology, Reading Lessons.
The catalogue The Best Books for Children is the result of the reflections of Tereza Horváthová (Baobab) and Ivana Pecháčková and this year it is being published under the auspices of Svaz českých nakladatelů a knihkupců (SČKN - the Association of Czech Publishers and Booksellers) and IBBY for the ninth time.
"After a visit to the Norwegian Children's Book Institute - Norsk barnebokinstitutt, which was also founded in the 1980s by a two-man team in a small basement space, and which now has a staff of about twenty and is based at the National Library in Oslo, we were reassured that there is no need to start big and do dozens of activities at once. On the contrary, it is practical to take the new project step by step and get into all the necessary corners of literature and art for children," says Jakub Pavlovský, the new chairman of the association and executive director of the CČDK.
The activities of the Centrum české dětské knihy (Czech Children's Book Centre) will include writing and illustration workshops for children and adults, exhibitions, book launches and other activities supporting children's reading. On the basis of the workshops, among other things, a new strategy for working with children's audiences will be developed. Although the CČDK is a project of the Knižní stezka k dětem (Book Trail to Children Association), it will not only present its own work, but other Czech publishers involved in quality children's literature will also be involved in the activities. "For this reason, we have decided to offer the space of the Centre for free to those interested so that they can organise their own workshops, christenings or discussions," adds Pavlovský.
"Despite many years of effort, the association has not been able to find suitable commercial space," says Ivana Pecháčková, founder of the CČDK. "In Bratislava, such an important institution is housed in an old palace directly under Bratislava Castle, and since the Meander bookstore is similarly housed under the Prague Castle, we decided to allocate part of the space so that we could open the Centre here, in the Lesser Town. Jánský vrch is a magical place and children will surely find their way here," she adds.
As the Centre also has an notional exhibition hall, it will regularly host exhibitions of Czech artists, especially those who work with children and young people and illustrate books for young readers. The exhibition, which will open the CČDK, has been put together by Petr Nikl, a leading Czech artist, using illustrations and prints from his books Jino taje opic and Lingvistické pohádky (Linguistic Fairy Tales). Another distinctive feature of the Centre is the library containing a representative collection of Czech books for children and youth, which can be borrowed by visiting.
The Centre will be opened by Senator and former bookseller Miroslava Němcová. The event is part of the Children, Do You Read?!