Apart from performing key roles at the Fair’s Opening Ceremony and handing out awards at this year’s Bologna Prize Ceremony, President Jobava also spoke at a panel session entitled ‘Building the Future Generation of Readers’ moderated by IPA’s Literacy sub-committee Chair, Luis González, and another panel entitled ‘Publishing as Soft Power and a Cultural Diplomacy Tool’.
Jobava also appeared on a panel chaired by IPA Inclusive Publishing and Literacy Committee member, Rachel Martin, called ‘In Their Shoes: Children’s Literature as a Gateway to Belonging’ and there were multiple meetings and sessions with the United Nations Women’s office, including when Jobava moderated the panel ‘Stories That Change Us: Gender Equality Through Children’s Literature’.
Jobava, Hoepli and IPA Secretary General, José Borghino met with a representative of WIPO’s Accessible Books Consortium (who announced their Excellence Award winners) as well as conducting multiple meetings with IPA members and working closely with other IPA Committee Members, including Simon de Jocas (Executive and Freedom to Publish Committees) and Giulia Marangoni (Membership Committee). Jobava also spoke at the Malaysian Collective Stand with Sheikh Faisal Sheikh Mansour (Executive Committee) when highlighting the upcoming IPA Congress in Kuala Lumpur on 5-9 July.
IPA was delighted to celebrate the PublisHer Lifetime Achievement Award for our past President, Ana Maria Cabanellas.