Interview with Josiane Polidori

Interview with Josiane Polidori

Polidori, Josiane (interviewee)

Marchand, Hailey (interviewer)

Josiane Polidori is the 2nd vice-president of IBBY Canada, the Canadian chapter of the International Board on Books for Young People, and Scientific Committee Co-Chair for the 2026 IBBY Congress, to be held in Ottawa in August 2026. With over 40 years of experience in publishing and children’s literature, Josiane was the Head of the Children’s Literature Collection at Library and Archives Canada for nearly 20 years, and she has served on numerous committees for children’s book awards, including IBBY’s Elizabeth Mrazik-Cleaver Picture Book Award. In this interview, Josiane discusses IBBY’s mission to bring children and books together. She highlights the importance of keeping information accessible to children. She also describes the unique power of picturebooks to promote empathy and foster connection.

2024-07-17

Transcript , 878 words

language: English

Hailey Marchand (cataloguer, 2024)

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Zoom call

Edited transcript.

INTERVIEWER: Can you tell us a little about IBBY? What initiatives are you working on?

JOSIANE: IBBY is a nonprofit organization that represents a network of organizations across the world who are committed to bringing books and children together. The intent is to make sure that high quality books, books that are produced by professional writers and illustrators, are accessible to children. We do several things at IBBY Canada to promote that, like the Cleaver Award, an annual award that showcases an illustrator. It’s a way to promote books that have been deemed excellent, so school teachers or librarians have a selection to choose from. Right now, the main initiative that we are working on is hosting the International Congress in Ottawa in 2026. Canada will host about 250 experts [in the field of children’s literature] from around the world. The theme of the Congress is “Listening to Each Other’s Voices,” so it’s really an open theme to explore diversity.

INTERVIEWER: How do children’s picturebooks foster the power of listening to each other?

JOSIANE: Picturebooks can be a reflection of children’s own lives, or the lives of others. When a story is told about people from a certain culture, it’s very different from when they tell the story themselves. They don’t represent themselves as a stereotype — they represent themselves in their daily lives. It’s very important to see that. Hopefully, everyone will be able to tell their own story more and more. IBBY Canada has a very interesting project; it’s called “From Sea to Sea to Sea,” and it’s a catalog of Indigenous children’s books. It’s very important that that collection was prepared by IBBY Canada because we distribute it in an online catalog, so it’s free to access. We’re also raising funds to have several collections of books donated to reserve schools and libraries, in locations where they are really needed.

INTERVIEWER: What considerations have to be made when curating a collection of children’s literature?

JOSIANE: It’s very important to have a framework and to know where you’re coming from. Why are you doing it? And for whom? Is the collection for access for researchers or the public? You have to know your audience. Once you have a mandate and know exactly what you are going to do, what is also important is having the means. So having a budget, and if the budget is not sufficient, being able to seek out other resources and fundraising opportunities. What is also important is showcasing your collection through institute events, readings, and lectures, as well as your online presence.

INTERVIEWER: IBBY’s mission is to support the right of every child to become a reader through access to high-quality books. Why does this right matter so much?

JOSIANE: In the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 29 talks about education and access to information. IBBY’s mission matters because it’s really an appeal to promote and distribute children’s books, which gives more information to children. It helps them develop their skills and knowledge, and it helps them to live in the world we all live in by giving them exposure to new ideas. Picturebooks promote an open mind and give children the tools and skills to live a full life.

INTERVIEWER: What do you think poses the biggest threat to a child’s right to read in Canada today?

JOSIANE: In Canada, we’re a developed country, but we still have issues of access. One aspect is the socioeconomic factor. In major cities, libraries are fine, but in smaller places they are run by volunteers. Sometimes they’re open only a few hours per day or twice a week. There’s also the issue of uneven online access, depending on the location. Another barrier is the depletion of the school library budget. In some areas, the school library is the only library available. If school libraries don’t have the budget to purchase books, or if the teacher has to buy their own books to share with the class, that’s very difficult. The other aspect is the cultural factor, including language barriers for newcomers to the country. Another IBBY project is Reading with Newcomer Children.

INTERVIEWER: How would you describe the power of picturebooks? What makes this medium so special?

JOSIANE: A picturebook is like a little world. There’s a world you can see and read, but there’s also a world you can share. With younger children, you need at least two reading it — the child and the adult reader, or the older brother or sister — so there’s really a connection between people with picturebooks. You can show the child what is going on in the book and ask questions, so there’s an interaction that’s going on. With a novel, it’s different because it’s just you and the text. It’s more personal. With a picturebook, it can be shared. I find that really powerful. Picturebooks also have a dual aspect. They have the visual language aspect and the textual aspect. It’s the complementarity or sometimes the tension between the two that is so striking. There’s a lot to decipher visually; the child or the reader have to notice things. The image is being read and the text is being read, and it’s the combination of both that is really fascinating.