IBBY Announces its New Executive Director

I am delighted to announce that IBBY has appointed Carolina Ballester as successor to our beloved, long standing Executive Director, Liz Page. Carolina will take up her position at the IBBY secretariat in Basel on 1 September 2022.

Carolina Ballester was enthusiastically selected by the IBBY Executive Committee from among an outstanding list of applicants. She admirably fulfills the requirements of the job description for IBBY’s Executive Director as described below:

The Executive Director of IBBY has a pivotal role in this exceptional international network of idealistic, dedicated people who work to bring children and books together. This job entails providing ongoing leadership and connectivity to IBBY’s National Sections in 80 countries. We are looking for someone who has: the freedom and willingness to travel extensively around the world; an appreciation of cultural differences; excellent communication skills; the ability to plan and anticipate upcoming requirements; management expertise and the ability to foresee and propose possible responses to difficulties that may arise.

Carolina Ballester’s experience of working with the Shanghai International Children’s Book Fair as International Programme Manager for the past nine years, ensures that she has the experience in international children’s books to take on the very challenging position of IBBY Executive Director. In addition to fulfilling the requirements for the job, Carolina is a fluent speaker of French, Spanish, English, Mandarin Chinese and some Arabic, Italian and Japanese.

Carolina and Liz will both be attending our IBBY Congress in Malaysia in September, and it will be a perfect opportunity to meet Carolina. Furthermore, our Congress will be the appropriate time to celebrate Liz’s achievements and to show her our affection and appreciation.

Mingzhou Zhang
IBBY President