Meet the Members of the Scientific (Programming) Committee for IBBY Congress Ottawa 2026
As co-chairs of the Scientific (Programming) Committee, we – Lesley Clement and Josiane Polidori – have put together a diverse core working committee, which will be responsible for planning and developing the program for the IBBY Congress 2026 based on the theme (“Listening to Each Other’s Voices”) and objectives that the IBBY executive approved when the proposal was submitted in 2021. We reached out to a number of Canadian experts in children’s literature from different regions, official languages, cultural diversity, and Indigenous backgrounds and from various areas of expertise such as librarians, academics, educators, publishers, writers, and illustrators. We are pleased to introduce the six people who, in addition to the co-chairs, will sit on this committee.
Mayurika Chakravorty is Instructor III/Assistant Professor in the Department of English and the Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies as well as Program Advisor for Childhood and Youth Studies at Carleton University, Ottawa. Her primary areas of research are fantasy and speculative fiction and the representation of childhood and girlhood in literature and media. She sits on the board of the Ottawa International Writers Festival (OIWF) and in 2019 was co-applicant on a SSHRC Connections Grant, along with colleagues at Carleton, University of Ottawa, and the OIWF, for their project “Republic of Childhood.” Mayurika writes, “As a scholar and educator of colour, living and working in the diaspora, I am committed to decolonial approaches and to addressing issues of diversity and giving space to marginal voices and cultures.”
Marcela Mangarelli lives in Winnipeg. She has an education degree from Argentina, Master's degrees in Children’s and Youth Literature from Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona and Universidad de Zaragoza, and a Certificate in Publishing (Toronto Metropolitan University). She currently works with La Escuelita in Puerto Vallarta, México, which offers a before- and after-school program to create educational opportunities for children of low-income families with a history of poverty and related social issues. Marcela has been involved with IBBY Canada since 2018: she brought the Reading with Newcomers Children’s Program to Winnipeg in 2019, co-chairs the online and Toronto in-person programs, and holds the position of 1st Vice-President of IBBY Canada. Marcela says that she hopes to bring her experiences of living “in a culturally diverse environment” to the committee.
Colette Poitras writes that she has “deep roots” in Manitoba’s Red River area and Alberta’s Edmonton and St. Paul des Métis. She has Bachelor of Arts and Master’s degrees in Library and Information Science. She currently works as the Indigenous Public Library Outreach Advisor for the Public Library Services Branch (Government of Alberta). She served as a committee member of the Truth and Reconciliation Committee (a sub committee of the Canadian Federation of Libraries Association) and chaired the subsequently formed Indigenous Matters Committee. She sits on the board for the national Public Library Accessibility Resource Centre Project. She is a board member of IBBY and served twice as the chair of the selection committee for the curated catalogue entitled From Sea to Sea to Sea: Celebrating Indigenous Picture Books. Colette writes, “As a Métis librarian, I know how vitally important reading, being read to, and being surrounded by books is to children’s development, self esteem, and world view.”
Elaine Turgeon is Professeure titulaire, Département de didactique, Université du Québec à Montréal. She is a children’s author, having published fantasy novels (the Flavie series and the Philippe series) and a novel for teenagers (My life does not know how to swim). Recent publications include Aaah! Bécédaire and The youth album, a treasure to be exploited. Her recent research has focused on the presence and use of the youth album in the classroom; she is also interested in the question of diversity (ethnic, functional, bodily, gender, and sexual orientation). Elaine brings perspectives as a creative and an academic to the committee.
Leigh Turina has been the Lead Librarian for the IBBY Collection for Young People with Disabilities at the North York Library branch of the Toronto Public Library system since 2013. This has provided her with a strong lay understanding of what children like to read and also a vast knowledge of international publishers of books. In her previous career in therapeutic recreation, she worked with children and young people with a variety of disabilities, and while much has changed since she left that field in 1987 for librarianship, she writes that “the basic ease of working with persons who are deaf or have disabilities is still with me along with a desire to promote advocacy and provide support where needed.”
Rick Wilks is the co-founder of Annick Press Ltd., an editorially driven Canadian publisher that is internationally known for its commitment to inclusion, social justice, and amplifying marginalised voices. This is reflected in its publication lists and in outreach projects that Rick has initiated, such as a mentorship program for writers who have been historically excluded from publishing and a Northern Ontario Project to work with Indigenous youth and community leaders. He was a co-founder of the National Reading Campaign and has worked internationally, volunteering for CODE, conducting workshops for writers and publishers in Kenya and Tanzania, and teaching courses on children’s literature. He brings to the committee years of experience with strategic planning, management, proposal writing, HR, and, as he writes, the same vision as that of the Press’s publishing program of “delving into the issues that are important to contemporary readers.”
Contributed by Lesley Clement and Josiane Polidori