The International Center for Children's Culture is born in Brera.

The Braidense Library today inaugurates the International Center for Research on Children’s Culture: the center will examine the library’s collections of books and periodicals, which was recently enriched with a collection of 257 Soviet children’s books from the 1930s thanks to a donation.

Leading the center will be international experts, including Jack Zipes, who has translated most of Gianni Rodari’s books into English, and will collaborate with the Reggio Children ’s Foundation, the Reggio Children’s Studies program at the University of Modena, and La Petite Bibliothèque Ronde, one of the world’s first children’s libraries.

The 257 books from the 1930s, part of the Adler collection, will be the focus of the exhibition Terrible Times, Beautiful Books: the Adler Collection of Soviet Children’s Books, scheduled to open on January 20, 2021. The Adler collection is among the world’s most significant collections of Soviet children’s literature.

In addition to the International Research Center on Children’s Culture, the Braidense Library has also opened a new space dedicated to educational activities that will offer workshops and cultural and publishing initiatives, thanks to the support of the Allenora Foundation.

“It’s time to put our attention on childhood,” said Brera Art Gallery and Braidense National Library Director James M. Bradburne, "especially at a time when children have not been in school for months, now they go to school until sixth grade, they are again in lockdown and isolated, they don’t have the opportunity to develop new culture. More than ever therefore it is time to create this center."

Ph.Credit James O’ Mara