Books for Every Child: An International Literacy Day Celebration Event
every child, every story: United in Reading, united in opportunity
Using AI, LLMs, and Other Innovative Approaches to Produce High Quality FLN Materials and Expand Access to Books
Thursday, October 23 from 9:30 AM - 1:30 PM ET
World Bank Headquarters
Please note that our in-person registration is now full. We hope to see you there virtually!
The World Bank and the Global Book Alliance (GBA) invite you to celebrate International Literacy Day with a hybrid event: Books for Every Child: Using AI and Other Innovative Approaches to Develop Titles and Expand Access.
Strengthening foundational literacy skills requires increased opportunity to learn (OTL) and increased opportunity to practice (OTP). Books are essential to increase OTP, but access remains minimal in countries with the highest rates of learning poverty. This event will bring the education community together to network, learn, and share ideas about how we can close the global book gap with higher quality and lower cost textbooks, teacher guides, and books for reading practice, especially in the wake of the changes our sector has experienced in 2025.
This year’s event will focus on two areas of innovation:
Using AI and international licensing to produce high quality, low cost titles
Innovative strategies to increase access to books and reading practice
The event will bring speakers from around the world to share their latest experiences and insights in title creation and access to books for reading practice.
2025 SPEAKERS
Past ILD Events
2024
The GBA hosted Books for Every Child: An International Literacy Day Celebration Event on September 17, 2024.
The access, availability, and active use of teaching learning materials (TLMs) has a positive impact on literacy development. Despite their importance, many learners around the world don’t have access to high-quality books in languages they use and understand. We call this the book gap.
This event aims to build awareness and understanding of the global book gap through discussion on the book supply chain. We seek to define challenges and opportunities, share initiatives from actors in this space, and provide practical ways to build more sustainable book supply chains through innovation workshops featuring GBA Chairs, USAID Center for Education’s Director Allyson Wainer and other experts in the field of book supply chain.
See the full list of our speakers below!
Meet our speakers!
Sakil Malik
GBA Chair and CEO, GCFIL
Sergio Ramirez-Mena
GBA Deputy Chair and Senior Technical Advisor, IREX
Allyson Wainer
Director, USAID Center for Education
Penelope Bender
Lead Literacy Specialist, World Bank
Ramya Vivekanandan
Senior Education Specialist, GPE
Joyce Adolwa
Associate Vice President, Department of Education and Child Protection, Save the Children US
Suman Sachdeva
Education Specialist UNICEF PG-HQ- Global Lead for Primary and Foundational Learning
Heidi Schubert
Senior Advisor, Basic Education, Save the Children US
Andriamiseza Noro
Education Program Specialist, UNESCO Paris
Simon James
Portfolio Leader, EDC
Jeongmin Lee
Researcher, University of Notre Dame
Julianna Nielsen
Senior Project Director, EDC
Rokhaya Diawara
Early Childhood Care and Education Specialist
Kirsty von Gogh
Project Manager, Neil Butcher & Associates
Christophe Barth
Managing Director, BlueTree Group
Peter Timmerman
Evaluative and Organizational Learning Lead, CODE