Over a 25-year career, the children's entertainer known as only Raffi made 13 albums, three concert videos and numerous children's books based on his music, with international success. In 2000, he founded the Troubadour Institute, which acts as a catalyst to move us toward a child-honoring society. He also received the Order of British Columbia. His own Vancouver-based company published an autobiography, Raffi: The Life of a Children's Troubadour, after which he hosted the B.C. Book Prizes gala.

Co-edited by psychology professor Dr Sharna Olfman), with a foreword by the Dalai Lama, folksinger Raffi's Child Honoring: How To Turn This World Around (Praeger 2006) is a multi-faceted overview with a chapter entitled 'Honoring Children in Dishonorable Times.' He notes that Sweden and Norway ban television marketing to children under the age of 12, the province of Quebec bans marketing to children under age 13 and Greece prohibits ads for toys on television between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. The French government recently banned all vending machines in middle and secondary schools. Finland bans ads delivered by children or by familiar cartoon characters. "The United States regulates marketing to children less than most other industrial societies," the authors claim.

[Raffi hosting BC Book Prizes gala]

[BCBW 2006] "Biography" "Music"