BOLOGNA CHILDREN’S BOOK FAIR AT THE EUROPEAN CONFERENCE ON LITERARY TRANSLATION ORGANISED BY CEATL

Bologna Children’s Book Fair will be present at the European Conference on Literary Translation organised by CEATL - Conseil Européen des Associations de Traducteurs Littéraires, of which BCBF has been a partner since 2022, as part of the Strasbourg ‘World Book Capital 2024’ UNESCO programme. The event will be hosted by the European Parliament from 2 to 4 October 2024 and will bring together figures and organisations from the world of literary translation for three days of discussions and meetings, during which participants will debate how to boost the circulation of literary works in Europe and worldwide.

The programme will involve over 80 speakers from around 30 countries. BCBF’s participation will be based on its role as a professional trade fair that has always been attentive to the world of translation, which it supports through numerous initiatives. These include: the World Directory of Children’s Book Translators, a database for specialists in the translation of children’s books, featuring 57 languages; the In Altre Parole prize, awarded to the best translation of a text from a language selected each year; the Translation Forum, two days of training organised by BolognaBookPlus; the prize BCBF awards to the translators of the winning works of the Strega Prize Ragazze e Ragazzi; and also, year after year, meetings and debates with the various figures from the world of literary translation, translation workshops, seminars that aim to connect professionals from all over the world, initiatives in collaboration with relevant trade associations, and the creation of an increasing number of spaces within the Fair that serve as meeting points to facilitate the trade in translation rights, from the Rights Centre to Comics Corner.

Through its attendance in Strasbourg BCBF aims, once again, to use its position to support the development of collaborative networks, consolidating those that already exist, facilitating the exchange of ideas and good practices and promoting debate about contemporary challenges: from the defence of linguistic and publishing diversity to artificial intelligence and the threat to freedom of expression.

Bologna Children’s Book Fair Director Elena Pasoli will be speaking on Thursday 3 October as part of the panel ‘Putting literary translation and translated literature in the spotlight’ in a debate about the question ‘How to arouse the reader's interest?’. The discussion will also feature María Afonso (Editorial Coordinator Antígona - Refractários, Portugal), Oana Dobosi (Managing Partner La Două Bufnițe bookshop, Romania), Ina Engelhardt (Project Manager EuregioKultur e.V., Belgium/Germany/Holland), Vladimir Arsenijević (President and Creative Director Krokodil association, Serbia), Jürgen Boos (President/CEO Frankfurter Buchmesse GmbH, Germany). The discussion will. Be chaired by Lucie Campos (Director Villa Gillet, France).