THE 61ST BOLOGNA CHILDREN’S BOOK FAIR

Bologna, February the 28^th - 2024 will be the year of the 61^st edition of the Bologna Children’s Book Fair (BCBF), the Fair that is meeting place for the worldwide children’s book community to trade in copyrights, an active hub promoting debate on the present and future of publishing and stimulating the birth of new ideas.

BCBF is due to take place at BolognaFiere from 8 to 11 April 2024 together with its “sister” events BolognaBookPlus (BBPlus), the extension dedicated to generalist publishing produced in collaboration with the Italian Publishers Association (AIE), and Bologna Licensing Trade Fair/Kids (BLTF/K), specifically for brands and the licensing of content for children and young people.

After the festive edition of 2023 celebrating 60 years of BCBF, the halls of the BolognaFiere Exhibition Centre will host a new edition this year featuring an expected 1,500 exhibitors from approximately 100 countries and regions of the world (new entries include: Angola, Belarus, Benin, Bolivia, Cameroon, Colombia, Luxembourg, Mauritius, Principality of Monaco, Moldova, Paraguay, Philippines, Togo and Uganda) together with new initiatives providing in-depth analysis and support for the global publishing industry made possible thanks to the support of ITA-the Italian Trade Agency and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI).

Also marking an edition filled with new stimuli and looking keenly to the future is the admission of Bologna Children’s Book Fair as a Patron Member of the International Publishers Association (IPA), the largest worldwide federation of national, regional, and specialist publishers’ associations, based in Geneva and founded in 1896 in Paris to promote and defend copyright and publishing freedom. BCBF’s admission to the IPA marks a further step forward for the Fair, bringing it even closer to publishers from all over the world and more capable of picking up on, and responding to, their needs. 

Elena Pasoli, Director of Bologna Children’s Book Fair, states: Becoming a patron member of the IPA - International Publishers Association - represents for us an important recognition of the work we have been doing for over sixty years in the service of the international children's publishing community and, for the past four years, with BolognaBookPlus, of general publishing. A service that is first and foremost valuable dialogue and debate, alongside the sharing of those fundamental principles related to copyright protection and freedom of publication.As a book fair - across the trade publishing spectrum -  being part of the IPA will be an additional stimulus for us to collaborate and participate actively and constructively in the debate around the great challenges facing the publishing industry at such a complex historical moment as this.

COUNTRY GUEST OF HONOUR

For the 2024 edition Slovenia is Country Guest of Honour, an opportunity for publishers from all over the world to experience the country’s rich publishing scene, promoted at the fair through the exhibition And then what happens? that will showcase the works of 59 contemporary Slovenian illustrators, plus numerous discussion panels, as well as various activities in the city for the general public.

THEMES AND GUESTS

Eagerly awaited authors and illustrators featuring in Bologna include: Ximo Abadia, Emma Adbåge, Beatrice Alemagna, Mac Barnett, Anne Brouillard, Nadine Brun-Cosme, Davide Calì, Nat Cardozo, Kitty Crowther, Max de Radiguès, Julia Donaldson, Linde Faas, GUD, Ulrich Hub, Jenny Jägerfeld, Oliver Jeffers, Aviaq Johnston, Joëlle Jolivet, Benjamin Lacombe, Philippe Lechermeier, Leonard Marcus, Lorenzo Mattotti, Bart Moeyaert, Jérémie Moreau, Neal Packer, Lincoln Peirce, Victor D.O. Santos, Lola Shoneyin, Axel Scheffler, Olivier Tallec, Øyvind Torseter, Paloma Valdivia and Edward van De Vendel.

Among the themes taking centre stage at the Fair’s focus sessions and debates, sustainability will be playing a prominent role as a key issue for the global publishing industry. On this topic, books are also shaping the worldview of the citizens of tomorrow. In collaboration with the United Nations and the International Publishers Association (IPA), a programme of panel discussions will explore the topic in depth. Space will also be given to foreign markets: from the aforementioned Slovenia to China, a country with which BCBF has built a solid relationship based on collaboration over a number of years, also as co-organiser of the China Shanghai International Children’s Book Fair (CCBF). The focus on Africa also continues in parallel with appointments that aim to bring together the expertise of the publishers exhibiting at BCBF with the emerging and multi-faceted publishing of this rich continent. Due attention will also be paid to the cultures of indigenous minorities and the representation in “mainstream” publishing of authors and themes linked to African-American and Afro-Latin-American stories.

The challenges Artificial Intelligence poses to publishing will be discussed at a programme of panels with international guests from various professional backgrounds who will debate approaches, visions and possible scenarios.

The focus on one of the most interesting sectors of the contemporary publishing industry, and the one that is expanding the most, also continues: Comics will once again play a leading role at BCBF this year, with international publishers gathered at the Comics Corner and numerous panel discussions examining the experiences of individual countries with more, and less, consolidated traditions, as well as the new trend of comics for very young children. Space will also be made for one of the central themes of BCBF since the fair’s inception: two meetings will explore the story and the background of picture books, books that transmit knowledge that is at the service of the human capacity to interpret and acquire consciousness, foreshadowing answers to the questions of the present.

THE COLLABORATION WITH THE UNITED NATIONS

A new feature for 2024 is the important collaboration with the United Nations, which has led to the creation of shared initiatives on sustainability, the seas and children’s rights: the panel discussion “Reading for the Planet: Children's Books for a Sustainable Future” (in collaboration with the International Publishers Association), the round table “The Ocean Planet: the Science, Politics, and Culture of the Sea in Children’s Books", an exhibition of the best titles concerning sustainability issues, and a collective reading of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child with the participation of authors and illustrators from all over the world, each reading in their own language.

THE NEW TV/FILM RIGHTS CENTRE AND THE SPACES AT THE BOLOGNA CHILDREN’S BOOK FAIR

For at least twenty years, visitors to BCBF have regularly included producers and professionals from the world of TV and film “on the hunt” for new stories and characters to turn into TV and film productions and animations. Starting with this edition, BCBF will be offering professionals from these sectors the new TV/Film Rights Centre, a business area created as part of BLTF/K with the collaboration of Book on a Tree, to welcome film and TV producers by fostering networking opportunities with the publishing world to encourage more book-to-screen projects. This space will complement the Rights Centre, which this year will have a completely renovated layout. As of last year’s edition the Rights Centre is not only open to publishing rights professionals involved in the children’s sector, but also to those active in the adult sector as well as publishers exhibiting at BCBF and BBPlus, thereby serving as a priority venue for the trade in copyrights for children’s content.

With the broadening scope of publishing trends, combined with the BCBF’s growing international dimension – each year sees the arrival of publishers from more and more countries around the world – the fair proposes numerous specialist areas that bring together professionals from the same specific sector or geographical area, or those interested in deepening their knowledge of the same topics: the Comics Corner, the exhibition area dedicated to publishers of comics and graphic novels, one of the fastest growing segments of the publishing sector; the Translators Centre, a space specifically for translators or those who intend to specialise in the translation of children’s literature, and a venue for meetings, seminars and important collaborations; the Audio HQ, a space dedicated to audio as part of BBPlus; PublisHer, an initiative created in 2019 by Bodour Al Qasimi (founder and CEO of Kalimat Group, United Arab Emirates) to empower women in publishing and address the continuing gender imbalance in the industry, which at BCBF 2024 will be holding a series of meetings as well as special awards and networking opportunities. But also the International Bookshop and the Book Lovers’ Bistrot, an area specifically for meetings about the latest developments in publishing, which this year has been expanded and located in the scenic elevated gallery between Hall 25 and Hall 26.

THE AWARDS AT BOLOGNA CHILDREN’S BOOK FAIR

A showcase for the best of the world’s publishing, BCBF influences and guides trends in the sector through its now well-established awards: the BOP - Bologna Prize for the Best Children’s Publishers of the Year acknowledges the best publishers in each area of the world; the BolognaRagazzi Awards for books is divided into several categories, including the special 2024 category The Sea, as well as the new permanent Toddler category; the BolognaRagazzi CrossMedia Award recognises publishing projects that have been successfully transposed onto other media. The awards, announced today at the press conference, also feature the special prize The Extraordinary Award for an Extraordinary Book, awarded to Bambini nascosti by Franco Matticchio, published by Vànvere Edizioni. The book wins for its ability to render a lucid and masterful portrait of the invisibility of childhood, a poetic and disenchanted tribute to all the disappeared, hidden and lost children of all times. And many Italian books have earned special mentions.

Featuring again at the Fair will be the announcement of the Strega Prize Ragazze e Ragazzi for Best Picture Book; the translation competition In Altre Parole, dedicated in this 14^th edition to the Slovenian language as a tribute to Slovenia, Country Guest of Honour 2024; the 6^th edition of the Carla Poesio Award, recognition for the best Italian degree thesis on Children’s Literature. There are also opportunities for those selected for the Illustrators Exhibition with the ARS IN FABULA - Grant Award and the Bologna Children’s Book Fair - Fundación SM International Award for Illustration. The BolognaBookPlus awards: Talking Pictures, for the best visual books from Ukraine; the Indie Authors Book Jacket Award, with the aim of giving visibility to the best covers by self-published authors; and the Bologna Licensing Awards, prizes for licensors/agencies, licensees and retailers related to the development of intellectual property and brands during 2023. The 2024 edition of BCBF sees the introduction of the new Best Licensed Sustainable Project category.

Finally, PublisHer is launching the new PublisHer Excellence Awards to acknowledge female publishing professionals who have made a difference in the industry. But BCBF also offers its world stage for the presentation of important industry prizes: the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, the Hans Christian Andersen Award and the IBBY Reading Promotions Awards are announced during the fair.

THE EXHIBITIONS AT THE BOLOGNA CHILDREN’S BOOK FAIR 2024

Alongside the customary Illustrators Exhibition will be solo exhibitions for Paloma Valdivia, Inês Oliveira and Andrea Antinori (respectively, the illustrators of the cover of the Illustrators Annual 2024, the Fair’s 2024 Visual Identity, and winner of the Bologna Children’s Book Fair - Fundación SM International Award for Illustration) and Mauro Evangelista. Visions. Illustrations 1991 | 2024, dedicated to the recently deceased artist and founder of the School of Illustration.

A new feature is the first edition of the exhibition Chinese Excellence in Children’s Illustration, which brings the best of Chinese illustration to the attention of the publishing world gathered at BCBF; for the first time The Original Art award, presented by the Society of Illustrators of New York will be featuring with the exhibition The Original Art. Celebrating The Fine Art Of Children’s Book Illustration; the collection of the best publishing projects nominated for the BRAW, The BRAW Amazing Bookshelf, plus And then what happens?, an exhibition of the best of contemporary Slovenian illustration, organised by the 2024 Country Guest of Honour; Reading for the Planet: Children’s Books for a Sustainable Future, a selection of books on the theme of sustainability, to draw attention to this crucial issue in collaboration with the United Nations and the International Publishers Association; When Everything Matters, a tribute to Ukrainian illustration, in collaboration with Pictoric and International Book Arsenal Festival; the established Silent Book Contest - Gianni De Conno Award, ending with the BolognaBookPlus exhibition Jackets Off, dedicated to the different interpretations of the cover of War and Peace that have been published around the world.

BOLOGNABOOKPLUS

BBPlus, the area dedicated to generalist publishing, is back for its 4^th consecutive year with more than 50 exhibitors from 19 countries and regions, design exhibitions, competitions and a wide range of training courses for professionals, ranging from self-publishing to the sale of rights, from representation to scouting for authors. Also returning are the Author Ambassador initiatives, whose guest this year is author Neil Packer, as well as a special focus on India.

BOLOGNA LICENSING TRADE FAIR/KIDS

The new edition of BLTF/K will be packed with content and services. In addition to the exhibition area, where more than 1,000 brands and items of intellectual property will be represented, and the events room for brand presentations, the Licensing Business Lounge will host the new TV/Film Rights Centre section. Then the 4^th edition of the International Kids Licensing Days (IKLD): the three-day panel on the latest trends in licensing and publishing will take place from 8 to 10 April, with important focuses on gaming, Artificial Intelligence and adaptations from books to audio-visual formats.

BCBF IN THE CITY       
Like every year, the energy, creativity, ideas, and content that gather at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair are set to overflow from the exhibition halls, filling cultural venues, libraries, schools, and buildings around the city of Bologna in a dispersed festival with a rich and varied line-up of events specifically for the general public of adults and children.

BOOM! - Crescere nei libri is the title of the programme of initiatives in the city (from 4 April to 9 June), organised by the Municipality of Bologna and BolognaFiere, curated by the Libraries and Cultural Welfare Sector together with Hamelin as part of the Bologna Reading Pact, and enjoying the patronage of IBBY - International Board on Books for Young people, Italy. The schedule includes the first exhibition in Italy of the great Belgian illustrator and author Anne Brouillard, as well as more than 40 exhibition events, 74 workshops and 50 meetings with authors.   

Finally, the new Off FAIR*24, curated by Accademia Drosselmeier is a programme that starts in Bologna and transports the wealth of books that feature at the Fair to various Italian and foreign cities throughout the year, thus making them a shared heritage.

For further info bolognachildrensbookfair.com