Nineth stop: New York!

In recent years, the trade in publishing rights between Italy and the United States has seen significant growth, in step with the strengthening of the bond that has always linked BCBF to this city. A bond built on hard work and a focus on children’s publishing and illustration, fields in which Bologna and New York have achieved a level of excellence. But, above all, it is a bond that continues to take shape in new projects: not least, the collaboration with UN Publications and UN Women, which led to the creation of an exhibition of young readers’ books curated by BCBF at the United Nations headquarters, and the collaboration with the Society of Illustrators (SOI), a true cornerstone institution for the world of illustration, which has brought previews of its outstanding exhibitions to Bologna. The SOI also organises the MoCCA Festival, a two-day event dedicated to comics in which BCBF took part just a few months ago.                                     

To further strengthen this fruitful partnership, this year the Fair is organising “Bridging Markets: Women in Children’s Publishing from Italy and North America”, a day dedicated to rights trading among Italian and US publishers and agents. Scheduled to take place at the Society of Illustrators in New York on 9 June – as part of the Zig Zag Festival, an illustration festival organised by the Italian Cultural Institute in New York and curated by Hamelin with Steven Guarnaccia, in collaboration with BCBF – the initiative will include matchmaking sessions, networking opportunities and a panel discussion open to the public, “Picture Books in Transition: A Decade of Creative Exchange Between North America and Italy”: Tara Walker (Tundra Books), Kirsten Hall (Catbird Agency), Giulia Rizzo (Terre di Mezzo Editore), Maddalena Lucarelli (FATATRAC), and Debbie Bibo (Debbie Bibo Agency), moderated by Maria Russo (Union Square Kids), will explore how business relationships between the American and Italian children’s publishing markets have evolved over time.

Participating Italian publishers include: Il Castoro, Orecchio Acerbo, Corraini Edizioni, FATATRAC, Terre di Mezzo, Quinto Quarto, Minibombo, Topipittori.            

US publishers and publishing professionals include: Elsewhere Editions, Archipelago; Phaidon Kids; Christy Ottaviano Books (Little, Brown & Co); Chronicle Books; Eerdmans Books for Young Readers; Enchanted Lion Books; FSG Books for Young Readers – Macmillan Children's Publishing Group; Hippo Park (Astra Books for Young Readers); Kin & Co. Literary Scouting; Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers; Tundra Book Group; Union Square Kids.                      

This initiative, in collaboration with the Debbie Bibo Agency, not only creates significant opportunities for exchange and collaboration between Italian and North American publishers specialised in children’s literature, but also further bolsters BCBF’s roles as an international reference point and a bridge between different publishing communities, professions and cultures, fostering dialogue and the growth of the sector worldwide.