Event Highlights

The market focus will present the latest figures of the Italian publishing market to foreign operators, with an insight on the children’s book market. This year the seminar will also host a short in-depth look at the publishing market in Greece, the guest of honor at the Fair.

Alongside their huge cultural impact, manga have recently become a global publishing phenomenon on a commercial level as well. This panel explores the specifics and potential of one of the fastest growing market segments.

The recent release of new powerful Artificial Intelligence models, with acclaimed tools like chatGPT, are forcing us to rethink how we work and create. But is AI a threat, or an opportunity?

In the digital space children and young adults experience news forms of reading and storytelling in complex narrative worlds in which books become webcomics and webnovels, podcasts and audiobooks, video and tv series, immersive and interactive stories. Now in its third edition, the BolognaRagazzi Crossmedia Award (BRCMA), organised in the framework of the European project Aldus Up and in collaboration with Mamamo', is an international award for excellence and innovation of publishing projects that expand their narrative universe through different media in a particularly effective way, identifying narratives that have been able to migrate from traditional forms of publishing to other platforms. Starting with this edition, the BRCMA dedicates a new category to digital libraries that are able to offer reading experiences on the screen in an effective way.

The Folio Society launches the second Folio Book Illustration Award, announcing the story, the judges, what they will be looking for in the artwork, and how to enter.

Shining the spotlight on five key markets using Nielsen BookScan insights. This session will explore the leading trends for each market including the UK, Italy and Greece. It will also highlight common shared themes across the territories as well as what differentiates them. 

The IBBY Press Conference features premium information about IBBY's prominent activities and events: announcement of the 2024 Hans Christian Andersen Award candidates; presentation of the 2023 selection of Outstanding Books for Young People with Disabilities; presentation of the 2024 IBBY World Congress in Trieste (Italy) and much more.

Tales of EUkraine (TEUk) is an opportunity for European publishers to support their Ukrainian counterparts and to display their solidarity to the most vulnerable victims of the conflict by doing what they do best: publishing books. This project will bring together European and Ukrainian publishers to deliver bilingual children’s books to several communities hosting Ukrainian refugees, fostering integration and mutual understanding. TEUk has built a catalogue of Ukrainian children’s books available for publishers to acquire the rights to and publish in bilingual editions. The project partners will purchase the part of the print run to be distributed to displaced children and organise its distribution to the Ukrainian refugee communities, whilst publishers will be invited to promote the book to their national communities. TEUk will facilitate the integration of Ukrainian children in their host countries, increase the knowledge of Ukrainian culture across the Union, and support the Ukrainian publishing sector in a time of dire need. TEUk is co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.

To celebrate its 60! Candles, BCBF dedicates an event to Pierre Marchand, who started Gallimard Jeunesse 50 years ago and was a key figure for the Bologna Children's Book Fair. Over the years, Gallimard Jeunesse has acquired a worldwide reputation for excellence and creativity. Pierre Marchand was one of the first captains of this great adventure. Discover the incredible story of this man of genius, creator at heart, his links with Bologna and more generally the story of Gallimard Jeunesse, which created hundreds of collections, revealed thousands of French and foreign authors and illustrators.

For the 6th edition, the Bologna Licensing Awards will be announced at a dedicated event at the heart of the Bologna Licensing Trade Fair/Kids. The award is a unique achievement, as it rewards the most innovative projects based on children and teen brands and products at an international level.

In the field of education, edtech companies are competing to launch AI services. But is Artificial Intelligence able to write full-length novels? Not yet. However, AI can reverse this industry with ‘AI drawing platforms’ that change creative original sentences to imaginary paintings automatically. In this way books, turned into images, can become more accessible. This means that any talented storyteller could become a bookmaker and a publisher if they adapt their writing to the needs of these platforms. A new era full of opportunities is coming, let’s wait and see!

On the occasion of the 15th edition of the BolognaRagazzi Award Opera Prima, an event aimed at celebrating the success of the award established to highlight and provide a stage for the finest illustrated children’s books by young talents. Together with two of the past editions winners, we will retrace the steps that led to the birth of this section and which has grown since 2009 exceeding 200 first works in competition. An international success that this year sees the winners of each edition and twenty debut books selected from the entries to the Prize, presented to the world's publishing elite in the Amazing Bookshelf exhibition.

This year the International Women’s Day falls during the Book Fair. To celebrate this lucky coincidence, a special programme of events is presented by BCBF in partnership with PublisHer, an informal networking body – founded by Bodour Al Qasimi (Kalimat Publishing Group) - that seeks to increase the number of women in leadership roles within the publishing industry.

PublisHer Conference

10.10 – 11.10 The Role of Women in Challenging the Status Quo in Children’s Books

11.10 – 12.10 Women Helping Women in Reaching the Heights of Global Publishing Governance Institutions

12.10 – 13.10 The Role of Mentorship in Developing Emerging Publishing Markets

Censorship is an ancient practice. Whether it be Cato the Censor, or later Popes to blacklist certain books, the goal is always the same: to control, redact and censor, in other words, to stop disclosure. Censorship takes place in many sectors – the press, communications, politics and cinema. Totalitarian regimes exert strict controls. But why is there censorship in more democratic countries? And why, around the world, are some children’s books banned? Long-debated, this issue will be a discussion focus at Bologna Children’s Book Fair, following up on David Levithan’s troubling and visionary article in the New York Times of 23 September 2022 entitled Standing up to the new censorship. In his article, Levithan - America’s 11th most censored author according to PEN America - talks about how censorship today has become a tool used to attempt to deprive communities of their voices and erase their history. A panel of experts, including publishers and scholars from around the world, will give their views of the state of children’s book banning around the world and of what is being done.

This round table starts a conversation between African productions and those from Latin and North America. Authors, mediators, and editors will exchange ideas from a common source that will spread with more or less ease according to region. The recognition today of a black literature, aimed at an Afro-descendant community is on the agenda. Understanding what place this occupies in the market, and among the majority of readers, is a central theme.

Announcement of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award 2023, broadcast live from Stockholm.

BBPlus' author Author Ambassador Loyd Grossman, in conversation with Richard Charkin about his work.

A panel discussion with seven Children’s Laureates and reading ambassadors from around the world.

Literary experts debate the global challenge of how to make the past and its literature palatable.

Based on its current population growth, the African continent will be the home to some of the most populous nations on earth in the next 50 years. How can African and international publishers seize the opportunities presented by this population growth to create generations of readers of the future?

The translation into tactile wooden panels of 5 works by 5 selected artists in the Illustrators Exhibition for visually impaired and blind visitors.

Prizes for books in translation can have a real impact on the author's and the writer’s careers, publishing sales, and gaining visibility for books of this kind. Grants for translation are also very important to allow this lingual adaptation to happen. These subjects will be discussed by a panel of experts.

Encouraging reading from early childhood, especially in under-privileged communities, is a proven way of forming life-long readers and reading families. Based on the experience of the Nati per leggere Project and its transfer to Parelheiros, a peripheral neighborhood in São Paulo, Brazil, passing through the peripheral communities of Capetown, and the project promoted by the Ministry of Culture of Croatia, this session reflects on the importance of promoting reading in disadvantaged children. Identifying, and publishing for, specific target audiences such as these is very important.

Incontro con la giuria e la vincitrice del Premio Poesio 2023 Caterina Foglieri con la tesi "Tra voli e cadute. Gli atterraggi di fortuna nella letteratura per l’infanzia" (Università di Bologna).

Official presentation of IBBY's 39th International Congress. Chiara Carminati, author, and Roberto Piumini, author and honorary chairman of the Scientific Committee of the 2024 Congress, talk about what it means to "make a revolution" with quality books for children. This is the leading theme of the IBBY International Congress to be held in Trieste on August 30, 31 and September 1, 2024, in which Italy, returns as host country after 66 years. In Trieste, an enchanting city where cultures, languages, literature, music, science and history intertwine.

As the race to carbon net zero is upon us, how do we as a publishing industry become much more environmentally neutral? Everyone in the supply chain has a role to play, action to take and education to spread, in our book production, our distribution and the responsibility we hold in what content we publish. 

Art has always been a medium for communicating ideas, self-expression, protest, and solidarity. Amidst Russia’s war in Ukraine, illustration became a powerful tool that helps Ukrainians to spread the truth about what’s happening in their country, to share their emotions and stories with the world. So what it’s like to live through war? How can artwork become an instrument or even a weapon? How to keep working while in danger? What is the role of creators today? And what it’s like to be Ukrainian? These are the questions the panel, made up offamous prize-winning Ukrainian illustrators, will answer.

Six finalist Greek jacket covers are reviewed and discussed, and the winner is announced.

BCBF hosts every other year the winners of two prestigious children’s book awards in the arts, the BIB – Biennial of Illustration Bratislava and the Hans Christian Andersen Award, to create the cover of the Illustrators Annual: the catalogue collecting all the works of the artists selected for the Illustrators Exhibition. The 2023 Illustrators Annual cover has been created by Suzy Lee (Korea), winner of the 2022 H.C. Andersen Award.

Book Dash works with creative professionals to make beautiful picture books in just 12 hours. 2023 will see the BCBF host the inaugural Book Dash outside of Africa. Join us in a reading of the two books created on the first two days of the Fair and meet the talented African writers, illustrators and designers who made them. Hear from Book Dash about their grand vision that "Every child should own a hundred books by the age of five".

Last year, at the Bologna Book Fair, Ukraine's stand was empty because the fair was held a month after the start of the full-scale invasion. There was a promise at the booth to return. What was the year like for Ukrainian publishers and illustrators, whether children's books were published in Ukraine and whether new stories were created.

Barbara Ferraro e Silvana Sola, Alir, presentano l'autrice che racconterà i suoi programmi come ambasciatrice della lettura.

Italo Calvino loved and knew very well the history of Italian illustration. He would certainly have been pleased with BCBF's tribute to him one hundred years after his birth with the exhibition and contest "Eccellenze Italiane. Figures for Italo Calvino". Visual culture is an important aspect of cultural, aesthetic, imaginative education. Promoting it, stimulating it, making it accessible to children is a commitment. 

Every child has the right to a safe home. Yet, children all over the world often face moments of doubt, insecurity, fear, loss or threat. This is where the power of stories comes in, because books can offer shelter, give hope and create awareness. Stories have the potential to show you that you are not alone, and that others are in the same situation. Books can offer ideas and scenarios that are beyond our own imagination, showing us a different and, perhaps, a better world. Because IBBY is committed to the right of every child to become a reader – we want our third European Regional Conference to send out a signal of hope in these challenging times. Our keynote speaker, the child and youth psychiatrist Winny Ang, will highlight the importance of stories for a child’s development and personal happiness. Furthermore, successful projects from France, Germany, Ireland and Slovenia will provide inspiration for all professionals in children's literature. And, of course, the programme will feature enthusiastic creators of books: Fabio Geda, Andriy Lesiv and Romana Romanyshin, Margaret Anne Suggs and Edward van de Vendel. The broad range and potential of children's literature is waiting for you!

Find out the programme and the speakers: https://www.ibby-europe.org/