Programma Eventi 2024

A crucial component of accessibility is providing reliable alternative descriptions for images. However, crafting alternative descriptions for images stands out as a particularly challenging task for publishers, due to the need for specialised knowledge and the amount of time to ensure accuracy. This is especially pronounced when attempting to make backlist titles accessible, as they were not originally designed with accessibility in mind. Fondazione LIA will explore the world in which AI meets the alternative description of images with insights from professionals in the field, exposing both the possibilities through a showcase of the options available and the concrete applications already adopted by the industry.

Il lupo delle fiabe come non lo avete mai guardato. Non sempre la verità corrisponde a quello che ci viene narrato… Il lupo delle favole, stanco di essere dipinto come il cattivo, chiama a processo gli autori più famosi da Esopo a Disney, dai fratelli Grimm ad Andersen. Come testimoni a favore del lupo si presentano inaspettatamente i protagonisti dei grandi classici della letteratura per l'infanzia: Cappuccetto Rosso, la mamma dei sette capretti, i tre porcellini e tanti altri. Chi vincerà il processo? Un modo nuovo per rileggere le fiabe in chiave moderna e imparare qualcosa di più sugli autori di tutti i tempi.

The advent of AI and rise of Generation Z are catalyzing sweeping changes in the publishing industry and society more broadly. As AI enables automation that doubles economic efficiencies, it raises profound questions about how to allocate newly freed-up human time and attention. Simultaneously, Gen Z's penchant for questioning established norms is accelerated by AI's instant access to collective knowledge. Literature stands to be reinvigorated as young influencers use AI to enable bold new writing that reexamines fundamental assumptions about how the world operates. The result could be a publishing renaissance built on innovative ideas and original expression. This session will explore how the interplay between AI and Gen Z thinking is shaping everything from publishing houses to educational institutions to democratic governance. Beyond transforming the printed page, these forces promise to redefine learning, literature, and the very purpose of human endeavor. Nadim will look at both the opportunities and ethical challenges presented by AI's broad influence spanning publishing, education, and democracy.

Andre Breedt, Nielsen Book, will present data about English language book sales in European markets, as well as highlighting global trends that translate, and those that don't.

A short history of Hoepli as a publisher and bookseller in Milan with a specific focus on the post-Covid years and the new challenges.

Starting from June 2025, the European Accessibility Act will require all products and services on the European market to meet accessibility requirements. In this presentation, Fondazione LIA will showcase its services to support your company in its journey to comply with the accessibility standards.

The pressures on who can say what, who can read what, or what is acceptable to be published are increasing around the world. Organisations representing the international book sector have come together to demonstrate the intrinsically linked freedoms at the heart of the book sector: the freedom of expression, the freedom to publish, and the freedom to read. This session will look at the pressures authors, booksellers, librarians and publishers face and what the sector can do to ensure these freedoms are enjoyed by everyone. 

In 2024 there are 8.1 billion people on the planet and 5.3 billion of them are online, using a device that could be used to read/listen to digitally-published content, yet many publishers are still partying like its 1999. Or 2010. In 2010 then were just 53 million internet users across the whole of Africa. Today there are over 600 million, and the continent is still only at 44% internet penetration. By comparison, the USA has just 312 million people online. The European Union has only 398 million internet users. In Asia, Indonesia has 212 million people online, Bangladesh 130 million, Pakistan 101 million, and India 8333 million.

Tales of EUkraine (TEUk) is a European project co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union. 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. TEUk has built a catalogue of Ukrainian children’s books available for publishers to acquire the rights to and publish them 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. As the project approaches its halfway point, the consortium will present the results achieved so far – with tens of thousands of bilingual children’s books already published and distributed in several European countries and many more to come.

The possibilities and perils of Generative AI have dramatically shaken every industry this year including the publishing world. The need of the hour is to bring a human centered approach to design the use of technology ethically and responsibly for our readers, especially for our young readers at the Bologna children’s book fair. From AI, AR/VR, AirPods and Amazon Kindle to Nintendo Wii, Whatsapp, Microsoft Zoom all A to Z technologies is rapidly changing the way our young readers create, curate, share and read. These new technologies have both enhancing and degrading influences on our readers. As readers, we love being more immersive in our reading but we are easily distracted and less focused on actual content. We have become more exploratory and experimental in what we read and at the same time we acquire less depth in subject matter. We feel better informed about any topic and at same time feel less compelled to act and change, impacting the fundamental reason why we read. We are surrounded by over information and yet see gaps in knowledge and understanding. We constantly seek for social validation from our peer group to read something and at the same time want hyper personalized unique content that is just for us and not to be shared. The content we publish has become more affordable and at the same time it has become less accessible to all. There is more to read for everyone and yet not fully inclusive. As a result, as a publishing industry, we are excited and at the same time confused about how to use technology to enhance our reader’s experience for the better. Not to worry, when we understand how evolution has wired our brains to read and how technology is further rewiring our brains today, we can make better decisions on how to design for our evolving readers. Based on disciplines such as human centered design and behavior economics, we can design AI technology that can make reading useful, usable, beautiful, joyful, sustainable and responsible for every single reader around the world. In this session let us draw our attention to the human holding the AI, than on just AI itself. This could open us to a lot of opportunities and possibilities for the publishing world to change the world for the better.

Quando il testo e le immagini si fondono in una storia: le difficoltà e le gioie dietro al processo creativo.

Starting from June 2025, the European Accessibility Act will require all products and services on the European market to meet accessibility requirements. In this presentation, Fondazione LIA will showcase its services to support your company in its journey to comply with the accessibility standards.

The dynamic intersection of AI, VR, and AR in publishing is a fact. Innovative authoring tools and cutting-edge solutions are changing the digital content creation and distribution. How can these technologies and tools really empower authors in crafting immersive experience able to engage audiences like never before? How can the publisher unlock the potential of AI-driven creativity and redefine the future of publishing and storytelling? Enjoy our presentation to talk about this incoming publishing revolution.

Find out more about The Illustrators Survival Corner.

In various book markets worldwide, a significant portion of the literature available is comprised of translations from foreign languages into the native language. Publishers and booksellers face the task of effectively marketing and selling these translated books to the general public. One key question arises: do marketing and promotion techniques differ for translated literature? Additionally, what challenges and opportunities do publishers and booksellers encounter in the sale of translated books? Moreover, how does the author and translator contribute to the marketing process when their book is available in multiple languages? Lastly, the panel will provide practical steps and advice for creating a successful campaign for translated literature.

Uomini e donne, indimenticabili della Letteratura, raccontano un momento che ha segnato la loro vita... Un esperimento che ogni lettore può fare.

La fiaba immortale di Cappuccetto Rosso narrata cambiando il punto di vista. Nasce così una nuova storia, delicata, inclusiva e poetica in cui il bene e il male si scontrano con effetti magici ma anche si confondono perché la verità non è mai univoca. Una fiaba che conserva la potenza evocativa di quella classica insegnando a tutti noi che le proprie paure e le proprie debolezze vanno affrontate con coraggio per poter trovare la propria strada.