As organiser, BCBF participates in the planning of CCBF events with a series of initiatives aimed at boosting opportunities to raise the profiles of its international exhibitors – from the lounges dedicated to the finalists and winners of the Strega Prize Ragazze e Ragazzi and the BOP-Bologna Prize for the Best Children’s Publishers of the Year, to the exhibition that brings together the winning titles of the 2022, 2023 and 2024 editions of the BolognaRagazzi Awards – and providing opportunities for in-depth analysis about some of the most pressing current issues for the industry as well as a glimpse of the best children's book production worldwide.
An overview of the CCBF programme can be found at this link.
Chinese Excellence in Children’s Illustration: a new series of exhibitions organised by BCBF/BolognaFiere, China South Publishing & Media Group Co. Ltd, and Sidee Cultural Communication Co. Ltd, continues with its second edition. Replicating the successful format of Italian Excellence (which held its fourth edition in 2023 and was successfully presented in more than 50 countries during several international tours), Chinese Excellence aims to
showcase the talents of Chinese illustration by presenting a selection of the best illustrations by both well-known and unpublished contemporary artists each year, selected by a jury composed of Chinese and international publishing and illustration experts. The finalists of the selection were presented at CCBF, while the winners, and the exhibition displaying their illustrations, will feature in Bologna.
Marco Polo. Traveller, merchant, storyteller: on the occasion of the seven hundredth anniversary of the death of the great traveller, merchant and storyteller who was the first to act as a bridge between Italy and China, a selection of international titles for children and young people (curated by Giannino Stoppani Cooperativa Sociale/Accademia Drosselmeier) guided visitors on a journey through time and space to explore the life of Marco Polo, thus celebrating the bond that has linked the two cultures for centuries. Accompanying the exhibition was the lectio magistralis ‘Marco Polo’s Description of the World and its Readers: A Travel Account Mistaken for a Fantasy Book’ in which Professor Alessandro Barbero explained how Marco Polo’s travel diary has become a true work of legendary fantasy for future generations. The event was chaired by Ivan Canu (illustrator and Director of Mimaster Illustration) and included an opening address by Elena Pasoli (Director of Bologna Children’s Book Fair) and Professor Francesco D’Arelli (Director of the Italian Cultural Institute in Shanghai). The meeting was held in collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute of Shanghai, as was the book exhibition and the lectio magistralis Professor Barbero gave at the prestigious Shanghai Library, one of the world’s largest libraries.
A Fabulous Wardrobe. Fashion, Clothing and Threads in Children’s Picture Books: created with the patronage of the University of Bologna’s Rimini Campus, the exhibition showcases a selection of books featuring the best of children’s publishing, divided into 6 sections, with a total of 150 books from 21 countries. The exhibition path will follow the traces of embroidery and explore patterns that take on surprising shapes and ever-changing identities, investigating the relationship between childhood and clothing, between dressing and being dressed, evoking real and imagined wardrobes by discovering epochs, styles, techniques, anecdotes and languages of fashion from every era, in an endless game of quotations and cross-references. A journey through so many different aspects of the relationship between fashion, childhood and storytelling, because in the colourful and well-designed world of children’s books, fashion goes beyond being an art form, inspiring and nourishing the sensibilities and innovative thinking of the youngest children.
Accompanying the exhibition was the conference “A Fabulous Wardrobe: Threads of Imagination. Where Children’s Books Meet Textiles and Fashion”, a discussion between publishing professionals chaired by Silvana Sola (Professor of History of Illustration, ISIA Urbino) and Marcella Terrusi (Professor at the Department of Sciences for the Quality of Life, University of Bologna), both co-curators of the exhibition together with Mariaelena Schiavo (Special Projects Manager Bologna Children's Book Fair). Speakers include: Justyna Karpinska (Senior Foreign Rights Manager, Wydawnictwo Dwie Siostry, Poland), Jon Klassen (author and illustrator, USA), Giulia Rizzo (Deputy Editorial Director, Terre di mezzo, Italy), Kristian Steinberg (Director of Education, Istituto Marangoni Shanghai, Sweden), Emily Sutton (artist, illustrator, Print Maker, UK), Wu Binrong (Hua'er) (author, editor, curator, China) Xiao Aozi (artist, Associate Professor, School of Design and Art, Hunan University, China). The conference will be followed by a guided tour of the exhibition.