Catalonia and Balearic Islands are Guests of Honour at the 2017 Bologna Children’s Book Fair.
This territory has long tradition of publishing companies devoted to children’s and juvenile literature going back to the 15th century, with Publicacions de l’Abadia de Montserrat, the oldest publishing operation in Europe, whose activity has never flagged throughout the centuries, the children’s and juvenile literature and illustration sector is the centrepiece of our cultural and publishing tradition today.
The cultural and professional framework of the Catalan-speaking territories provides constant stimulus for writers, illustrators, designers, translators, publishers, booksellers, teachers, researchers, critics, librarians and cultural managers and its strength has given rise to quality creation, knowledge capital and a source of innovation that deserve to be shared with other countries.
The landscape of the children’s and juvenile book publishing industry in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands is mature, rich and diverse, a plethora of independent and innovative outfits and publishing companies that are international in scope and have branches all over the world.
In this land and in the Catalan language, training is available for illustrators, editors, writers and researchers in children’s and juvenile literature that adds to the knowledge and creativity of the sector as a whole.
The programme of activities for Bologna 2017 will be organised by the Institut Ramon Llull in collaboration with the sectors involved and will be entitled “Sharing a Future: Books in Catalan in Bologna 2017”: it will feature illustration from Catalonia and the Balearic Islands and children’s and juvenile books in the Catalan language.
“As Guests of Honour – says the organizers - we will stress the importance of illustration and children’s literature in the Catalan language in the programme of activities and in the exhibitions. Three lines will structure our presence at the Fair: looking to the future, with the conviction that children’s and juvenile literature represents the future of the world, an optimistic, new and modern future. This includes the certainty that children are the drivers of this future and that books help their dreams to grow. It is a future that must be shared, because it is based on everyone’s shared responsibility that we can provide children and young people from all countries with opportunities to read books of literary and artistic quality and because we are convinced of books’ transformational ability to make a better world. We will do our part with books in Catalan, because children’s and juvenile books in Catalan contribute to this future by featuring children’s literature and illustration in our rich cultural and publishing tradition.”