The successful partnership continues between Bologna Children’s Book Fair and Pitti Immagine Bimbo, the international kids’ fashion show. Started in 2016, the collaboration brings together the creative universe of BCBF and Pitti Bimbo excellence in kids’ fashion. The upcoming edition will be held at Fortezza da Basso in Florence from 17 to 19 January 2019.
Curated by Bologna Children’s Book Fair for Pitti Immagine Bimbo, the Extraordinary Library project returns to Florence for the third year with a selection of 100 books for toddlers. The Extraordinary Library Toddler Books! to be presented at Pitti Immagine Bimbo is a preview of what’s new on the international publishing scene for very young readers. Conceived and designed for one to three years olds, these books are the product of the in-depth research into very young readers being conducted by the international publishing world. The formats have been carefully designed. Some are in easy-to-handle mini-format with strong, heavy-duty pages produced to the highest papermaking standards. Their short stories and captivating characters will be a delight for little children to listen to or follow on the page. At the opposite end of the spectrum are the large-format wordless picturebooks - worlds for toddlers to lose themselves in, exploring the pages for hidden details and learning about complex as well as simple forms.
International ‘toddler book’ publishing is abuzz with exciting, adventurous experimentation, the volumes introducing the very young to art, architecture and many different expressive languages. The exhibition is curated for BCBF by Silvana Sola (Giannino Stoppani Cooperativa Culturale) and Marcella Terrusi (University of Bologna). In 2019, Bologna Children’s Book Fair will have a special toddler book prize category as part of its BolognaRagazzi Award line up.
The January 2019 edition sees illustration once again at the heart of the project through the exclusive Infinity box of Pitti Bimbo 88 with its special selection of videos of famous characters from the world of children literature, from cartoons to films: the protagonists of this video-art gallery are also 25 artists of the Bologna Children's Book Fair, already chosen for the project Off the Page...and into the World of Fashion, and selected by the Pitti team from the artists of the Illustrators Exhibition.
The selected artists are:
Monia Antonelli (Italy), Miren Asiain Lora (Spain), Mohammad Barrangi Fashtami (Uk), Masha Bazilevskaya (Russia), Davide Bonazzi (Italy), Ana Bustelo (Spain), Beatrice Cerocchi (Italy), Julien Chung (Canada), Francisco Cunha (Uruguay), Julia Díaz (Mexico), Caterina Gabelli & Sara Maragotto (Italy), Alireza Goldouzian (Iran), Sara Guerra Rusconi (Switzerland), Monica Hernandez (Italy), Eunah Hwang (Korea), Seong Hye Hwang (Korea), Catherine Kuhlmann (Germany), Ahra Kwon (Korea), Daniela Pareschi (Italy), Gina Rosas Moncada (Colombia), Rika Sakai(Japan), Amir Shabanipour (Iran), Hye Ran Son (Korea), Issa Watanabe (Peru), Monica Zani (Italy).
Another event partnered by Pitti and the Children’s Book Fair is Nice Licensing. Following its successful debut, this second edition is again organized in partnership with the Bologna Licensing Trade Fair, Italy’s only licensing trade show and held as a specialist section of Bologna Children's Book Fair. Nice Licensing is where kids’ fashions meet the world of licensing.