Illustrators Café

Winner The Extraordinary Award... For An Extraordinary Book: Bambini nascosti (Hidden Children), Vànvere edizioni, Italy. Text and illustrations by Franco Matticchio.

The Extraordinary Award for an Extraordinary Book is a special prize by Bologna Children's Book Fair created to acknowledge a title that has touched the Jury in an exceptional way.

The exhibition "Chinese Excellence in Children’s Illustration" showcases the best contemporary Chinese illustrators selected each year by a different Jury of leading Chinese and international experts, to present them to the international publishing community at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair. The exhibition 2024 (HALL 30, B46-C33) and the catalogue feature the 15 artists selected by the Jury: 3 winners and 12 finalists.

The IBBY Press Conference presents the work of IBBY throughout the year and highlights its most important events, including the 39th IBBY World Congress (Trieste, Italy, 30 Aug - 1 Sept, 2024) and the 2024 International Children's Book Day. It is also the much-expected occasion to discover the winners of the 2024 Hans Christian Andersen Award and the IBBY Reading Promotions Awards.

Presentation of the finalists of the 2024 Silent Book Contest - Gianni De Conno Award, the first international competition dedicated to the wordless book, this year in its 11th edition.

"L'occhio del mondo", Italian leg of L'œil du monde, involves 12 independent picture book publishers from around the world: A Buen Paso (Spain), Bakame (Rwanda), Baobab (Czech Republic), Jaimimage (South Korea), Magikon (Norway), MeMo (France), One Stroke (Japan), Petra Ediciones (Mexico), Planeta Tangerina (Portugal), Tara Books (India), Topipittori (Italy), and Wytwórnia (Poland). Twelve publishers as diverse as the countries they are from, but united by a common vision of childhood. Created in 2023 by Éditions MeMo, L'œil du monde celebrates a year of activities in libraries, public schools, and associations in every one of the twelve countries. This round table is the opportunity to present the results of the project, and reflect on the role of independent publishing in an increasingly multilingual world. L'occhio del mondo, Italian leg of L'œil du monde, co-financed by the "Creative Europe" project of the EU. First created by Éditions MeMo, L'occhio del mondo is curated by Topipittori and Hamelin.

Announcement of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award 2024, broadcast live from Stockholm.

After twenty years and more than fifty books published, in his first book for "grown-ups", The Secret Door (Terre di Mezzo Editore) Mac Barnett tells why children's literature is literature in its own right and why children are the ideal readers. «The best children’s literature is as good as the best literature humans have produced».

The United Nations recently celebrated 75 years of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the key document outlining the rights and freedoms of every human being. Children’s book authors, illustrators and publishers from around the world gathered at BCBF will read the thirty articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in their native language. This multilingual reading will inspire readers and listeners alike to think about how human rights, particularly those of young citizens, continue to be a central theme in 2024, and why we need to keep fighting to make them a reality for everyone, everywhere.

In this wide-ranging conversation, noted historian and critic Leonard Marcus talks with Marcella Terrusi about his path-finding, decades-long research into the history of children's books and their illustration, and shares some of his favourite discoveries about the origins, development and increasingly global reach of an art form that is only now beginning to enjoy the cultural standing it has long deserved.

This training initiative, beginning Autumn 2024, focuses on the design of illustrated picture books. It systematically covers the fundamental stages of the creative process: analyzing and narratively scanning the text, storyboarding, and creating final illustrations along with a proposed cover design. In addition to the design process, the course provides insights into the dynamics of the publishing market, equipping illustrators with the necessary knowledge to present and promote their projects. Professional tools and skills, such as book presentation cards, editorial research, and techniques for contacting and engaging with a publishing house, are also covered. All participants will work on topics provided by editorial teams, allowing them to immediately engage with the editorial reality and develop a book project with inherent potential for publication. The main instructor is the illustrator and designer Francesca Chessa, with professionals from the publishing field contributing on specific topics related to the illustrated picture book industry. Access to the course, limited to 16 participants, is granted through a portfolio selection contest. The book projects created during the course will be showcased at the Bologna Children's Book Fair 2025, forming the initial core of an exhibition dedicated to African illustration. This initiative is a collaboration between BCBF, Aké Arts and Book Festival, in Nigeria, and Mimaster Illustrazione.

From 30th August to 1st September 2024, Italy will host the 39th International Congress of IBBY - International Board on Books for Young People. More than 600 participants from the world of children's books (writers, illustrators, translators, publishers, librarians, booksellers, educators and reading promoters, scholars, trainers, volunteers, health professionals and more) are expected to gather in Trieste from all continents around the main theme "Join the Revolution. Giving every child good books". Along the path leading to the Congress, IBBY Italia has invited Roberto Innocenti (the first Italian author to receive the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2008 after Gianni Rodari in 1970) to contribute to the theme of "Literature as a driver of change". Paola Vassalli, author and curator, Executive Board IBBY Italia and Valentina Zucchi, curator Palazzo Medici Riccardi, Florence will dialogue with the author on the role of literature, in particular youth literature, in building society and promoting revolutionary practices in education and within our communities. Introduced by Elisabetta Lippolis, Vice President IBBY Italia, coordinator IBBY Congress 2024

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 Illustrators Annual cover: the catalogue collecting all the works of the artists selected for the Illustrators Exhibition. The 2024 Illustrators Annual cover has been created by Paloma Valdivia, Chile, winner of the 2023 BIB Grand Prix.

After an incredible career and more than 40 illustrated books, Anne Brouillard finally arrives in Italy. A keen observer of nature and a master of impression and atmosphere, Brouillard questions the meaning of life itself, evoked by a train passing through a landscape, the nocturnal adventure of a puppet falling from its owner's stroller, or the life of a goofy, talking dog. In this panel, Brouillard talks about her art and her vision, which naturally leads her to confront childhood: because children, just like her, cannot help but wonder how and why we are here, on earth, spinning.