61st Bologna Children’s Book Fair

2024 is the year of the 61st edition of the Bologna Children’s Book Fair (BCBF). BCBF is due to take place at BolognaFiere from 8 to 11 April 2024 together with its “sister” events BolognaBookPlus(BBPlus), the extension dedicated to generalist publishing produced in collaboration with the Italian Publishers Association (AIE), and Bologna Licensing Trade Fair/Kids (BLTF/K), specifically for brands and the licensing of content for children and young people. After the festive edition of 2023 celebrating 60 years of BCBF, the halls of the BolognaFiere Exhibition Centre hosts a new edition this year featuring an expected 1,500 exhibitors from approximately 100 countries and regions of the world together with new initiatives providing in-depth analysis and support for the global publishing industry made possible thanks to the support of ITA-the Italian Trade Agency and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI). Also marking an edition filled with new stimuli and looking keenly to the future is the admission of Bologna Children’sBook Fair as a Patron Member of the International Publishers Association (IPA), the largest worldwide federation of national, regional, and specialist publishers’ associations, based in Geneva and founded in 1896 in Paris to promote and defend copyright and publishing freedom.

Elena Pasoli, Director of Bologna Children’s Book Fair, states,“Becoming a patron member of the IPA – International Publishers Association – represents for us an important recognition of the work we have been doing for over sixty years inthe service of the international children’s publishing community and, for the past four years, with BolognaBookPlus, of general publishing. A service that is first and foremost valuable dialogue and debate, alongside the sharing of those fundamental principles related to copyright protection and freedom of publication. As a book fair – across the trade publishing spectrum – being part of the IPA will be an additional stimulus for us to collaborate and participate actively and constructively in the debate around the great challenges facing the publishing industry at such a complex historical moment as this.”

For the 2024 edition Slovenia is Guest of Honour Country, an opportunity for publishers from all over the world to experience the country’s rich publishing scene, promoted at the fair through the exhibition that showcases the works of 59 contemporary Slovenian illustrators, plus numerous discussion panels, as well as various activities in the city for the general public.