Conference on the pandemic: An Interruption or an opportunity

BolognaBookPlus, the new Bologna Children’s Book Fair initiative aimed at general trade publishing, is launching its headline conference Forging Forwards, online on 14 June 2021. Bodour Al Qasimi, The International Publishers Association and Richard Charkin, Mensch Publishing are the co chairs for the day, and The International Publishers Association is the conference partner.

Attendees will be treated to an unprecedented speaker line-up from over 15 different countries, discussing publishing post pandemic, with conference themes: next generation readers and audiences; education, technology and equality; innovation and business models; sustainability and taking local content global. The compelling programme will be complemented by five On Demand webinars covering: global CEO hour; audio publishing; copyright; children’s publishing, and accessibility. Each panel discussion will be preceded by a 10 minute Inspire talk by a global leader or luminary in the industry. Inspire speaker highlights include Caroline Michel, Hay Festival; Allen Lau, Wattpad and Annette Thomas, Guardian Media Group. India’s Siddharth Jain, StoryInk is speaking on the taking local content global panel, alongside Porter Anderson, Publishing Perspectives, USA; Enrico Poli, Zanichelli Venture, Italy and Veronique Fontain, Fon Fon, Canada.