In-person Bologna Children’s Book Fair: a resounding success!

The 59th edition of the Bologna Children’s Book Fair – BCBF, together with the Bologna Licensing Trade Fair/Kids and the first in-person edition of BolognaBookPlus – BBPlus, created in collaboration with AIE (Association of Italian Publishers) and aimed at the general trade publishing market, successfully addressed a wider professional audience in the global publishing industry.

The statistics…

Four days finally back in person in the halls of the Bologna Exhibition Centre, which witnessed the arrival of 1,070 exhibitors from 90 countries, including Guest of Honour Sharjah, and a programme of 18 exhibitions and more than 250 live events. A fair packed with content and detailed focus sessions this year registered attendance that was a 25% lower than in 2019, the most recent in- person edition. This was an unexpectedly positive result for the Bologna Children’s Book Fair that, given the difficult international situation, the attendance of 21,432 visitors – with over 40% of professionals coming from abroad – with both gratitude and optimism.

Towards peace in the world…

The return to an in-person format was made even more warm-hearted by the solidarity of exhibitors and visitors, united in their support for Ukrainian colleagues and all the Russian illustrators, authors and independent publishers that oppose the war.

Online statistics…

There were significant results also for the BCBF digital platform: more than 2 million views on the website, double the number achieved at the last in-person edition in 2019, 200,000 unique users (61% from abroad), more than 51,000 users registered for the online services, +10% unique users connected during the four days of the event, compared with 2021, double the number of unique users and visits compared with the last in-person edition in 2019. The Facebook community amounted to 65,300 and there were more than 73,000 followers on Instagram, 15,000 on Twitter and more than 7,000 on Linkedin. More than 40 video productions, including integral recordings and direct streams, were created for online remote use. Around 2,500 unique users followed the direct streams.

Other attractions…

Open Up – The BCBF Skill Box involved more than 1,100 professionals that took part in masterclasses, online conferences, training courses and special initiatives organized online in the last 3 months.

BolognaBookPlus 2022, Expanding The Now : Creating The Future

BolognaBookPlus (March 21-24, 2022) organized in collaboration with the Italian Publishers Association (AIE), led by Jacks Thomas as Guest Director, covered a series of events and training programmes creating value for professionals. With over 30 exhibitors it offered opportunities to meet with professionals from around the world.
Author Ambassador Michèle Roberts, spoke about her experiences with Literary agents and described their role in her journey as an author. The BolognaBookPlus theatre had fascinating discussions and knowledge sharing by experts in their varied fields from different countries: Changing Trends In Publishing, Taking Stock: Where Does Global Publishing Go From Here? Translation Forum: Nations Unite, What Sells Where? Hot Topics in Translation Rights, Sustainability and the Publishing Industry etc.

Jacks Thomas said,”We have had three days of absolutely exhilarating BolognaBookPlus and have had training events, seminars and superb participation from 35 exhibitors from 28 countries as a truly international event. I admire Indian Publishing – I understand the synergies between the children’s book fair and the Indian publishing scene are already deeply cemented. BolognaBookPlus is where they need to be for business and I cannot wait to extend a really warm welcome to them next year”.