This Must be the Place: The Bologna Children’s Book Fair as the Epicenter of International Illustration
June 12 @ 5:30 pm - 9:00 pm
Event Schedule:
5:30 PM – Doors open
6:00 – 7:00 PM – Conversation and Q&A with Steven and Elena
7:00 – 9:00 PM – Mingling
Discover all that the Bologna Children’s Book Fair (BCBF) has to offer in this discussion with BCBF Director Elena Pasoli and illustrator Steven Guarnaccia.
The Bologna Children’s Book Fair is the most important professional children’s book fair in the world. But it is also the place to be if you are an illustrator of any kind, or want to become one. For those who make images, the fair is an unmissable experience full of discoveries and opportunities. The Illustrators Exhibition is a showcase for new artists and highlights the latest trends in illustration. It features a wide selection of illustrators from around the world, tours the world for two years, and offers emerging talents tangible professional opportunities. The Illustrators Survival Corner is a dedicated area for the illustration community, providing a home for the many artists who come in search of creative insight, new collaborations and opportunities to have their portfolios reviewed by publishers and industry professionals. The fair also features several awards, including the International Award for Illustration Bologna Children’s Book Fair – Fundación SM, which is designed to discover, encourage, and support new illustrators under 35 years old.
During the four days (more, with the festival BOOM! Crescere Nei Libri) of the Bologna Children Book Fair, illustrators cross paths, exchange ideas and explore an illustrator-friendly city. Illustrators and illustration are the guests of honor.
Collage from the BCBF 60th Anniversary Illustration Contest
Bologna Children’s Book Fair
The Bologna Children’s Book Fair (BCBF) is an industry-leading event that has succeeded in bringing together a unique and diverse global audience for 62 years. The fair is the world’s premier copyright exchange hub for the publishing industry, which it also extends to current multimedia and licensing businesses for children’s stories, illustration, animation and related areas.
Publishers, illustrators, graphic designers, literary and illustration agents, authors, translators, mobile developers, licensors and licensees, packagers, printers, distributors, audiobook professionals, booksellers, brands, librarians and teachers all flock to the event each spring to experience the world of books and multimedia products in thousands of booths across six huge halls.
The world-famous Illustrators Exhibition and industry recognized BolognaRagazzi awards are some of the key pillars that make this event so special. BCBF is a unique mix of a cultural book show and an international rights business forum for all types of content for children.
BolognaBookPlus, the brand extension dedicated to general trade publishing organized in cooperation with AIE (Italian Publishers Association) and Bologna Licensing Trade Fair/Kids, the exhibition bringing together the major international licensing and entertainment players in the industry, has become an integral part of the Bologna Children’s Book Fair.
Discover all that BCBF has to offer in this discussion with BCBF Director Elena Pasoli and illustrator Steven Guarnaccia.
Elena Pasoli
Elena is a promoter of cultural events with over 20 years of experience in the world of publishing and illustration for children and young adults. Under her leadership, the Bologna Children’s Book Fair received the Eric Carle Honors’ Bridge category award for “bringing together books and their publishers from around the world to promote and sustain dialogue between different cultures”. In recent years, Elena has been involved in developing BolognaFiere’s new exhibitions and partnerships outside Italy, especially in the United States, China and the whole of the Asia Pacific area.
Steven Guarnaccia
Steven Guarnaccia is an illustrator and Professor Emeritus of the Parsons School of Design. He was a founding faculty member of the SVA MFA Design program and was the Op-Ed art director of the New York Times.
He has worked for major magazines and newspapers including the New York Times, Abitare and Rolling Stone and has created murals for Disney and exhibition drawings for the Museum of Modern Art. He is the author of books on popular culture and design for Chronicle Books, among other publishers, including Black and White and a Stiff Drink and a Close Shave, Hi-Fis and Hi-Balls, and Interior Desecration.
He has designed watches for Swatch and greeting cards for MoMA, won awards from the AIGA, the Art Directors Club, and the Bologna Book Fair and has had one-person shows internationally.
His exhibition, Fatherland, premiered at the Hamelin Gallery in Bologna, Italy and has traveled to the East London Comic Arts Festival, the Barcelona FLIC festival, the Ministerium fuer Illustration/ Berlin, the Tabook Festival and Yui Gallery, NY.
His fairy tales about design include The Three Bears: A Tale Moderne, The Three Little Pigs: An Architectural Tale, Cinderella: A Fashionable Tale, all published by Corraini, Abrams and helium, Paris and The Emperor’s New Clothes, published by Corraini. His book about pasta names, Butterflies, Snails and Little Worms, was published by RaumItalic. His most recent children’s books are The Story of Pasta, a pasta cookbook for children, published by Phaidon, and The Museum of Nothing, a picture book, published by Minerva.
Hamelin
Hamelin is a cultural association based in Bologna that promotes children’s literature, illustration and comics, focused on children and teenagers, as well as teachers, librarians and educators. At the core of all its activities is a guiding principle: reading is a fundamental aesthetic act which enables one to find a sense of self and of the world.
Hamelin organizes festivals, events and exhibitions dedicated to illustration and comics, holds training courses for teachers, and publishes a quarterly magazine dedicated to childhood and reading.
Among its many activities Hamelin co-curates BOOM! Crescere nei libri, a two-month festival dedicated to children’s books and illustration, alongside the Municipality of Bologna, during the Bologna Children’s Book Fair. BOOM! turns the city into a creative space for children with hundreds of exhibitions, workshops, talks and events, offering the best of cultural production for children from all over the world. The association collaborates with the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, especially for events dedicated to comics. Along with Steven Guarnaccia, Hamelin created Talking Pictures, a program that explores the cultural importance and ongoing impact of the contemporary international visual book. Talking Pictures Selected Books recognizes excellence in visual books and is part of Bologna Book Plus.
Hamelin also organizes A Occhi Aperti, an international festival dedicated to comics and contemporary illustration, held every November in Bologna. Each edition revolves around a compelling theme that defines our times and explores how comics deal with that theme and related issues. The festival program includes exhibitions, workshops, an international bookshop, a zine fest and talks with artists who interrogate the world and our society through images.