The Bologna Children's Book Fair or La fiera del libro per ragazzi is the leading professional fair for children's books in the world. [1]
Since 1963, it is held yearly for four days in March or April in Bologna, Italy. It is the meeting place for all professionals involved with creating and publishing children's books, and is mainly used for the buying and selling of rights, [2] both for translations and for derived products like movies or animated series. It is also the event where a number of major awards are given, the BolognaRagazzi Awards, in four categories (Fiction, Non-fiction, New Horizons (for the non-Western world) and Opera Prima (for first works). During the fair, but separate from it, some major awards are announced, including the biannual Hans Christian Andersen Awards [3] and the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award.
Since 1967, the Illustrators Exhibition within the Bologna Children's Book Fair presents the works of the illustrators selected by the jury which consists of five international experts (two publishers and three illustrators or teachers of illustration). Each year, five pieces of original artwork are submitted by around 3,000 artists from more than 70 nations. [4]
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic the 57th fair in 2020 was first postponed, then later cancelled. [5] To facilitate the fair's main purpose, the international sale of rights and other publishing agreements, the organisers are creating a digital platform. [6]
On April 9, 2021, the Bologna Children's Book Fair announced the cancelation of its physical 2021 fair due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [7]
The next 59th edition of Bologna Children's Book Fair will take place in Bologna from 21 to 24 March 2022. [8]
Astrid Anna Emilia Lindgren was a Swedish writer of fiction and screenplays. She is best known for several children's book series, featuring Pippi Longstocking, Emil of Lönneberga, Karlsson-on-the-Roof, and the Six Bullerby Children, and for the children's fantasy novels Mio, My Son; Ronia the Robber's Daughter; and The Brothers Lionheart. Lindgren worked on the Children's Literature Editorial Board at the Rabén & Sjögren publishing house in Stockholm and wrote more than 30 books for children. In 2017, she was calculated to be the world's 18th most translated author. Lindgren had by 2010 sold roughly 167 million books worldwide. In 1994, she was awarded the Right Livelihood Award for "her unique authorship dedicated to the rights of children and respect for their individuality." Her opposition to corporal punishment of children resulted in the world's first law on the matter in 1979, while her campaigning for animal welfare led to a new law, Lex Lindgren, in time for her 80th birthday.
Katherine Womeldorf Paterson is an American writer best known for children's novels, including Bridge to Terabithia. For four different books published 1975–1980, she won two Newbery Medals and two National Book Awards. She is one of four people to win the two major international awards; for "lasting contribution to children's literature" she won the biennial Hans Christian Andersen Award for Writing in 1998 and for her career contribution to "children's and young adult literature in the broadest sense" she won the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award from the Swedish Arts Council in 2006, the biggest monetary prize in children's literature. Also for her body of work she was awarded the NSK Neustadt Prize for Children's Literature in 2007 and the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal from the American Library Association in 2013. She was the second US National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, serving 2010 and 2011.
The Hans Christian Andersen Awards are two literary awards given by the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY), recognising one living author and one living illustrator for their "lasting contribution to children's literature". The writing award was first given in 1956, the illustration award in 1966. The former is sometimes called the "Nobel Prize for children's literature".
The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award is an international children's literary award established by the Swedish government in 2002 to honour the Swedish children's author Astrid Lindgren (1907–2002). The prize is five million SEK, making it the richest award in children's literature and one of the richest literary prizes in the world. The annual cost of 10 million SEK is financed with tax money.
Christine Nöstlinger was an Austrian writer best known for children's books. She received one of two inaugural Astrid Lindgren Memorial Awards from the Swedish Arts Council in 2003, the biggest prize in children's literature, for her career contribution to "children's and young adult literature in the broadest sense." She received the Hans Christian Andersen Medal for "lasting contribution to children's literature" in 1984 and was one of three people through 2012 to win both of these major international awards.
Leo Dillon and Diane Dillon were American illustrators of children's books and adult paperback book and magazine covers. One obituary of Leo called the work of the husband-and-wife team "a seamless amalgam of both their hands". In more than 50 years, they created more than 100 speculative fiction book and magazine covers together as well as much interior artwork. Essentially all of their work in that field was joint.
David Almond is a British author who has written many novels for children and young adults from 1998, each one receiving critical acclaim.
The International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) is an international non-profit organization committed to bringing books and children together. The headquarters of the IBBY are located in Basel, Switzerland.
Marisol Misenta, known professionally under the mononym Isol, is an Argentine creator of children's picture books and a pop singer. For her career contribution to "children's and young adult literature in the broadest sense" she won the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award from the Swedish Arts Council in 2013, the biggest prize in children's literature.
Barbro Lindgren is a Swedish writer of children's books and books for adult readers. For her lasting contribution as a children's writer, Lindgren was a finalist for the biennial, international Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2004. Ten years later she won the annual Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. The biggest cash prize in children's and young-adult literature, it rewards a writer, illustrator, oral storyteller, or reading promoter for its entire body of work.
Suzy Lee is a Korean picture-book illustrator and author. She is critically acclaimed as an artist who explores the pleasures and tensions that lie between reality and fantasy. She is also known for her remarkable achievements in the field of wordless picture books, or silent books. She gained global attention for her three works – Mirror (2003), Wave (2008), and Shadow (2010), known collectively as "The Border Trilogy" – using the center binding of the pages of a book as a means to create a narrative crossing the boundaries between reality and fantasy. Wave and Shadow were respectively named by The New York Times as Best Illustrated Children's Books of 2008 and 2010. Wave was also awarded the gold medal for Original Art by the Society of Illustrators in 2008. In 2016, Suzy Lee was shortlisted for the Hans Christian Andersen Award, regarded as the Nobel Prize for children's literature, an award which she received in 2022. Lee has received a number of other prestigious awards from around the world including the FNLIJ Award Luís Jardim for the Best Book without Text in 2008 and the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Excellence in Children's Literature in 2013.
Lygia Bojunga is a Brazilian writer of children's books under the name Lygia Bojunga Nunes. She is one of four people to win the two major international awards: for "lasting contribution to children's literature", she received the Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 1982. For her career contribution to "children's and young adult literature in the broadest sense" she won the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award in 2004.
Ursula Dubosarsky is an Australian writer of fiction and non-fiction for children and young adults, whose work is characterised by a child's vision and comic voice of both clarity and ambiguity.
Wolf Erlbruch was a German illustrator and writer of children's books, who became professor at several universities. He combined various techniques for the artwork in his books, including cutting and pasting, drawing, and painting. His style was sometimes surrealist and is widely copied inside and outside Germany. Some of his storybooks have challenging themes such as death and the meaning of life. They won many awards, including the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis in 1993 and 2003. Erlbruch received the Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 2006 for his "lasting contribution" as a children's illustrator. In 2017, he was the first German to win the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award.
Kestutis Kasparavicius was born on 2 June 1954 Aukstadvaris, Lithuania. In 1962- 1972 studied at M.K.Ciurlionis Art School, a choir conducting class. In 1972- 1981 studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vilnius, a graphic design class. Since 1984 he has been working as a children's books illustrator and author and has completed 65 books. Kestutis favorite technology is watercolour. His books have published in 22 languages: Lithuanian, German, English, Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese, Italian, Estonian, Latvian, Bulgarian, Polish, Russian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Turkish, Chinese(Mandarin, Chinese, Korean, Hungarian, Slovenian, Romanian, Albanian. In 1993 he was honored as Illustrator of the Year by Bologna Children's Book Fair, 2003 Bologna Illustrators Exhibition Award for Excellence and his illustrations have selected for fair's illustrators exhibition 13 times. Kestutis was also awarded the Golden Pen of Belgrade, 1990, the II Diploma Premi International Catalonia d`Illustracio, Barcelona, 1994, Diploma, Tallinn Illustrations Triennial, 2006; The Best Lithuanian Children's Book, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2012; Lithuanian Children's Literary Award, 2008; The Gold Sign of Lithuanian Artists Assotiation, 2010; Baltic Sea Region Jānis Baltvilks International Prize in Children's Literature and Book Art, Riga, 2010; Atrapallibres Award for Children's Literature, Barcelona, 2011; The White Ravens list, Internationale Jugendbibliothek, München, 2013; Premio Vittoria Samarelli, Associazione Giuseppe Acerbi, Castel Goffredo, 2013; "Außergewöhnliches Buch 2015", Internationalen Literaturfestival in Berlin, 2015; German and European Garden Book Award, 2018; Kęstutis was nomined for The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, 2005, 2006, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, and 2022 also for The Hans Christian Andersen Award, 2008, 2010 and 2018.
Marlenka Stupica was a Slovene children's book illustrator. She illustrated over one hundred books for children and is considered one of the top Slovene illustrators.
Alenka Sottler is a Slovene painter and illustrator. She lives and works in Ljubljana as a freelance illustrator and is a member of New York Society of Illustrators. She has illustrated over 50 books for children and adults, for which she received numerous awards and honours including her second nomination for the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2014.
Farhad Hasanzadeh is an Iranian author and poet known for his children's and adolescent literature.
Beatrice Alemagna is an Italian illustrator and author.
Baek Hee-na is a South Korean author of picture books, an illustrator and animator. She writes picture books with characters that have distinct personalities and with charming storytelling based on various illustration production experiences. Her representative work, Magic Candies, was selected as a recommended work and included on the IBBY Honour List in 2018 and produced as a musical in South Korea. Baek is the first South Korean to win the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA) in 2020. Her picture books have been translated and published in several languages, including English, German, Chinese, Japanese, Swedish and Norwegian.