The 2025 edition of the Bologna Children’s Book Fair ended on an optimistic note, despite a volatile global political situation, impending tariffs imposed by the Trump administration, and concerns over declining readership. Final data showed that the number of trade visitors totaled 33,318 this year, up 5% from last year, with 1,577 exhibitors from approximately 95 countries and regions; new exhibiting countries included Albania, Azerbaijan, Ecuador, Georgia, Guatemala, Iceland, Madagascar, Malta, North Macedonia, Peru, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand.
“This year’s Bologna felt like it built upon the previous two,” said Kristen Hall, owner of Catbird Agency. “Gone was the sense of ‘how’ to return to the fair post-Covid, and even the relief of reunion. Instead, this year’s fair felt more like a cool-headed and efficient machine—which was honestly surprising, considering the current world chaos. Still, everyone seemed totally focused on the business at hand. Bologna 2025 was good business mixed with changing tides.” As Sourcebooks children’s publisher Jennifer Gonzalez put it, “I was expecting more doom and gloom, but everyone seemed upbeat.”
No one genre or age group stood out as a big trend, and depending on what editors were looking for and what publishers and agents were showing, there seemed to be something for every list. Sara Crowe of Sara Crowe Literary found the fair “very buoyant and hopeful, with a wider interest across ages and genres. There was more enthusiasm for non-romantasy YA than last year. Middle grade, though still harder to pitch to some places, was back in the conversation. Like in the U.S., publishers were most interested in the higher-concept, shorter books, and there was lots of talk of cozy books.”
Rachel Horowitz, senior director of subsidiary rights at HarperCollins Children’s Publishing, said, “Our meetings were even more targeted, with editors mostly knowing exactly what they were looking for, maybe because a lot of folks attended London too. There was an overall interest in revisiting well-performing backlist gems, like Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson, as well as graphic novels or graphic novel adaptations of proven successes, like our full-color adaptations of the Warrior Cats series by Erin Hunter.” She added, “Editors were also asking for books that bridge the gap between chapter books and middle grade, or middle grade to YA. The desire for new adult or ‘spicy’ YA is still going strong—not a new phenomenon but one that speaks to that fluidity of age groups.”
Also addressing that fluidity, Sophie Hicks of the U.K.’s Sophie Hicks Agency said, “People say that middle grade is hard, but they want to hear about it—they don’t want to miss out on something big.” And she noted the crossover in readership she’s currently seeing in books with protagonists in their early 20s, saying that in some countries a book might be published on the adult list, in others on the YA list. “YA could be 14 to 40, especially with genre. Fourteen-year-olds are happy to read about a 22-year-old.”
“Rom-coms and cozy romance are still being requested by foreign publishers,” said Stephanie Voros, VP and director of subsidiary rights at Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing. “We have a new rom-com called Falling Like Leaves by Misty Wilson, which is part of our new Bramble Falls series; we’ve already sold rights in 12 territories, many with major auctions, and the book doesn’t publish until September!”
“There’s still a lot of romantasy around,” observed Rachel Hecht of Rachel Hecht Children’s Scouting. She said she was heartened to hear about “the return to ‘true teen’—true YA to fill those shelves and meet those readers. It’s important to reach readers where they are and foster them as readers; the pandemic reading gap is persisting.” She, like others, said one way that editors are looking to address the middle grade reading crisis is to keep a closer eye on word count and look for shorter middle grade books, ones that are more accessible and not intimidating.
Gonzalez at Sourcebooks said she was scouting around for new formats at the fair. “Everyone’s still trying to find middle grade that’s going to work,” she said. “We’re all concerned about losing that eight-year-old reader. Middle grade is my favorite category. We need to meet that reader on the hunt for a good story.” For that age range, they’re looking for what she said Justin Krasner, editorial director of Sourcebooks eXplore, calls “backpack books”: stories kids will want to share with friends at school and sleepovers.
The hot market for graphic novels continues; “everyone’s asking for them,” said Marietta Zacker of Gallt & Zacker Literary Agency. “The Germans were the last holdouts and now they’re asking for graphic novel backlist, because they feel like they’re a little late to the party.”
But not every territory is booming. The children’s book market has significantly slowed in China, for instance, a result of several factors including post-pandemic economics, the rise of short-form video e-commerce, and a cutback in the number of titles being published. “Every Asian country we’ve met with, they’re saying ‘We’re not buying,’ ” Zacker said.
Xiaoyan Huang, founder and CEO of Everafter Books in Beijing, concurred, reporting, “The Chinese market is not so good, and publishers are buying less and less. In Bologna they’re coming to see what other people are doing. They still want to buy but it has to be very unique.”
Book Buzz
Random House announced two deals during the fair. Rotem Moscovich at Knopf acquired world rights to The Future Book, a picture book by collaborators and childhood friends Mac Barnett, the current National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, and Shawn Harris, along with two sequels. Steven Malk at Writers House sold it in a nine-house, multi-round auction. According to the publisher, the book imagines how language, habits, and social mores might differ in the future, and uses silly phrases to describe a world full of kid-friendly humor.
And Tiffany Liao, who joined Random House Books for Young Readers as executive editor last May, acquired, in an eight-house auction, a crossover YA fantasy duology called Gutterwitch by Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson, pitched as Wicked meets Babel, about a scullery maid and her flighty mistress who attend a prestigious witching academy. Catherine Cho at Paper Literary sold North American rights; U.K. rights went to Bloomsbury Archer, German rights went to Ullstein, and translation rights have been sold in Brazil, Greece, Italy, and Poland.
In another deal announced during the fair from Cho at Paper Literary, Lindsay Warren at Candlewick Press bought The Game of Oaths by S.C. Bandreddi, an historical YA fantasy set in Belle Époque Paris, where Falan Sunkara is a trapeze artist for a famous magical circus in Paris. Each year, 12 members must compete in the Game of Oaths, a brutal tournament of deadly games watched by the city’s elite, where only one will survive. Candlewick and Walker Books U.K. bought world rights, for a simultaneous global release in summer 2026.
Ginger Clark of Ginger Clark Literary, who sells foreign rights for Sara Crowe’s agency, has seen a lot of interest in a YA mystery called Beth Is Dead by Katie Bernet—Beth as in Beth March from Little Women. The premise: Beth has been murdered—but by whom? And then the March family starts to suspect each other. It’s been sold at auction in the U.S. (to the new Sarah Barley Books imprint at S&S), U.K., Australia, Italy, and France so far.
Another YA book with a high concept was being shown by Sophie Hicks: a novel Domain by Rohan Gavin. Its premise: a 14-year-old boy can upload any skills to his brain. She called it classic YA fiction coupled with futuristic technology, The Matrix meets Bourne Identity.” Bonnier’s Ink Road is publishing it in the U.K. this summer, and “I’m waiting to hear re the U.S.”
Paula Allen at Hidden Pigeon Company filled PW in on the licensing partnership that Hidden Pigeon recently signed with Union Square & Co. for licensed books by Mo Willems. In addition, “Mo’s still creating original Mo books,” she noted. At Bologna, Hidden Pigeon was meeting with Willems’s existing publishers, Allen said, introducing them to the new licensing program, and outlining the strategy as the slate of film and TV projects rolls out, as well as introducing his books to new markets.
Willems was on hand in Bologna and attended a cocktail party at the Hidden Pigeon/Union Square stand in his honor. “What I love about this fair,” Willems told PW, “is the mix of high-end commercial business and literary elements, and big dreamers—all the kids showing their portfolios. The fair shows young aspiring artists what the business looks like. It invigorates everyone to see people at different stages in their love affair with this industry.”
To celebrate the 80th anniversary of The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Gallimard Jeunesse and MinaLima, the design studio known for its highly illustrated Harry Potter editions, are creating a new edition of The Little Prince with 100 illustrations and a number of interactive inserts, for worldwide release in spring 2026. Since its publication in 1946, it has been translated in 600 languages and dialects, and has sold more than 300 million copies. “Gallimard has the rights, and approached us to do a MinaLima edition, co-publishing it with the estate,” said MinaLima marketing manager Kate Hudkins. “It’s our first time exhibiting, and to come with such an exciting project is a wonderful experience.”
Next year’s dates: April 13–16, 2026. Ci vediamo!
