This year’s Bologna Children’s Book Fair, which runs March 31–April 3, continues the show’s expansion into two ancillary events: BolognaBookPlus, which was launched in 2020 and offers programs for general trade publishing, and the Bologna Licensing Trade Fair for children’s brands, which has grown significantly since the pandemic. “The idea has been to make Bologna a vital center for the copyright and licensing business,” says Elena Pasoli, director of the BCBF. “These three events don’t simply take place in the same area, in the same days; they are intended to strongly interact with and enhance each other.”

Approximately 1,500 exhibitors from 90 countries are expected at this year’s fair, with first-time participants from 13 nations including Albania, Ecuador, Georgia, Iceland, North Macedonia, Saudi Arabia, and Thailand. The Rights Center at the fair, which is open to both children’s and adult publishers, is expected to top out at 200 tables.

The TV/Film Rights Centre also returns, following its debut last year, and is dedicated to adapting stories from books to screens and vice versa. And this year, in collaboration with the Frankfurt Book Fair, Bologna is launching a Games Business Centre, focused on connecting publishing professionals with the gaming industry.

“Initially, digital products were far from the quality of book illustrations, but over the past 15–20 years, the quality has improved dramatically,” Pasoli says. “Many illustrators familiar with books have become acquainted with the digital world, opening new business opportunities for publishers while also improving the quality of video games.” Illustrators will be able to have their portfolios reviewed by games experts, as well as by TV and film producers.

There will be additional opportunities for networking at the Licensing Trade Fair, which will itself feature several new components, including a matchmaking service and a Arts Licensing Area for illustration and licensing professionals. The space will host panel discussions on industry trends, alongside the Bologna Licensing Awards ceremony.

These additions complement BCBF’s established business areas, which include the Comics Corner, with approximately 80 exhibitors, including several from the Philippines, the guest of honor nation at this year’s Frankfurt Book Fair; the Translators Centre; the Audio HQ; and PublisHer, an initiative offering programming intended to address gender imbalances in the industry.

Sustainability and development

Sustainability remains a central theme, with the fair continuing its collaboration with the United Nations to promote the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. “Last year we started talking about environmental sustainability,” Pasoli says. “This year, with the partnership with the United Nations, we launched sustainability as the main topic of the fair, covering all 17 goals, with a special focus on gender equality, right to education, and poverty.”

A special sustainability category has been added to the BolognaRagazzi Awards, and the BRAW Amazing Bookshelf–Sustainability: 17 Goals for a Better Future exhibition will display 150 nominated titles. This collection will be exhibited at the UN headquarters in New York City in early 2026.

For the first time, a panel organized jointly by BCBF and BBPlus will discuss industry sustainability practices at the “Sustainability Summit: Taking Stock and Reviewing the Roadmap to a Sustainable Future in the Book Industry.” The panel will feature Anne Bergman-Tahon from the Federation of European Publishers, Rachel Martin from Elsevier, Cristina Mussinelli from the International Publishers Association, and representatives from DK, the Korean Publishers Association, and major international printing companies. “We’ve tried to include voices from around the world,” says Jacks Thomas, director of BBPlus. “No stone will be left unturned on the subject of sustainability.”

Several panels will also address gender representation in children’s publishing, including “Transcendent: Embracing Inclusive Gender Expression Beyond Tokenism or Issue Books” and a session featuring Italian author Francesca Cavallo, whose Stellar Stories for Boys of the Future looks at what Pasoli calls “a key issue for the future of publishing”: “How will we educate young boys and raise a new generation of men to be readers and leaders?”

Following the three-year Spotlight on Africa initiative that brought 100 African publishers to BCBF, the fair has shifted to training the next generation of African illustrators and has offered an online course with Mimaster, an international school of illustration in Milan. The final picture book projects will be exhibited at this year’s fair.

“We’re also continuing our focus on minority languages, which was a big success last year,” Pasoli says. “We’ll have representatives from the Sami community in Norway, an author specializing in Native Mexican languages, and an illustrator from Morocco discussing how children’s books represent migrations.”

The fair will also host a video program featuring 29 translators from 20 countries reading out the UN Convention on the Rights of a Child, echoing an event from last year that featured a group reading of the UN Convention of Human Rights. “It’s meant to be a kind of shared prayer for a better world in this time,” Pasoli says. “Last year it was human rights, this year is children’s rights. Maybe we can do it every single year, because it’s so important to put together people speaking so many languages.”

BolognaBookPlus Highlights

Returning for its fifth year, BBPlus will feature exhibitions, awards for book design, and professional training courses. Unsurprisingly, two of the hottest topics in trade publishing will share the spotlight: audiobooks and AI. The Listen Up! Conference will include presentations about the international market from Michele Cobb of the Audiobook Publishers Association and Marco Ferrario of Bookrepublic, as well as presentations from Audible, Mondadori, Penguin Random House Audio, and Storytel.

An AI Summit will address copyright protection, creative work, and regulatory developments, while exploring how the technology can enhance industry processes like distribution and targeting. Among the participants will be Chantal Restivo-Alessi of HarperCollins, Giacomo D’Angwelo of StreetLib, Raúl Perez of Planeta, and Guarav Sabharwal of Prakash Books. The program will close with a town hall, giving attendees a chance to voice their concerns about the transformative technology.

British author Tom Benjamin, who lives in Bologna and has set his series of mystery novels starring sleuth Daniel Leicester in the city, is serving as Author Ambassador, and new for 2025 is the Illustration Ambassador initiative, with Polish artist Joanna Karpowicz serving as the inaugural ambassador. The Talking Pictures award will spotlight visual books from Estonia, the fair’s guest of honor.

Other BBPlus highlights include celebrations of the centenaries of Andrea Camilleri and F. Scott Fitzgerald, with a special Jackets Off! exhibition analyzing different international cover interpretations of The Great Gatsby. The Folio Society will also present a major retrospective of 70 years of illustration from the publisher in an exhibit that is scheduled for later this year at the Society of Illustrators in New York City.

Reflecting on the development of the BBPlus program, Thomas says, “We’ve moved beyond the early stages now and have a mature conference. We have returning exhibitors and returning participants, and are building on some really solid foundations.”

Beyond the BCBF

As in previous years, the fair will extend beyond the exhibition halls into cultural venues throughout Bologna via the Boom! Crescere nei libri (Growing up in books) program, which includes more than 40 exhibitions and 150 events. Highlights include a site-specific exhibition by illustrator Paul Cox at Palazzo Paltroni featuring a nearly 250-foot painting, and a tribute to illustrator Katsumi Komagata, one year after his death, at the Testoni Ragazzi Theatre,

This year marks several significant milestones that will be celebrated at BCBF, including the 60th anniversary of the BolognaRagazzi Awards; the 50th anniversary of the Italian comic strip Pimpa, whose creator Altan will attend the fair; Pippi Longstocking’s 80th anniversary, which will be celebrated with a panel featuring Donatella Di Pietrantonio; and the 10th anniversary of the Strega Ragazze e Ragazzi prize.

Pasoli and Thomas have worked hard to extend the presence of BCBF beyond the run of the show, and have been undertaking an annual “world tour” that sees them participating in various other book fairs, from London to Guadalajara, as well as the Shanghai Children’s Book Fair, which Bologna partners with.

Reflecting on the anxieties of the current historical moment, Pasoli and Thomas see the fair as a kind of oasis. “If you think of a fair, one that can gather people from 100 countries in the same place for three days, this is something special, something apart from political discussions,” Pasoli says. “These are people eager to share ideas with peers from other countries and celebrate the joy of children’s books.”

Thomas agrees, adding, “In times like these, book fairs become ever more relevant as cultural spaces in which to get many nations together. The message from Bologna is that it’s in the heart of Europe and is a one-stop fair—and Americans are very welcome. If we stand for one thing it’s this: make words, not war.”

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