The Bologna Children's Book Fair's virtual events program wrapped up this week and organizers cited a 55% increase in pageviews compared with last year's fair. The fair noted that 16,000 professionals participated in the 250 events and 300 plus hours of programming. Some 800 exhibitors registered on the BCBF/BLTFGlobal Rights Exchange and some 900 illustrators from 72 countries decorated the virtual Illustrators Wall.
New this year was the BolognaBookPlus program, which focused on the general book trade and discussed, among many other topics, the impact of the pandemic on the industry. “BolognaBookPlus marks a turning point in BCBF history: for the first time in our 58-year history, in addition to 250+ events at the Children’s Fair, in virtual form this year, Bologna brought together worldwide publishing industry professionals, not just from children’s publishing, to discuss the key issues for the entire publishing industry at this particular time," said Elena Pasoli, exhibition manager of BCBF.
A recording of the BolognaBookPlus will be available to stream on demand for a fee starting June 24. The in-person Bologna fair is set for March 21-24, 2022.
