Bologna Children's Book Fair management is taking pains to remind regular customers that a habit must be broken next spring, when the customary fair days change from Thursday-Sunday to Wednesday-Saturday (Mar. 29-Apr. 1). The goal is to make the fair ever more professional, eliminating the day when members of the general public--dragging tots along--are most likely to try to crash.
Book trade professionals without stands can sign up at the entrance gate and buy a 25,000 lire ticket (about $13.50) good for the run of the fair. Those who preregister--either by mail or Internet--will receive a badge allowing free entry. Starting in January, the Web site (www.BolognaFiere.it) will be available for consulting the list of exhibitors, which will be regularly updated, and to book stands, hotels and catalogue advertising. The fair's traditional Illustrators Exhibition, whose entries are vetted by a jury of professionals, will move on from the fair to the U.S. for the first time, as the guest of Northwestern University Library (Evanston, Ill.) from April 24 to June 4, which includes the dates of BookExpo America.
