Illustrators in a gathering at the China Shanghai International Book Fair, illustration and its award being something that China Fiere and Shanghai director Donna Chai have worked on closleey in their extraorginary collaboration. Image: CCBF
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
An IBBY-UNESCO Collaboration
While we are today (November 17) waiting for the final attendance and trading figures from this year’s China Shanghai International Book Fair (CCBF), we report from the ground with early impressions.
While communication issues had begun to plague the program as early as its first evening on Friday (November 14), everyone kept up a good attitude and we have a chance to look now at a couple of points of activity that stood out in this 12th iteration of a complex and condensed fair.
As a leading fair entirely dedicated to books and specific contents for children aged up to 16 in the Asia Pacific region, CCBF understands its markets in a series of areas featuring over 20,000 more than the latest children’s books from around the world.
A total of 322 professional and reading promotion events took place simultaneously, covering the children’s content industry chain. More than just a feast of children’s books, CCBF serves as a grand gathering of cultural exchange and industry innovation. The fair is divided into two main areas: the Copyright Zone and the Hybrid Zone.
The Copyright Zone is open to professional visitors, facilitating copyright trading, and international cooperation in children’s publications, while the Hybrid Zone integrates copyright trading, marketing, distribution, and retail promotion, appealing to a broader readership.
Publishers, copyright agents, distributors, IP owners, printing companies, authors, illustrators, and children’s content and derivative brands froom many parts of the world gather in Shanghai to explore the future of children’s reading and the content ecosystem
IBBY and an Endangered-Languages Effort
Special emphasis this year has fallen on the announcement of a IBBY-UNESCO collaborative effort. Image: IBBY
As the core international section of the fair, the Copyright Zone brings together publishing houses and copyright agencies from many parts of the world. Two new themed features have been added to the Copyright Zone this year. A new effort—cross-cultural effort, built with cross-border strength, is in process now.
Beijing’s Belt and Road Area presents members of the Silk Road Publishers Club from Uzbekistan, North Korea, India, Thailand, Sri Lanka, and Nepal.
The Cross Media Lounge at CCBF focused on animation, games, audio, video, and other digital content, highlighting new trends in the integration of children’s books and new media.
The Hybrid Zone also featured four dedicated zones:
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- The Education Zone, featuring prominent organizations such as New Oriental, TAL, EF, and Banmatap;The Creative Zone, presenting brands including M&G Stationery, Marie’s, TWSBI, Clairefontaine, Fabriano, and CozyWorld; the Ione, gathering beloved characters including Mr. Snow King, Harry Potter, Anpanman, Marsupilami, and Zoroli; the Bookstore Zone, inviting bookstores from across China to present selected children’s books and picture books on-site.
- Building a Chinese cultural Brand with international influence. This year, CCBF continue in to advance its core strategic pillars of internationalization, specialization, cross-sector integration, and sustainable development.
- This was underpinned by a reinforced focus on three key areas: international exchange, the promotion of original content, and industrial integration.
- Exhibitors from 35 countries and regions across five continents have gathered at this year’s fair. Among them, 194 are international exhibitors, representing leading children’s book publishing countries such as France, Italy, the UK, the US, Japan, South Korea, Spain, etc.
The important IBBY and UNESCO project has no formal participation from CCBF.
Any promotions IBBY and UNESCO had at CCBF was the same as all the book fairs we attend, to encourage attendants to submit books to the collection. Additionally, the collection and the call for submissions was announced this year in April at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, CCBF’s partner from BolognaFiere, directed by Elena Pasoli.
More China bestseller reports from Publishing Perspectives are here, and more on the Chinese book publishing market is here.
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