Fairgoers arrive at the opening of the 2023 edition of the China Shanghai International Children’s Book Fair. Image: CCBF
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
See also:
Rights Roundup: En Route to Shanghai Children’s Book Fair
China Bestsellers: Kids’ Books Ahead of Shanghai International Children’s Book Fair
China Shanghai Children’s International Book Fair: A Preview
China’s Shanghai Children’s Book Fair Names 2024 Dates
Shanghai’s Children’s Book Fair at 10: A Fifth Year for Its Bologna Partnership
Professional Trade Visitors in 2023: 19,086
With as many as 45,000 attendees and 450 exhibitors expected, organizers of the children’s book fair opening here in Shanghai today (November 15) believe they’re demonstrating a rare case of what might be call fair-mentoring.
The China Shanghai International Children’s Book Fair (CCBF) runs through Sunday (November 17), and operates as a public-facing fair with an extensive professional program in which the 61-year-old Bologna Children’s Book Fair and the younger, generalist Bologna Book Plus are offering guidance and developmental support.
Like Bologna, for example—the world’s leading trade fair in book publishing devoted to young people’s literature and related content—the Shanghai fair operates an online matchmaking program, something that has led the Italian show directed by Elena Pasoli to stage more than one rights-trading centers over the years.
And trade visitors to the Shanghai show will recognize some of the branding elements that Bologna and Jacks Thomas‘ Bologna Book Plus have evolved into effective elements of their March 31 to April 3 show-within-a-show have evolved.
In fact, those interested can download a post-show report from 2023 here, and in the illustration below, you can see that 54.4 percent of last year’s exhibitors were counted as publishers, while the next-largest trade group, at 16.5 percent, were illustrators, not at all unlike the balance seen in recent years’ springtime Bologna fairs.
Image: China Shanghai International Children’s Book Fair, CCBF
CCBF 2024: Selected Opening Day Programming
Here are several features of the nearly 20 programming events that the fairgoers arriving this morning will be offered.
All times listed are local to Shanghai.
9:30 a.m. Panel: Transformation and Reshaping of Children’s Publishing
Co-organized with China Publishers magazine, this 75-minute session looks at a “group of ‘innovative forces’ from those skilled in Internet operations, adept at traffic management and new channel development. This, the discussion explores, “has teamed up with publishing players leading children’s publishing institutions in China to enter the children’s book industry.”
- Moderator: Irene Zhang (China), Chief Writer, China Publishers magazine
Speakers:
- Bai Jing (China), president, China Publishers Magazine, vice-president of China South Publishing & Media
- Huang Huang (China), vice president, China Publishers Magazine, vice president of China South Publishing & Media Industrial Research Institute
- Shi Yan (China), general manager, Children’s Book Editing Center Division, China South Booky Culture Media
- Li Wei (China), general manager, Children’s Book Editing Center Division, China South Booky Culture Media Co., Ltd.
- Pan Yibo (China), vice-general manager of Beijing Publishing Center, 21st Century Publishing Group
12:10 p.m. Master Class: Bologna Book Plus presents: International General Publishing, China and the Significance of Illustration and Design
- Moderator and speaker: Jacks Thomas (UK), director, Bologna Book Plus
Speakers:
- Jackie Huang (China), chief Beijing office representative, Andrew Nurnberg Associates International
- Ian McMullen (UK)，director, Book Life Publishing
- Yuan Nan (China), vice-president, Phoenix Publishing
Programming at the 2023 edition of the now 11-year-old China Shanghai International Children’s Book Fair. Image: CCBF
2 p.m. Conference: Children’s Book Publishing from a Global Perspective: International Children’s Book Publishers in Dialogue
In this two-hour program approved by the Shanghai Press and Publication administration and by the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY, the intent is to “provide an international platform for exchange, fostering dialogue in the global publishing community to enhance mutual understanding and cooperation, discovering new opportunities for collaboration, and collectively advancing innovation and development in the children’s book publishing industry.
“Experts, publishers, and media representatives share the latest trends and developments in their respective countries and regions’ children’s book markets, exploring concepts and practical experiences in children’s publishing amid diverse cultural backgrounds.”
- Moderator: Carolina Ballester (Spain), executive director, (IBBY)
Welcoming Remarks:
- Quan Heng (China), deputy director of publicity department of the CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee, director of Shanghai Press & Publication Administration
- Karine Pansa (Brazil), president, International Publishers Association (IPA)
- Huang Qiang (China), chairman, Shanghai Century Publishing Group
Keynote Speeches:
- Ma Xinmin (China), general manager, China Children’s Press & Publication Group
- Lu Xiaoxin (China), editor-in-chief, Juvenile & Children’s Publishing House
- Yang Lei (China), executive vice-president, OpenBook
A complete program overview is available here.
More from Publishing Perspectives on the Shanghai International Children’s Book Fair is here. More from us on China’s market is here, our closely followed China Bestsellers series produced in association with Beijing OpenBook is here, and more on children’s books is here.