Tbilisi’s Gvantsa Jobava, president of the International Publishers Association (IPA), speaks at the 2024 Chennai International Book Fair. Image: Courtesy of Emma House
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
A Fair-to-Fair Award From Chennai to Bologna
This week, Elena Pasoli‘s Bologna Children’s Book Fair (March 31 to April 3) will be at India’s Chennai International Book Fair as an “organization guest of honor.”
Thursday through Saturday, the Chennai fair will be in its third edition and will award the 62-year-old Bologna trade show with its CIBF Guest of Honor Award of Global Literacy Advocacy for making an “exceptional contribution to children’s literature and intercultural literary exchange by promoting creativity, innovation, and international collaboration in the field of children’s publishing.
“By supporting diverse voices and promoting access to quality literature for young readers, Bologna Children’s Book Fair has significantly enriched the global literary landscape, setting an exemplary standard for the international literary community.”
The three-year-old Chennai fair is organized by the Tamil Nadu ministry of education, and its administration reports that a reports that this year its programming reflects a bid to open the state to more international exchange and presence. A part of that effort includes a new pavilion dedicated to literature for children and young adults.
Hands Across the Book Fairs
An illustration in this week’s exhibition from Bologna Children’s Book Fair at Chennai International Book Fair. This is ‘Pianeta verde’ by Cammamoro of Sicilia’s western fishing port Trapani, 1995. Image: BCBF
The concept being developed involves the Bologna fair’s role as “a bridge for intercultural dialogue, the exchange of ideas and synergies that are all crucial for children’s literature and for the future of the new generations.”
You can see this reflected in the 10-year partnership developed between Ronbo BolognaFiere and Donna Chai ‘s China Shanghai International Children’s Book Fair, another instance in which administrative and creative exchange between trade shows is paying off across markets and continents.
It’s being pointed out that there’s an historical connection between Tamil Nadu and Italy that can be traced back to more than 300 years ago, when the Italian Costantino Giuseppe Beschi created the first lexicon of the Tamil language—a relationship based in dialogue, mutual learning, and respect for linguistic and cultural traditions.
At the Chennai fair this week, Bologna Children’s Book Fair and Jacks Thomas‘ Bologna Book Plus (which is produced in cooperation with the Association of Italian Publishers (Associazione Italiana Editori, AIE) have an exhibition space.
There, a display of winners and special-mention recipients in the Bologna Ragazzi Awards will be available.
In addition, the Bologna area at Chennai is to have a reproduction of the exhibition From Illustration to Comics: Pencils in Talented Young Hands, “providing a window onto contemporary Italian illustration through the works of 30 young illustrators, curated by Accademia Drosselmeier/Giannino Stoppani Cooperativa Sociale and organized by Bologna with AIE.
Completing the program will be three panel discussions about key topics in today’s book industry and publishing fair scene.
An illustration in this week’s exhibition from Bologna Children’s Book Fair at Chennai International Book Fair. This is ‘At the Art Studio’ by Silvia Reginato of Rossano Veneto, 1996. Image: BCBF
More from Publishing Perspectives on Bologna Children’s Book Fair is here, more on Bologna Book Plus is here, more on China Shanghai International Children’s Book Fair is here, more on the Indian market is here, more on the Italian market is here, more on the Chinese market is here, and more on international book fairs and trade shows is here.