Bologna's 'Grand Tour' Moves Next from Toulouse to Frankfurt

The fifth anniversary of Bologna Children’s Book Fair’s ‘Grand Tour’ has spent an opening four days at Toulouse’s Cartoon Forum.

A translation and international publication rights meeting at Bologna Children’s Book Fair, which this week has opened its 2025-26 ‘Grand Tour’ of illustration. Image: BCBF

By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson

First in Toulouse, then to Frankfurt

Just today (September 18) closing its first stop at the four-day Cartoon Forum in Toulouse, Elena Pasoli‘s Bologna Children’s Book Fair (BCBF) has opened its 2025-36 “Grand Tour” in its fifth edition.

With the support of ITA, the Italian Trade Agency, and the Italian ministry of foreign affairs and international cooperation, the tour has embarked on its fifth annual outing, not least with the intent of “consolidating the fair’s network of international contacts” by holding meetings with stakeholders, strategic partners, and prime industry operatives.

Elena Pasoli

Pasoli’s successful strategy for the fair’s recent years moves forward, based on making investments that target innovation and a receptive recognition of new creative fields. The idea is to boost BCBF’s presence in the book-to-screen sector.

As Publishing Perspectives readers know—many of them avid book-business travelers, themselves—Bologna is the world’s largest international trade show dedicated to young readers’ content and a quickly expanding portfolio of associated sectors and businesses.

The two main channels in which that expansion of fields can be found are:

Bologna Book Plus (BBPlus), led by Jacks Thomas and geared toward the generalist publishing industry beyond youth work. It’s mounted in association with the Association of Italian Publishers (Associazione Italiana Editori, AIE); and
Bologna Licensing Trade Fair/Kids (BLTF/Kids), emphasizing licensing and brands for kids and young people.

Jacks Thomas

You’ll recall that Bologna’s Grand Tour had a preview at Cologne’s GamesCon at the end of July, connecting with that show’s dynamic in the development of animation projects for television series.

At Toulouse, the Bologna tour has been an official partner of the Cartoon Forum, contributing Bologna’s expertise in matchmaking events between publishers and producers, broadcasters, distributors, and investors this afternoon, September 18. The BCBF focus was in the Toulouse show’s TV/Film Rights Center.

Bologna in Toulouse has also led a delegation of Italian publishers—Pulce Edizioni, Edizioni San Paolo, Book on a Tree, HAB Agency, Fabbri and Rizzoli Ragazzi-Gruppo Mondadori, Feltrinelli Comics and Coconino Press. These touring publishers have had as many as 1,000 television film producers, investors, broadcasters, and other potential partners from 40 countries to meet.

What’s Next for the Grand Tour?

An exhibition area at the 2025 Bologna Children’s Book Fair. Image: BCBF

Few of our readers will be surprised to learn that th next stop for Bologna’s Grand Tour is Frankfurter Buchmesse (October 15 to 19), with an exhibition of leading international illustration.

Following that, the itinerary includes:

China Shanghai International Children’s Book Fair (CCBF, November 14 to 16), co-organized by BolognaFiere;
Feria Internacional del Libro de Guadalajara (November 29 to December 7);
Die Spielwarenmesse (January 27 to 31);
Festival International de la Bande Dessinée d’Angoulême (January 29 to February 1); and
New York City, with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in illustration. This tour stop (dates not announced) is in association with the SDG Book Club, from the UN Publications Office and the International Publishers Association (IPA). The Bologna Children’s Book Fair is a partner in the SDG Book Club.

At Frankfurter Buchmesse, you can find Bologna Children’s Book Fair in Hall 5.0, at Stand B63.
Bologna Children’s Book Fair is a patron member of the International Publishers Association.
Publishing Perspectives is the International Publishers Association’s world media partner.

More on Bologna Children’s Book Fair is here. More from Publishing Perspectives on illustration is here, more on merchandise and licensing is here, more on children’s books is here, more on the Italian market is here, and more on world publishing’s trade shows and book fairs is here.

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About the Author

Porter Anderson

Porter Anderson has been named International Trade Press Journalist of the Year in London Book Fair's International Excellence Awards. He is Editor-in-Chief of Publishing Perspectives. He formerly was Associate Editor for The FutureBook at London's The Bookseller. Anderson was for more than a decade a senior producer and anchor with CNN.com, CNN International, and CNN USA. As an arts critic (Fellow, National Critics Institute), he was with The Village Voice, the Dallas Times Herald, and the Tampa Tribune, now the Tampa Bay Times. He co-founded The Hot Sheet, a newsletter for authors, which now is owned and operated by Jane Friedman.