Bologna

APRIL 2019 VISIT PW AT HALL 26 B50

Bologna Gets Bigger and Better

Two new exhibition halls and fresh programming bring excitement to this year’s fair
By Ed Nawotka

PHOTO BY DIANE ROBACK

T he motto of this year’s Bologna Children’s Book
Fair, set for April 1–4, is Staging Children’s
Content. Accordingly, the fair has two new
halls in which to showcase exhibitors: halls 29 and 30,
which were demolished last year, have been completely
rebuilt as part of a €138 million renovation at the fair-
grounds. “The halls are huge and full of light,” says exhi-
bition manager Elena Pasoli. “They will be a big surprise
for visitors.”
The renovations have allowed the fair to create a new
“mall” between the halls. This accommodates the fair’s
expanded on-site bookstore and a lounge for booksell-
ers, many of whom will be participating in the fair’s
second International Children’s Booksellers Conference,
cohosted by the Italian Association of Independent
Children’s Bookshops, which takes place on Thursday,
This year’s fair has some 1,400 exhibitors and 250 conferences, and organizers
April 4. anticipate 28,000 attendees.
With its steady growth, the fair needs the breathing
room. In 2018, 27,642 visitors attended the fair—an
increase of 6% over 2017—and that number is expected to
one can expect thousands of
young illustrators to attend
INSIDE:
jump again this year with attendees coming from 80 differ- in order to show their work
ent countries. Switzerland is the guest of honor and will be to publishers. To accommo- Trends to
Watch at
represented by 22 publishing houses and 26 illustrators, date the throng, Bologna
one for each of the 26 Swiss cantons (which are similar to established the Illustrators the Fair 6
states). Survival Corner three years
Among the many notable figures from children’s book pub- ago. It has proved popular and
lishing who are speaking, exhibiting, or otherwise attending is expanding again this year The Bookseller
this year are Italian illustrator Beatrice Alemagna; Argentinian with a full roster of hands-on View
illustrator and publisher Diego Bianchi (known as Bianki); how-to events aiming to
14
Lithuanian writer and illustrator Kestutis Kasparavicius; teach best practices to the
authors Christopher Myers and Ruta Sepetys from the next generation of illustra- The Ragazzi
U.S.; Norwegian author Maria Parr; Klaas Verplancke
from Belgium; and Mingzhou Zhang, president of IBBY
tors, some of whom no doubt Winners
hope to eventually make it
20
International.“I am personally excited to see Czech illustrator into the fair’s prestigious
Peter Sís return,” Pasoli says. “He hasn’t been here for sev- Illustrators Exhibition.
Why the
22
eral years, and he’s a favorite.” Nearly 3,000 illustrators,
representing 62 countries, Swedish Kids’
Illustration: The Fair’s Beating Heart submitted work for this year’s Market Is Hot
Children’s book illustration is central to the fair again, and exhibition. Of those, 76 art-
 UNITED STATES

ISRA
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ITALY TAIWAN

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PORTUGAL
SLOVAKIA

ROMANIA

DWK 2019 PW Bologna Daily Ad_final_ol.indd 1

 CZECH

AUSTRALIA

CATALONIA
IC
ARAB
GREECE

CHINA

GERMANY NORW
AY
FRANCE

RGIA
GEO

TURKEY E
JAPAN BASQU

NDS
NETHERLA

OM
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UNITE BULGARIA
SLOVENIA

SPAIN

DENMARK SWEDEN
FINLAND

3/22/19 6:37 PM
 BOLOGNA SHOW DAILY APRIL 2019
ists were selected, from 27 countries and regions. Three
illustrators will also have solo exhibitions: Russians Igor
Oleynikov, who won the Hans Christian Andersen Award
in 2018, and Masha Titova, who provided this year’s illus-
trations for Bologna’s brand identity, as well as Croatian
artist Vendi Vernić.
In addition to this display, Bologna is honoring the 50th
anniversary of the Coretta Scott King Award by hosting
an exhibition of works by African-American illustrators
called Black Books Matter, which is being held in conjunc-
tion with the National Center for Children’s Illustrated
Literature in Abilene, Tex. “It’s the first time we have had
an exhibit like this focused on African-Americans,” Pasoli
says. “It is important now more than ever.”
Also echoing the social and political tenor of the times
will be a panel discussion on Tuesday hosted by Maria Russo
of the New York Times Book Review, focused on books
that depict women’s roles in society. “We felt that it really
was time to showcase books about women and their work,
both inside and outside the home, in children’s books,” Pasoli
says. Featured speakers include Bodour Al Qasimi, v-p of
the International Publishers Association; Italian author and
editor Beatrice Masini; and U.S. author Susan Wood, among
others.
New Digital and Licensing Events
Bologna’s digital program has shifted to Hall 30, where
the fair will stage The Kids Want Mobile, a conference for
children’s app developers. The event, which was previ-
ously held in Berlin, has moved to Bologna for the first
time, where it appears to be popular: the 150 tickets sold
out in two days. “This is a very big thing for us,” Pasoli
says. Speakers include Silvia Borando, editorial director
of Italy’s Minibombo; Chris Lindgren, a play designer
and UX researcher formerly with Sweden’s Toca Boca;
and Valérie Touze, COO at Edoki Academy in France.
This year’s Bologna Licensing Trade Fair, which hap-
pens concurrently with the book fair, is hosting a parade
of popular children’s characters and a new exhibit called
ArtLicensing, featuring home products, such as lamps
and bedding, inspired by and adorned with illustrations
from children’s books. “We asked consumer-goods pro-
ducers and connected them with some illustrators, who
did prototypes,” Pasoli says. “It is a small but smart
exhibit.”
Bologna is also putting a spotlight on the Chinese chil-
dren’s market, one that produces 40,000 new titles per year.
An event on Monday at 1 p.m. will feature the latest
research from the Chinese trade magazine China Publishers
to help people develop a better understanding of the market.
In addition, there will be a preview of the 2019 China
Shanghai International Children’s Book Fair, co-organized
by BolognaFiere, to be held November 17–19.
Other special events include a Monday seminar on the
importance of children learning handwriting and its place
4
✷ Attention Bologna Attendees!
Calling all children’s publishers: stay up-to-date on the
U.S. children’s and YA publishing scene with Children’s
Bookshelf, the free e-newsletter from Publishers
Weekly. You’ll find in-depth reporting on the biggest
new books, deal announcements, market trends, and
breaking news, as well as interviews with renowned
authors and illustrators and up-and-coming creators.
Subscribe now to get Children’s Bookshelf delivered to
your inbox twice a week! Go to publishersweekly.com/
bookshelf and sign up.
in picture books. Listen Up!, the fair’s half-day confer-
ence covering audiobooks returns for a second year on
Tuesday; a new conference covering books for toddlers,
called Absolute Beginners, will also take place on Tuesday.
Bologna is also working with the Italian Association of
Independent Children’s Bookstores to create a booksellers
lounge, as well as to conduct a panel on Thursday that
will look at best practices for booksellers, and which will
discuss how and why some booksellers are becoming
publishers.
Pasoli says she is feeling empowered by the various
new directions the fair is taking, including its explorations
of timely themes and its partnerships with international
exhibitions. “I think our work in China and in the United
States with the New York Rights Fair has brought us new
audiences. People in both locations were very happy, and
some new people are now coming to Bologna. This year,
we are not missing any major publishers—we have many
new ones—and some groups have expanded. We have, for
example, bigger participation from Russian publishers.
The mood is very positive. It’s going to be a great fair.”  ■
Bologna Show Daily is published by Publishers
Weekly in cooperation with the Bologna Children's
Book Fair.
To contact Publishers Weekly during the fair,
visit us at our stand in Hall 26 B50.
Publisher: Joseph Murray
Editors: Ed Nawotka, Diane Roback, Jim Milliot
Project Management: Cevin Bryerman
Layout and Production: Clive Chiu
To subscribe to Publishers Weekly, call +001-818-
487-2069, or for a free digital trial to the weekly
magazine, go to publishersweekly.com/freetrial.
 2020
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 BOLOGNA SHOW DAILY APRIL 2019

Bologna Trend Watch

We spoke with a dozen Bologna-bound literary agents and scouts about current
trends they’ve been noticing, and what they’re expecting this year
Compiled by Diane Roback

Rachel Hecht flow of different markets, where one might begin to flourish,
Owner while another experiences difficulties (Turkey, for example,
Rachel Hecht Children’s seems to be coming back slightly after retrenching for the
Scouting past few years). One minitrend we’re seeing is publishers
Heading into Bologna, I seeking to create more marketing and promotional materials.
think the power of the When this happens, we need to properly coordinate design
tie-in continues to have a and copyright elements, as well as work with any existing
significant impact inter- licensees.
nationally: books that
Mia Roman

© ana paula tizzi

have been picked up by
Netflix in particular, or Foreign rights associate
optioned in major studio or streaming deals, are generating New Leaf Literary & Media
immediate and big foreign interest—as are novelizations of I have been seeing more
popular TV series or video games that provide an additional publishers interested in
point of entry for readers and fans. YA thrillers, mysteries,
Illustrated middle grade is another hot spot, and with the and horror, even if they
increased list space publishers are creating for this category, are only coming around
as well as for graphic novels in general, I believe it is one that slowly to buying them.
will continue to see growth. And so far this fair cycle, I’m The best thing about the
noticing an uptick in middle grade projects across the board, past couple of years is
changing things up from the last few fairs, which more that foreign publishers are genuinely trying to publish more
heavily featured YA offerings. Regarding the teen category, diverse books and not just treating it as a trend. As I always
I continue to hear whispers and hints about a return to the hated to call diversity a trend, I’m happy to see that. It is
paranormal, even as we’re seeing some exceptionally strong here to stay! They are also actively looking for feminist
and exciting new contemporary voices. Across all categories, themes and characters, and that has manifested in fantasy
diversity continues to be the industry watchword—here’s to and sci-fi as well, which I thoroughly appreciate. We have
an inclusive children’s landscape in which all types of voices, been seeing great success in contemporary, magical realism,
experiences, and genres can be represented and accessible and more literary titles, both in YA and middle grade. For
to our young readers. middle grade specifically, it is a change to see more requests
for standalones.
Marcia Wernick Generally, we are observing fewer titles break out in sev-
Agent and cofounder eral languages in a short period of time. Foreign publishers
Wernick & Pratt Agency are being more selective about which titles they buy and are
The Bologna Book Fair is an embarrassment of riches. It brings buying more titles in different genres, as opposed to giving
together passionate book astronomical advances for fewer books. This opens up oppor-
people from all around tunities for rights agents in the U.S., since, with no one big
the world to share their trend, we can cater our list to fit exactly with what each
books and their stories foreign market is looking for. Regardless of trends and changes
in a city that is gorgeous, in specific international markets, one aspect of the industry
charming, and filled with hasn’t changed: strong voices will always find good part-
amazing food. With rights ners overseas.
licensing, there are always
surprises: sometimes a Samantha Fabien
book we were certain would International rights manager
sell doesn’t, or vice versa. Laura Dail Literary Agency
There’s also an ebb and We are seeing continued interest in romantic fantasy in the

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tradition of Kiera Cass and Anna Bright. We still see really

intriguing retellings—we have a reimagining of The Iliad on My Bologna Favorites
our list, for example, set in modern San Francisco. And in
YA, we’re still seeing older protagonists. This seems organic YURIKA YOKOTA
to me, and makes sense with a lot of the darker stories we’re YOSHIDA
seeing, but it also helps YA cross over to adult readers.
President,
Diverse books by #OwnVoices authors are on fire in every Japan Foreign-Rights Centre
category and every age group. We’ve especially seen LGBTQ
stories open up. We had two auctions this winter for My Bologna began in 1989, the third spring in my career as
#OwnVoices LGBTQ an agent with Japan Foreign-Rights Centre. The new Italian
projects—a dark LGBTQ word that I learned in Bologna was primavera. Purple pink
YA fantasy, and a picture apricot blossoms, cherry blossoms, yellow forsythias, and
book called The GayBCs. green fields with white buttercups. Though we Japanese
And we’re still hearing have to say goodbye to our beloved sakura cherry blos-
a lot of demand for the soms to attend the fair, Bologna’s plants and nature are
mighty rom-com—espe- lovely enough to enjoy the beauty of spring. The shop I
cially fresh, layered, and cannot miss in the city is the confectionery Gamberini on
culturally rich ones. It’s Via Ugo Bassi. When publisher Kaisei-Sha celebrated its
a mature market, so they 80th anniversary at its stand some years ago, we asked
have to be special. Gamberini to prepare the round cake called mimosa to add
Rom-com 2.0, I’d say. charm to the celebration. That’s a lifelong memory of good
taste and smiles.
Addison Duffy
Agent
United Talent Agency Peter Rabbit. Within YA, this includes stories that resonate
Across all platforms, with adult audiences, as well. Although You was not a YA
buyers are looking for novel, many buyers are looking to it as a comp in the YA
fresh new voices and marketplace. They want teens dealing with adult issues.
stories. Studios and Lastly, there is a focus on merchandising opportunities.
especially streaming While this is nothing new to the studios, it is to the stream-
platforms are hungry ing services. Streaming platforms are working to find con-
for family, young adult, tent they can build out into toys, games, plush, etc.
middle grade, and chil-
dren’s content across Josh and Tracey Adams
animation and live action. With the addition of the Disney Cofounders and partners
and Apple streaming platforms, there is a sizeable shift in Adams Literary
the appetite for kids’ programming. We’ve had a lot of interest—and deals—around the globe
In children’s and middle grade, there will always be lately for darker YA fantasy trilogies that can cross over
the greatest excitement around known titles and authors. into the adult marketplace. We’re also seeing renewed
Whether it be a classic title or an author with a great interest in middle grade, both series and contemporary
“viral” fan base, studios, networks, streaming platforms, standalones, and even some publishers who are thinking
and producers will seize the opportunity in a meaningful
© abby adams

way.
Another focus is character-driven content. From the
studios and networks down to the creatives, there is a
desire to explore relatable stories. Along with the push for
diversity, buyers want to tell narratives that evoke emotions.
This spans from children’s all the way through teen/tween.
Buyers are also looking for material that has the ability
to span internationally. Can a story be inherently American
but still make sense abroad? Does the story take place in a
different country but have characters who are universally
relatable?
Buyers are looking at material that entire families can
enjoy watching together, like Night at the Museum and

8
Frankfurt Kids
awaits you October. Frankfurt.
16 – 20 October 2019
Frankfurter Buchmesse

Meet us in Bologna at
More Children’s Books. the German collective
stand, Hall 30, Stand C6/D5
More media.
More events.
Contact
More creativity. Martina Stemann
Phone: +49 (0) 69 2102-126
Simply more. Fax: +49 (0) 69 2102-46126
Truly global. E-mail: stemann@book-fair.com

buchmesse.de/kids

#fbm19
 BOLOGNA SHOW DAILY APRIL 2019
My Bologna Favorites
MARKUS
WEBER
Publisher,
Moritz Verlag,
© stephen jockel
Frankfurt, Germany
For my very first Bologna fairs in the mid-’80s I used to
take the night train from Heidelberg to Bologna. It was
always exciting to see which international publishers would
already be on that train. We stood with glasses of wine in
the corridor with colleagues from the Netherlands or even
Sweden, looking out of the window and talking quietly. In
the morning there was Italy. The fields were often already
green, and blossoms flourished. I looked forward to get-
ting my first real cappuccino, and then I went to the see my
hairdresser in Via Barberia... the Fiera del Libro could start!
And the evenings of Bologna! After long dinners, there
was one place to end the evenings: the bar in the Hotel Pal-
ace. It was filled with people from London and New York,
from Paris, Amsterdam, Stockholm, and Copenhagen, and
the challenge of getting a drink from the clumsy guy behind
the bar was comparable to finding “the” book during the
day. Nevertheless, we’d stay until two in the morning—or
even later. The privileged ones among us could just take
the elevator to their rooms upstairs, while the ones like me
had to make their way down the long Via dell’Indipendenza,
where the street cleaning was already going on. Little is left
of those “palatial” nights. Good old days.
outside of the box. For instance, a European publisher is
interested in turning a classic historical middle grade into
a graphic novel.
Many publishers—especially those in South America—
are still struggling due to economic conditions in their
countries. However, we’ve seen a resurgence and are hap-
pily working quite a bit with Russia and Eastern European
publishers lately. A definite trend we’re seeing, and facili-
tating, is that of international publishers utilizing our clients
on publishers’ social media like never before, through video
and fun interactive content. Between international publish-
ers’ and authors’ efforts on social, connections with fans
around the world are easier to make and far more numerous
these days, making the world a smaller place.
Kelly Farber
Owner
KF Literary Scouting
It hasn’t been a year of radical shifts in the YA and children’s
market, but one variable that is driving foreign rights sales
of book projects is Netflix and, more generally, buzzy film
deals. Splashy option deals of new titles are a surefire way to
10
drive foreign editors
toward projects; clients
are also excited to see
things they already have
published be brought to
the screen, breathing
new life into backlist
titles. The success on
Netflix of things like To
All the Boys I’ve Loved
Before and The Kissing
Booth have also made
the rom-com popular in the YA space again, which I’ve
enjoyed. We’re all the more excited if the love story brings
in diversity or LGBTQ elements. Middle grade has also
been steady prefair, with some classic-feeling projects in
that segment getting big attention. And fantasy is still
working! So we’re still keen to scout really imaginative
and fresh new possibilities there.
Ammi-Joan Paquette
Senior agent
Erin Murphy Literary Agency
I am hearing a buzz for and interest in thrillers and high-
stakes contemporary novels. Separately, graphic novels
continue to be hot across all age groups and genres—I love
seeing this market open up in such a big and exciting way!
That aside, I think that, on a general scale, authenticity
with a continued emphasis on underrepresented voices
continues to be highly sought after, especially stories with
a particularly unique and fresh or high-concept hook. YA
seems a little sluggish for all but very big-feel breakout
titles, but middle grade is going strong.
Cecilia de la Campa
Executive director, global licensing
and domestic partnerships
Writers House
Our biggest sellers at the moment are books with a unique
POV—an author or protagonist sharing an experience or
exploring an identity that we haven’t read before, a per-
sonal story that resonates far and wide. International
publishers and readers are eagerly seeking out these new
voices, especially as it remains difficult to make noise in a
 APRIL 2019 BOLOGNA SHOW DAILY

crowded market and Victoria Wells Arms

unstable world. We sell
things immediately once
there’s something extra
for a publisher to latch
onto: bestseller status, an
award, or especially an
upcoming film/streaming
adaptation, as long as
there’s already a known
international release date.
I’m thrilled to see budding growth in two traditionally
difficult formats for international publishers: novels in
verse, which are hard to translate faithfully, and fully illus-
trated two- or four-color graphic novels, which are expen-
sive to produce and are often shelved with adult graphics.
The international markets have been much slower to adopt
these formats, and they were often only published by niche
houses, but it seems our usual international partners now
each have at least one or two on their lists each season,
and are open to expanding further.
I’m hoping international publishers will start to pay
serious attention to the audio format as well—at the edito-
rial and marketing level, not just at the top—as something
they should be investing in heavily. Audio is taking the
world by storm as quickly as it has the U.S., but the retailer
partnerships and royalty models are still lacking, as are the
conversations around them.
Molly Ker Hawn
Agent
The Bent Agency
In my submissions, I’m seeing a lot of realistic contemporary
middle grade and YA projects tackling fairly serious topics,
most of which I think we’d find a tough sell to most foreign
publishers. We’re bringing a mix of YA and middle grade
books to the fair, from American and British authors—some
debuts and some new projects from established favorites.
We’re finding both YA and middle grade strong for us
in Europe, particularly in fantasy, despite anecdotal
wisdom that YA is struggling in the U.K. and overseas.
Central and Eastern Europe have been particularly
fruitful for us—we’re seeing real growth in Hungary,
especially—and we’ve
had big upswings in deals
in Russia and, in the last
couple of months, Thailand.
We’re also seeing a surge
in audio licenses across
Europe, raising interest-
ing questions about
streaming subscription
models that are gaining
popularity in a lot of
territories.
Agent and owner
Wells Arms Literary
I’m being sent a lot of
historical fiction and
cute picture book texts,
but am not finding much
that stands out in either
category. We’re hearing
that historical is hard to
sell anywhere, and pic-
ture book texts... I have
so many of them! I’m
also seeing a lot of biog-
raphies of groundbreak-
ing women, and though this is always wonderful to see,
the market feels almost saturated, at least domestically.
That said, beautiful illustration, production, and a
unique angle do make a difference, and my kids eat
them up!
Globally, we are hearing that many territories are strug-
gling to hold onto independent booksellers, which affects
the children’s book market across the board. Librarians
are pulled between more conservative values and the trends
in interesting YA—and sometimes even middle grade—
fiction. I am most excited to bring fiction to the interna-
tional market, especially when we have film interest, best-
seller status, or awards. I find it too discouraging when
those things aren’t part of the package; rarely do foreign
editors want to see debut authors without some kind of
outside platform and attention. When a foreign publisher
feels it can do a project with local talent, then that’s often
what it prefers.
My Bologna Favorites
JOHN
MCLAY
Literary scout,
Bath, England
I’ve been to about 25 fairs now. More than most but not as
many as some! I’ve never failed to eat at least once at
Ristorante da Nello on Via Montegrappa. A guest of pub-
lishers in my early days, I now host a large dinner for my
scouting clients every year on the eve of the fair. We take
up several tables on the ground floor and eat the same
menu every year. It’s perfect. The food is amazing and
the staff know us now, so it’s hugely welcoming and
friendly.
A genuine highlight of my year.

11
 BOLOGNA SHOW DAILY APRIL 2019

I’m just hoping we can all continue to broaden our lists across borders and languages: humor and fantasy—from
with books from different places. Kids deserve to know high fantasy to tales more modest and Nesbit-like—with
about other parts of the world, no matter where they live, reliably unbridled love for stories that pack an emotional
and books in translation can do that. It’s a crucial element heart-punch.
for being a global citizen. In both middle grade and the teen arena, after the suf-
focating boom times of paranormal and dystopia, it’s
Michael Stearns become clichéd to say there are no big trends. But that
Founder doesn’t mean there aren’t vibrant smaller trends that
Upstart Crow Literary make up a healthy something-for-everyone children’s
Interest in illustrated book market. Interest from publishers and readers in
works for older readers— authentic voices remains huge; that #OwnVoices umbrella
full-on graphic novels encompasses everything from tales of underrepresented
but also heavily illustrated cultures to stories of kids who were labeled “disabled”
novels—has been build- but are now rightly seen as people with challenging diffi-
ing steadily for the past culties to overcome.
15 years or so, to the point And that enthusiasm isn’t just homegrown. With those
that now such books are titles, we’ve seen an encouraging pickup from foreign
in the mainstream, both publishers around the world. This “trend”—if it’s right
on bookstore shelves and to label a publishing turn toward greater empathy as a
in terms of projects we trend—extends to younger age groups, as well. Our most
read and sell. In general, successful picture books in the U.S. market, bestsellers
the last half decade has seen a rebalancing of publishers’ and not, are also the titles we’ve seen the greatest interest
lists toward middle grade, and that market has become a in across the international market. They’re stories that
much more vibrant one, if still a difficult one in which to help readers understand one another better. What a joy—
forge a bestseller. The stalwarts undergirding middle grade modest though it may be—to sell books one not only
4149_Bologna_advert_215.9x147.32mm_MAR19.pdf 1 26/03/2019 10:19
remain the ones that have always worked and worked well loves but believes in some small way better the world.  ■

UNDERSTANDING THE UK
CHILDREN'S BOOK MARKET
NIELSEN BOOK'S CHILDREN'S REPORT REVEALS THE LATEST
TRENDS IN THE UK:
● 74% of 0-17s read or listen to books/magazines weekly for fun,
C
down 1% from 2017

M ● Visiting YouTube overtook gaming as the most common activity on

smartphones among 0-17s
Y

CM

MY
NIELSEN BOOK'S LICENSING AND BRANDING DATA
CY
ANALYSES POPULAR BRANDS AMONG 0-17s:
CMY

K
● Disney™ reached £8.6m in 2018, driven by the growing Twisted Tales
series as well as increased sales for Disney Princess™ and
The Incredibles™ books

● Shimmer & Shine™ book sales more than doubled in 2018,

amounting to £335k

For more information, email: infobookresearch@nielsen.com


New Series Teaches Kids to Look, Listen, and Play
By Ed Nawotka
F atatrac, a division of the Italian publishing house
Giunti, is introducing Look Listen Play!, a new
multimedia initiative, on April 3. The project begins
not with books but with music: a musician will be commis-
sioned to produce an original composition for children—
and that composition will then be passed on to a writer,
who will use it as the inspiration for a children’s book.
The project has strong ties to the city of Bologna and is
being developed in partnership with the city’s
Istituzione Bologna Musei, a consortium of 15
local museums. Veronica Ceruti, director of
education for the Istituzione, and Charles Kim,
formerly associate publisher of the Museum of
Modern Art in New York City, are serving as
editors and curators for the project, which is
expected to deliver its first title in the spring
of 2020.
“The idea is to create original educational and
entertainment content and expand the musical
canon for children through books and real-
world interactions,” Kim says. A third partner Veronica Ceruti
APRIL 2019 BOLOGNA SHOW DAILY
in the project, Bologna’s Teatro Comunale, the city’s opera
house, has agreed to stage performances of the original
musical compositions of the first books to come out of
the project; MAMBo, the Bologna Modern Art Museum,
is also on board to host an exhibition related to the first
book.
“By bringing together the musical and visual arts and
reading, as well as experiences of the concert hall and
museum going, Look Listen Play! will help
emphasize multidisciplinary learning and
reinforce to children and parents the impor-
tance of arts education,” Kim says.
The hope, according to Kim, is that the
project will spread to other cities across
Italy and abroad. Giunti is handing foreign
rights sales, and so far, U.S. rights have been
acquired by Six Foot Press, a new publisher.
A press conference for Look Listen Play! will
be held on Wednesday at 3:45 p.m. on the main
stage in the central hall housing the Illustra-
tor’s Café. ■
 BOLOGNA SHOW DAILY APRIL 2019
Heading to Bologna on Scholarship
Bookselling Without Borders is sponsoring three children’s booksellers’ trips to the fair
By Alex Green
A
trio of American indie booksellers
will be among the thousands of pub-
lishing professionals converging on
Bologna for the 2019 Children’s Book Fair,
each with an eye on how to bring an interna-
tional dimension to their work back home.
Melissa Posten of the Novel Neighbor in St.
Louis, Clarissa Hadge of Trident Booksellers
& Café in Boston, and Sarah Hedrick of
Iconoclast Books & Gifts in Hailey, Idaho,
are attending the fair on scholarship from
Melissa
Bookselling Without Borders, an industry Posten
group that aims to increase booksellers’
awareness of international bookselling trends.
I caught up with Posten and Hadge to talk
about their expectations.
“I feel humbled and grateful that I was
chosen to go, so I’m hoping to bring back all
of the knowledge that I get over there and
share it,” Hadge says.
Posten and Hadge are first-time attendees to
Bologna but have extensive children’s book-
selling experience, and they say that the fair is
an opportunity to see how publishers decide
Clarissa
which foreign-language books have a future Hadge
place on American bookshelves, which don’t,
and why.
For Hadge, the timing couldn’t be better. A fire and flood
shuttered Trident in 2018, but the store has reopened with
more than double the previous space available for its chil-
dren’s section. With that added space, she intends to add
more programming, including educator nights, school pro-
grams, and publisher showcases. The trip to Bologna will
help guide her next steps. “I’m really striving to provide
children’s books that will be a reflection of the market and
our readership in the store but will also show kids and
adults a wider scope of the world out there,” Hadge says.
The same goes for Posten, who says she is selling books
in a community where more than 70 languages are spoken
in the schools. She notes that she has wanted to attend the
book fair because “St. Louis has traditionally been very
welcoming to immigrants,” and she hopes to bring back
helpful insights for local librarians with whom she works
for readings and school events.
Both booksellers have already had some success selling
books published by a handful of American publishers who
bring international titles to their lists. They intend to use
14
what they’ve seen working for those publish-
ers as a starting place to find more publishers
with whom to work, and more titles to coax
into the American market. For instance,
Hadge prominently features books from
Barefoot Books and has seen “an uptick in
bilingual board books.” Posten seeks out
books from Enchanted Lion and Ground-
wood and has found success with readers of
illustrated titles from around the world.
Still, Posten believes there are opportunities
for publishers to bring more well-crafted
translations to American readers in a number
of areas. “I definitely feel like a big area of
opportunity is in middle grade,” she says.
“Publishers are doing a much better job get-
ting translated picture books into the hands
of people.”
Posten also hopes the book fair will give
her insights into the decisions publishers use
regarding layout and book design for titles.
Along with the opportunity to meet pub-
lishers, the booksellers are eager to see how
indie booksellers from other countries do
their work. “I don’t know anything about
what goes on in indie bookstores overseas,”
says Posten, who has more than 17 years of experience as a
bookseller, beginning at Children’s Book World in Haver-
ford, Penn.
The Bologna Book Fair is just one of six sites for book-
seller residencies and scholarships through Bookselling
Without Borders this year. The organization was founded
by Europa Editions in 2016 and has grown to include 13
publishing partners and a host of other industry affiliates
dedicated to providing American booksellers with an oppor-
tunity to see international publishing firsthand.
“The hope is that booksellers will change the way they
think about selling international literature,” Europa edi-
tor-in-chief Michael Reynolds told PW earlier this year,
adding, “I find it extraordinary how many end-of-year
lists about diverse books come out without a single title of
translation.”
All told, this year 14 booksellers will participate in
fairs and residencies in six locations, with guided tours,
meetings with fellow booksellers and publishers, and
educational workshops organized by Bookselling
Without Borders.  ■
 Find Fox Chapel Publishing at the American Collective Stand

Hall 26
Stand B50
For Little Readers Our mission is to educate, excite,
Introducing Happy Fox Books,
an Imprint of Fox Chapel Publishing and help children understand the
world around them.

BigFoot Spotted at World-
Famous Landmarks
See the sites and look for BigFoot
as he explores 10 different
landmarks, including the Golden
Gate Bridge, the Great Wall of
China, and more!
9781641240024
£9.99, $14.99 (USD), $18.99 (CAD)
10 x 10 in.
48 pages
Interest age 5-12 years
BigFoot Visits the Big Cities of
the World
Travel from the Big Apple to
Athens and Tokyo to Toronto
as BigFoot visits 10 major
cosmopolitan destinations of the
world!
9781641240017
£9.99, $14.99 (USD), $18.99 (CAD)
10 x 10 in.
48 pages
Interest age 5-12 years
BigFoot Goes on Great
Adventures
Go on 10 wild and challenging
adventures searching for BigFoot
as he climbs the Himalayas,
dives into the Great Barrier Reef,
and more!
9781641240253
£9.99, $14.99 (USD), $18.99 (CAD)
10 x 10 in.
48 pages
Interest age 5-12 years
BigFoot Activity Book
Discover hundreds of whimsical
mazes, riddles, search & find
puzzles, word games, coloring
pages, fun facts about the world,
and more than 80 free stickers,
all with BigFoot!
9781641240345
£6.99, $9.99 (USD), $11.99 (CAD)
8 x 10 in.
136 pages
Interest age 5-12 years

Vacation Crafting
Inspired by the classic crafts that
you made in summer camp, this
big book provides more than 150
child-friendly craft ideas to take
on the road.
9781641240178
£12.99, $16.99 (USD), $21.99 (CAD)
7 x 9 in.
160 pages
Interest age 5-12 years
Once Upon a Paper Doll
This delightful book provides
hours of imaginative play with
nostalgic paper doll characters
from favorite fairy tales.
9781641240048
£10.99, $14.99 (USD), $18.99 (CAD)
8 x 10 in.
59 pages
Interest age 5-12 years
Picture Book Play Learn & Draw Animal Friends
Kids will love the 15 fun art New from Kid Scoop, kids can
projects that show them how to learn more about their favorite
draw like their favorite picture animals – while learning to draw
book authors! them, too!
9781641240338 9781641240321
£10.99, $14.99 (USD), $18.99 (CAD) £9.99, $12.99 (USD), $14.99 (CAD)
8 x 10 in. 8 x 10 in.
128 pages 128 pages
Interest age 5-10 years Interest age 5-10 years

Fox Chapel Publishers For Rights Enquiries: Sharon Payne

paynesharon@foxchapelpublishing.co.uk
International Ltd.
7 Danefield Road, Selsey (Chichester) For Sales Enquiries: Bridget Latimer-Jones
West Sussex PO20 9DA, UK latimerjonesbridget@foxchapelpublishing.co.uk

CALLING
ALL
CHILDREN’S
PUBLISHERS!
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and YA publishing scene with
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n Breaking news  The reason for this change is
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18
BOLOGNA SHOW DAILY APRIL 2019
Brazil’s YA Scene
Heats Up
A passion for local stories is putting
more focus on homegrown talent
By Taissa Reis
T
en years ago, the Brazil-
ian YA market consisted
mainly of translated titles
and, with only a few exceptions,
was dominated by American
and British writers. But Brazilian
publishers have become eager to
foster more careers and publish
more Brazilian YA authors,
transforming the market from
one focused primarily on buying
rights to one now looking to sell
rights abroad—which is why
there’s so much Brazilian YA on
offer here in Bologna.
growing, Brazilian readers want
to see themselves represented in
the books and, as a consequence,
are demanding more titles by
homegrown authors. The Bra-
zilian YA audience treats their
favorite authors like rock stars,
and top writers have huge fol-
lowings. When YA bestseller
Cassandra Clare’s readers arrived at the 2014 Bienal do
Livro, Brazil’s annual book fair, fans broke the glass door of
the venue, desperate to get spots in her signing line.
The massive crowds of YA readers can be credited as
the force behind the recent rapid rise of book festivals in
Brazil. In 2017, Diana Passy of the publishing house
Companhia das Letras, PRH’s arm in Brazil, developed
Flipop (Pop Literature Festival). Inspired by Yallfest and
LeakyCon, among others, she brought together the YA
community and put readers in direct contact with Brazilian
and international YA authors. Authors featured at the
event have included Alwyn Hamilton, Morgan Rhodes,
Benjamin Alire Saénz, and Jeff Zentner, as well as book-
tubers and other publishing professionals. The event has a
format more like a convention than a traditional book-
selling event, and readers can watch and interact with
panel discussions.
 APRIL 2019

The 2018 Flipop was held prior to the annual Bienal do

Livro, which itself alternates between São Paulo and Rio de
Janiero; Flipop’s proximity to this annual professional fair
strengthened the bond between readers and authors and
showcased the strength of the market for Brazilian authors.
Companhia das Letras’s bestselling author, Iris Figue-
iredo, a 26-year-old, was at the event. During the 10 days
of the show, she was on the floor talking with readers about
Céu sem estrelas (Starless sky), the book she released at
Flipop. Another Brazilian YA author, Roberta Spindler, was
among Companhia’s top 10 bestsellers last year. Other top
Brazilian publishers reported similar results: Globo Livros,
Grupo Record, and V&R all had Brazilian YA authors on
their 2018 bestseller lists.
These new Brazilian stars emerged from a variety of
different platforms—including blogs, Wattpad, and
self-publishing—and have benefited from the evolution
of the Brazilian market with the creation of new editorial
literary agencies and imprints dedicated to YA.
Brazilians are seeing that they can have a much closer
relationship with authors who live and write in their
reality. Far from rejecting international titles, Brazilians
readers are seeing that all these books can coexist on their
shelves as equals. With high-quality writing and up-to-date
themes that relate to international conversations on diver-
sity, Brazilian YA titles are not only gathering attention in
our market but are ready to go global. ■

Taissa Reis is the cofounder of Página 7, a Brazilian literary

agency focused on YA and middle grade literature.

My Bologna Favorites

KAREN
BOERSMA
Publisher,
Owlkids Books, Toronto

There are so many things to love about Bologna, it’s hard

to pick just one. There’s the thrill of walking through the
fair halls early, before anyone else is there, and spotting a
book that you instantly fall in love with; or sitting in the
Piazza Maggiore in the sunshine with an Aperol spritz;
or checking to see whether the wisteria is in bloom on
that balcony in the far corner of Piazza Santo Stefano. But
what I look forward to most every year is a prefair dinner at
the Antica Osteria Romagnola with a group of friends from
around the world. We’ve been having dinner together for
more than 20 years, and from the warm welcome we get
from Antonio, the restaurant’s owner, to the wonderful
food, wine, and conversation, it’s still the perfect way to
start the fair.

19
 BOLOGNA SHOW DAILY APRIL 2019

SPECIAL MENTIONS
À TRAVERS

BOLOGNA
Tom Haugomat
Éditions Thierry Magnier
(France)

RAGAZZI ET PUIS
Icinori
Albin Michel Jeunesse
(France)

AWARDS THE MOON OVER THE

APPLE ORCHARD
Kwon Jeong-saeng,
This year, 1,558 books from 43 illus. by Yoon Mi-sook
Changbi Editores
countries were submitted (South Korea)
for consideration for
the Bologna Ragazzi NONFICTION
Awards, honoring the WINNER
ATLAS DAS VIAGENS AND DOS
best children’s EXPLORADORES
publishing from Isabel Minhós Martins,
illus. by Bernardo P. Carvalho
around the world. Planeta Tangerina
(Portugal)

SPECIAL MENTIONS
FICTION ORBIS SENSUALIUM PICTUS. EL MUNDO EN IMÁGENES
WINNER Johannes Amos Comenius,
PANÁCEK, PECKA, illus. by Paulo Kreutzberger
ŠVESTKA, POLENO A ZASE Libros del Zorro Rojo
PANÁCEK (Spain)
Vojtech Masek,
illus. by Chrudos Valousek ✰ ✰
Baobab BOLOGNA RAGAZZI
(Czech Republic)
DIGITAL AWARD
This is a special international prize for excellence
and innovation in digital content.
✰ ✰ WINNERS
HONORABLE MENTION/ FICTION: The Gardens Between
The Voxel Agents (Australia)
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT
AWARD AUGMENTED REALITY: A Brief History of Amazing Stunts
Within (U.K.)
Author-illustrator Attilio Cassinelli
I TRE PORCELLINI; TOPO DI CAMPAGNA E TOPO DI CITTÀ; EDUCATION: Montessori Preschool
RICCIOLI D’ORO; I MUSICANTI DI BREMA; CAPPUCCETTO Edoki Academy (France)
ROSSO; IL PRINCIPE RANOCCHIO; IL LEONE E IL TOPO
Lapis Edizioni CONTENT LIBRARIES: Bayam
(Italy) Bayard (France)

20
 APRIL 2019 BOLOGNA SHOW DAILY

CHAQUE SECONDE DANS LE MONDE

Bruno Gibert
NEW HORIZONS
Actes Sud Junior WINNER
(France) A HISTORY OF PICTURES FOR
CHILDREN
KVINNER THE KAMP—150 ÅRS David Hockney and Martin Gayford,
KAMP FOR FRIHET, LIKHET OG illus. by Rose Blake
SØSTERSKAP! Thames & Hudson
Marta Breen, (U.S.)
illus. by Jenny Jordahl
Cappelen Damm SPECIAL MENTION
(Norway) MUSEO MEDIA VACA
Edited by Vicente Ferrer
RUE DES QUATRE-VENTS Media Vaca
Jessie Magana, (Spain)
illus. by Magali Attiogbé
Les Éditions des Éléphants
(France)
TODDLER
WINNER
¡A DORMIR, GATITOS!
OPERA PRIMA Bàrbara Castro Urío
Zahorí
WINNER
(Spain)
JULIÁN IS A
MERMAID
Jessica Love
SPECIAL MENTIONS
MES ANIMAUX TOUT DOUX
Candlewick
DU JARDIN
(U.S.)
Xavier Deneux
Bayard
SPECIAL MENTIONS
(France)
A SHADOW
Chae Seung-yeon
WE SANG YOU HOME
Bandal
Richard Van Camp,
(South Korea)
illus. by Julie Flett
Orca
EVEREST
✰ Sangma Francis,
(Canada)
illus. by Lisk Feng
KOMINIARZ-PIEKARZ
Flying Eye
Dominika Czerniak-Chojnacka
(U.K.)
Wydawnictwo Dwie Siostry
(Poland)

✰ ✰
BEST CHILDREN’S PUBLISHER AWARD
This award, according to the organizers, “highlights the editorial projects,
professional skills, and intellectual qualities of works produced by
publishing houses all over the world” that “foster a mutual exchange of
knowledge and ideas among different nations and myriad areas of the
world’s cultural heritage.”
The prize is offered in six geographic categories; there is a shortlist of
five publishers for each category. The winners will be announced at the
Bologna Book Fair on Monday, April 1.

21
 BOLOGNA SHOW DAILY APRIL 2019

Superhero Girls Power Swedish Sales

The Swedish children’s and YA sector grew 8.3% in 2018 and
36.3% over the past five years
By Carlo Carrenho

© lima andruška
hen the Swedish Booksellers
Association and the Swedish
Publishers Association released
their annual market report for 2018 in
February, one figure stood out: children’s
and YA books’ sales grew 8.3% in the year
over 2017, making it the fastest-growing
segment in an industry whose overall retail
sales grew only 0.9% in 2018. The report,
titled “Bokförsäljningsstatistiken 2018,”
covers three-quarters of Swedish retail and
includes bricks-and-mortar chains such
as Akademibokhandeln and Pocketshop,
as well as large online retailers such as
Adlibris and Bokus. The figures presented
cover all book sales, print and digital,
exclusive of subscription revenue.
According to the research, children’s and Caroline Gezelius of Stockholm’s BokBok bookstore.
YA generated $73 million in revenue and
sold 7.4 million copies. Caroline Gezelius, an elementary school teacher and
The 8.3% gain in children’s book sales last year is signifi- co-owner of Stockholm’s BokBok bookstore, concurs
cantly more robust than in 2017, when the segment grew with Luovio in seeing parents as having an impact on sales.
3.6%, and 2016, which saw 2.9% growth. Further back, “Five to 10 years ago, people worried that Swedish kids
the segment’s sales increased 5.9% in 2015 and skyrock- were less interested in books and more interested in their
eted 11.5% in 2014. Cumulative growth for the past five digital devices,” she says. “I believe this new generation of
years is an impressive 36.3%. parents saw this problem and took some action. It is a reac-
Why is this happening? Sakari Luovio, B2C sales manager tion, and [now] these parents buy lots of books.” But, she
at Adlibris, believes Swedish parents are responsible. “Our added, “I honestly don’t know if their kids read that much.”
main consumers are mothers and women over 40,” he says. Gezelius believes BokBok is only sustainable and success-
“They want to give their children something more [to play ful because it is in Södermalm, a neighborhood populated
with] than an iPhone.” with families who are culturally aware and financially
As for what is selling, Luovio observes, “The bestseller stable, which in turn allows the store to offer a diverse
charts are a reflection of the society, and six out of the 20 catalogue.
children’s and YA bestsellers in Sweden in 2018 had strong One major change to the Swedish industry in 2018 was
female characters, and mothers want to grow strong women— the switch to routing sales of books to libraries through
modern Pippi Longstockings.” The bestsellers for the year online retailers Adlibris and Bokus—a change that may
were Handbok för Superhjältar (Handbook for superhe- have contributed to the jump in sales figures for the year.
roes) by Elias and Agnes Våhlund, trailed by the Swedish Still, Luovio noted, children’s sales to consumers had
edition of Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls by Elena double-digit growth at the retailer.
Favilli and Francesca Cavallo. Handbok för Superhjältar is Looking ahead, Luovio is optimistic. “The top titles
part of the Superhjältar series, which revolves around a drive the category, so if we have a new Handbok för
superhero named Lisa, and three other titles in the series Hjälterna in the series—and I am confident we will—we
landed in fourth, sixth, and eighth places. The series, pub- will have another good year,” he says. ■
lished by the Norstedts division Rabén & Sjögren, has sold
more 350,000 copies since the first title was published in Carlo Carrenho is a publishing consultant based in Sweden and the
founder of PublishNews in Brazil and Spain.
2017.

22
 B O O K FA I R 2 01 9
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 BOLOGNA SHOW DAILY APRIL 2019

South African Publishers

Trek North
Publishers from the remote nation have much
to offer the rest of the world

By Aoife Lennon-Ritchie

Aoife Lennon-Ritchie

O
ne may presume that South African publishers
of children’s books travel to Bologna to acquire
international titles for the local market. Increas-
ingly, they are also keen to find export markets and sell
rights to their homegrown works. In an import-heavy
market where margins are tiny, there is an enduring
commitment to publishing local voices, and to getting
innovative local books into the hands of the almost 19
million children in South Africa (via libraries, schools,
Laced with Javanese mythology, a timely
story of a young Indonesian girl’s
determination to fight for an education
Written by
Michelle
Kadarusman
Visit Catherine Mitchell at
CANADA STAND
HALL 26 STAND A178
to preview this highly-
anticipated novel!
Contact: rights@pajamapress.ca
www.pajamapress.ca
and bookshops), an astonishing majority of whom don’t
own a single book themselves. It’s not always an easy
thing, hearing the local voice above the proliferation of
the international competition, but when you do, it can
really pay dividends.
Michelle Cooper, children’s publisher at NB Publishers’
imprints Tafelberg and Human & Rousseau, is focused
on local writers and illustrators and endeavors to publish
in all 11 South African national languages when possi-
ble. “We want to find a balance between content that is
uniquely South African yet universally appealing in theme,
the artistry of the writing, and the aesthetics of design and
production,” she says. “We have published classics in
Afrikaans and English that many a South African child
remembers, but we have also in the years since our first
democratic elections published picture books and young
adult novels in all 11 of our official languages.”
Of course, that may not have been possible without the
success of the imported list. “It is important for us to
expose our readers to the best international writing,”
Cooper notes. “We have translated some worthwhile
works from the international arena into Afrikaans over
the years: from Spot, Dr. Seuss, The Gruffalo, and Pippi
Longstocking to Harry Potter and most recently Jessica
Townsend’s Nevermoor and Wundersmith.”
Andrea Nattrass, publisher at Pan Macmillan South
Africa, says that “in order to succeed locally, the children’s
publishing effort needs support from all stakeholders, includ-
ing government, the educational sector, as well as publish-
ers and retailers.” She praises organizations such as Book
Dash and Nal’ibali and other, smaller independent pub-
lishers who are doing groundbreaking work in the field of
children’s literature and literacy in South Africa. Like other
big-name local publishers, Nattrass believes it is “import-
ant to publish local children’s books, as there is a relative
lack of locally relevant titles compared to the volume of
books emanating from overseas.” She adds, “Pan Macmil-
lan publishes picture book translations, such as The Gruff-
alo, which we have released in Xhosa, Zulu, Sesotho, and

24
 APRIL 2019 BOLOGNA SHOW DAILY

Setswana, as well as other titles, such as the April release

Yes Yanga! From 3 Tins to Cricket Champion by Refiloe
Moahloli, which is available in English and Xhosa.”
Local authors echo these sentiments. Novelist and chil-
dren’s writer Maya Fowler, who writes in both English
and Afrikaans, and whose YA novel Dead Meat has just
been acquired by Inanna Publications in North America,
says, “One of the most rewarding projects I’ve worked on
in South African children’s fiction is Book Dash, for which
I wrote a book called Tortoise Finds His Home. It was

awarded the UNICEF-spon-

sored prize for Best Author in
My Bologna Favorites Early Childhood Literature in
2015. Book Dash is a nonprofit organization with the
ULRICH STÖRIKO- goal of supplying children who would otherwise have no
BLUME access to books with entertaining, high-quality books in
Founder and agent, their mother tongue.”
Munich ProjektAgentur, Helen Brain, the author of more than 50 children’s
Munich, Germany books, whose YA trilogy Elevation was acquired in North
America last year by Catalyst Press, is clear on why she
I have been attending the fair ever since 1975—as editor, writes for children: “I specialize in writing page-turners,
as publisher, and now as agent. I have met colleagues from to help reluctant readers learn to love books.”
many different publishing houses, each fascinating in their Another local YA author who has had a lot of success
own specific way. A lot has changed in these years, fortu- internationally is Sally Partridge, who says, “In South
nately. And many things are still the same as they have
ever been, also for good. We are here for original stories—
well narrated and congenially illustrated, and this is more From Crimson Dragon Publishing ...
than “content.”
It was the fair of 1994 when I ran into Florian Langen-
scheidt, then publisher of the family-owned publishing
brand, watching an interactive tennis game based on
CD-ROM at a stand. He said to me something like, “I guess
that in 10 years at the latest, we all will be publishing our
content mainly on electronic devices.” He was right when we
look at the tragic history of his famous publishing group—
which has more or less disappeared. He was totally wrong
The I-Wants and the
when we look at fiction.
Gimmies Pearls for Pearl
On the eve of Bologna 2010, I had to deliver the keynote
By Taylor Overbey By Amber Heaton
speech as president of AVJ (the association of German,
Children’s, Ages 6-11 Children’s, Ages 3-5
Austrian, and Swiss children’s book publishers) and I said,
“Prognoses are difficult, especially when they deal with the
future.” (Those were days when you could quote Woody
Other Great Children’s Books…..
Allen, without... You know what I mean.) “I dare to utter the
prognosis: in 10 years from now, we, the children’s book
publishers from all over the world, will meet again here in
Bologna, and we will offer each other new stories, most of
them on paper, some in impressive new electronic versions.
I hope someone makes a note of this—and 10 years from
now people will either agree or shake their heads over the Once in a Forest
ignorance of people who in 2010 continued to believe in Looking For Splasher
printed books.” A Trail of Honesty
Does anybody seriously think that in one year from now By J.A. Angelo
things will have completely changed?

25
 BOLOGNA SHOW DAILY APRIL 2019

Africa there are incredible opportunities and initiatives
for writers, not only to be published but to give back. It
is a vibrant and electric environment full of passionate,
energetic people who are driven by their passion for South
African youth literature and local readers. Personally, the
feeling of being published is nothing compared to the joy
of meeting and engaging with readers and helping young
writers find their own voices.”
And a lot of those voices will be shouting above the crowds
at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair. Stop, listen, and you
might just hear something you like!  ■
Aoife Lennon-Ritchie is a literary agent with the
Lennon-Ritchie Agency in Cape Town.

Amazon Crossing says. “I’m so excited to be in Bologna, discovering the

work of authors, illustrators, and translators from around

Kids Announces
the globe.”
Amazon Publishing already offers an extensive list of
children’s books that covers everything from books for

Initial Titles toddlers to young adult titles. Among its most successful
titles are those in the Turkey Trouble series by Wendi Sil-
vano, illustrated by Lee Harper, which have sold more
than 100,000 copies.  ■
The U.S. publisher is looking for
children’s books to translate
My Bologna Favorites
By Ed Nawotka
PENNY
HUESTON
A
mazon Crossing is the most prolific publisher of
translated fiction in the U.S., and in January the Senior editor,
Text Publishing, Melbourne,
company announced it is moving into publishing Australia
translations of children’s books. Its first three children’s
titles are now being readied for bookstores: Spikey, by
Italian author Ilaria Guarducciand, translated by Laura Since coming to Bologna for the fabulous book fair, I now
Watkinson, will be published in June; A Tiger Like Me, by rate it as my favorite European city. Gastronomic delights
German writer Michael Engler, illustrated by Joëlle Tour- are, of course, a major attraction: the risotto served from
lonias, and translated by Laura Watkinson, arrives in the Parmesan wheel at il Tartufo, to name but one—no, I
August; and Along the Tapajós, by Brazilian author Fer- have to mention the gelati, too; the museum devoted to
nando Vilela, translated by Daniel Hahn, will go on sale the sublime still life painter Giorgio Morandi, who lived
in October. with his three sisters on Via Fondazza until he died; my
Marilyn Brigham, editor of Amazon Crossing Kids, is in annual pilgrimage to a favorite hilltop church and park
Bologna actively searching for new material; books can be on the outskirts of town. On the way to the fair, I like to
submitted through Amazon Publishing’s online submissions stop off for a coffee with the university students, who
portal. have often stayed up all night after their graduation
“Amazon parties and are still in costume, crowned with their laurel
Crossing Kids wreaths. But the highlight is catching up with all the
is building a wonderful publishers, agents, and scouts. The camara-
diverse list of derie of the fair was never more appreciated than when
titles highlight- my luggage didn’t arrive with me the year of a cold snap
ing stories of in Bologna. The night before the fair, only H&M was
local cultures, open, stocking exclusively their new spring stock. The
as well as uni- pair of light cotton Capri pants (ugly print) that I wore
versal stories every day of the fair became quite a feature at my meet-
that enrich and ings that year—before I made a bonfire of them on my
inspire young return home.
readers every-
where,” Brigham

26
 MAY 29 - 31, 2019
JAVITS CENTER, NYC

ESSENTIAL FOR ANYONE SELLING

IN THE NORTH AMERICAN MARKET

BOOKEXPOAMERICA.COM
 BOLOGNA SHOW DAILY APRIL 2019
Superhero vs. Comic Book
How movies changed comic book and graphic novel publishing
By Tim Pilcher
E
xactly 30 years ago, the world was bracing itself for
one of the most eagerly anticipated comic book
movies in over a decade: Tim Burton’s Batman. Back
then, ​films based on comics were few and far between, and
there had been virtually nothing new to excite fans in
America and most other Western countries. The Superman
franchise ended with a whimper, 1987’s Superman IV: The
Quest for Peace, and Marvel wasn’t having much luck with
it strictly low-rent, made-for-TV movies, like 1988’s The
Incredible Hulk Returns.
The problem was that movie and television screens simply
couldn’t compete with comics’ unlimited special effects
budget. For the price of a pencil, pen, paper, and some color
ink, comics could depict any scene—from a quiet discus-
sion between two people to an epic intergalactic battle—at
virtually no cost, save for the creator’s time. In a movie, a
major scene would cost a fortune, so for those truly mag-
nificent battles, fans would need to keep returning to the
comics.
Then in the 1990s special effects went digital. Relatively
economical CGI completely revolutionized the need for
physical effects’ expensive sets, dangerous pyrotechnics,
and time-consuming prosthetics. All bets were off. Comics’
static, silent images paled in comparison to the cacopho-
nous Technicolor big screen spectacles.
Reading comics for pure spectacle became redundant,
and both Marvel and DC soon realized that their role as
publishers was no longer to produce comics and graphic
novels but rather to maintain the profile of their intellec-
tual properties and to feed their cinematic brethren with
new story ideas to be developed into films: Batman v.
Superman, Captain America: Civil War, and X-Men, all of
which owe their origins to classic comic book story lines.
Superhero comics themselves had almost become irrele-
vant, merely flashy storyboards for cinematographers to
lift from. So where did this leave comics as a medium?
Well, fortunately, since the 1960s there has been a strong
underground comics movement that rejected the mainstream
superhero output that accounted for about 90% of titles
published in North America. Creators and publishers
interested in pushing the medium realized that focusing on
a single genre was a dead end. This movement truly started
to find its audience in the mid-1980s when hundreds of inde-
pendent publishers started releasing their comics through
the growing direct market of comic shops. This meant
diverse, quirky titles such as Flaming Carrot, Cerebus the
Aardvark, Reid Fleming, World’s Toughest Milkman, and
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles all became financially viable.
28
Tim Pilcher
This explosion was followed by the inevitable implosion,
but the seeds had been sown.
Fantagraphics Books had been pushing for a “new
mainstream” since its foundation in 1976 by Gary Groth
and Mike Catron. Fantagraphics was always ardently anti–
caped crusader, paving the way with social realist tales
such as Love & Rockets by Jaime and Gilbert Hernadez.
They, and others, resolutely stuck to their guns, waiting
for the rest of the world to catch up with them—which it
did, as comics slowly wound their way into bookstores.
Jump to today, when 22 major superhero feature films are
slated for the next two years. How can comics combat this
lure for readers’ attention?
Undoubtedly it’s a fool’s errand to try to out-pizzazz the
moving picture, so comics have been looking inward to
their core strength: telling smaller, quieter stories that delve
into the interior world of characters. Comics are excellent
at exploring first-person narratives, particularly when those
narrators are unreliable, with the captions deliberately
contradicting the visuals.
Another of comics’ strengths is conveying complex con-
cepts in very simple, economical, graphical ways. This has
led to a sharp rise in nonfiction graphic “novels.” Daryl
Cunningham’s critically acclaimed Supercrash and Science
Tales, for Myriad Editions, explore the events leading up
to the financial collapse in 2008 and “lies, hoaxes, and
scams” in science, respectively. Another publisher that moved
into nonfiction is the U.K.’s SelfMadeHero, which pub-
lished Edward Ross’s Filmish and last year’s exploration of
the Moon landings Apollo by Matt Fitch, Chris Baker, and
Mike Collins. Autobiographies and biographies are also
currently very popular.
And if the French and Japanese markets continue to fore-
shadow the English graphic novel market, look for titles
on cooking, wine tasting, business studies, and pretty much
any topic you can imagine. My own publishing house,
Soaring Penguin Press, even produced a successful biogra-
phy-cum-history graphic novel about Hornsey Town Hall
in London titled The Voice of the Hall, by Sean Azzopardi.
So cinema can keep its capes, while the new mainstream
of graphic novels looks set not only to stay but to thrive.
After all, success relies on the diversity of readers’ tastes
for a multitude of genres, and some comics publishers
have always known this. It’s just that it took the rest of
the world a while to catch up.  ■
Tim Pilcher is an Eisner-nominated writer, editor, and publisher and is the
co-owner of the U.K.’s Soaring Penguin Press.
 THE SPANISH MARKET MADE EASY WITH

AT THE GUADALAJARA
INTERNATIONAL BOOK FAIR
Trade Days: December 2-4, 2019

§ Turn-Key display options § 5 star hotel block minutes from the

exposition center
§ Shipping, customs clearance and delivery
to your stand § Prime location opposite the Business
& Rights Center
§ Official show directory listing
§ And more…

For more information, stop by the USA Pavilion in Hall 26, Aisle B, Stand #50,
or contact us after the fair

JANET FRITSCH JON MALINOWSKI

Janet@americancollectivestand.com Jon@combinedbook.com
734-677-0955 914-739-7500 ext. 6

You can also participate in the USA Pavilion at these fairs:

London International Book Fair | Frankfurt International Book Fair | Sharjah International Book Fair
Beijing International Book Fair | Bologna International Book Fair
 BOLOGNA SHOW DAILY APRIL 2019
Not Lost in Translation
Ireland’s Little Island celebrates its unlikely success
Siobhán Parkinson
A
n Irish prime minister (it was Garrett Fitzgerald)
was famously credited with the immortal line, “Well,
I can see that it works in practice, but will it work
in theory?” Ireland’s Little Island is a bit like that. A tiny
children’s publishing company that specializes in translated
titles and debut authors should definitely not work in theory.
In practice, however, Little Island is still afloat after nearly
10 years in business.
Like most publishers, we are creative in our thinking and
passionate about our vision, and because we are small, we
have more scope to be creative and to take risks on books
that we love. And we are daring: we make publishing deci-
sions that larger and more commercially oriented companies
can’t or won’t—because they generally don’t like publishing
books in translation. We don’t do this because we think it’s
a great commercial proposition. We do it because we have
always worked on the principle that our first
commitment is to our readers,
our books, and their authors.
We have always put literary
and aesthetic values, along
with our political, cultural,
and social vision, at the heart
of our business, way ahead of
that very wavy-looking thing
we have been told is called the
bottom line.
The impetus for Little Island
was own interest in translation. I
went to see Edwin Higel of New Island
Books in Dublin. He sensibly pointed
out that we couldn’t publish only trans-
lations—that we needed to have a chil-
dren’s list in general, and that we could
do translations as part of that. I went
into that meeting with Edwin to discuss
translation and came out as commission-
ing editor of a new children’s list called
Little Island Books. (Edwin invented the name.) Serendip-
ity rules!
Before long, for purely practical reasons, Little Island
became (amicably) independent of New Island, set up as a
completely separate children’s publishing house—but we
kept our name, because we love it.
We publish between seven and 10 books a year, and this
year three of those are translations: a novel from Germany
(with gorgeous illustrations by David Roberts); a stunning
30
picture book, also from Germany Siobhán
Parkinson
(about a tractor—there’s univer-
sal appeal!); and a book of rhymes for very young children
about illness and recovery, from Latvia. In the past we have
published books translated from Brazilian Portuguese,
Finnish, French, and Swedish. And Irish.
We do, of course, find translated books harder to sell.
Thing is, every culture is constantly telling itself a narrative
about itself, and what’s going on in other, non-English-speaking
countries simply doesn’t fit into that rolling cultural narra-
tive. So it’s harder to interest readers in translated titles. But
for too long Ireland was an inward-looking nation. That’s no
longer the case. We are pleased and proud to be part of that
cultural shift, and we are committed to providing interna-
tional books for our readers—so we just do it. We have to
think creatively about it. We have to source titles that have
some kind of unusual appeal in order to overcome the resis-
tance to translation. That’s a chal-
lenge, of course, but it is also a
pleasure.
There are advantages too. For
years, we felt we could not afford
to publish picture books. Then
we found that copublishing or
buying rights put the publishing
of picture books within our
reach. That is the kind of dis-
covery you can only make if
you do the countercultural thing
in the first place and take the risk of publishing in
translation.
As well as translations, we also specialize in debut
novels by Irish writers. This year, for example, we are
bringing out a riot of a mock detective story by a first-
time Irish writer. (The turkey does it—not the crime,
the investigating.) Like translations, debuts are a risk.
But this year’s new novelist is next year’s award-winning
author with an even better book to offer us. Star authors
start out as debut novelists. For instance, our bestselling
Deirdre Sullivan (author of Tangleweed and Brine), whose
reputation has gone stratospheric, appeared as a new writer
on Little Island’s first list.
So we seem to be doing something right, some of the
time. That’s all in practice, of course. In theory it really
shouldn’t work. ■
Siobhán Parkinson is an author and the publisher of Little Island.
 NEW YORK
&
RIGHTS FAIR

Ma y 29-3 1, 2019 | NY C

The biggest and most

important U.S. book
event this year
Visit us in Hall 29 (Mall) booth F0

NewYorkRightsFair.com
 56th edition 1-4 April
Staging 2019
children’s Bologna
content Italy

an event by

Design Chialab Illustration Masha Titova

BCBF FLAGSHIP
EVENTS
MONDAY 1 APRIL TUESDAY 2 APRIL THURSDAY 4 APRIL
1-2.30 pm 10.30 am – 1 pm 9.30 am – 1 pm
Sala Concerto, Services Centre Wing D Sala Concerto, Services Centre Wing D Sala Notturno, Services Centre Wing D
WELCOME TO THE CHINESE MARKET. A TODDLERS. THE VERY FIRST BOOKS CHILDREN’S BOOKSELLERS
GREAT HOME FOR CHILDREN’S CONTENT FOR ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS ON STAGE. INTERNATIONAL
CHILDREN’S BOOKSELLERS
2.30–5.30 pm 2.30–5.30 pm CONFERENCE
Sala Notturno, Services Centre Wing D Sala Notturno, Services Centre Wing D
HANDWRITING IN CHILDREN’S BOOKS LISTEN UP! AUDIOBOOKS
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
3.00–5.30 pm
Sala Concerto, Services Centre Wing D 3.00–5.30 pm
BLACK BOOKS MATTER. Sala Concerto, Services Centre Wing D
AFRICAN AMERICAN WORDS TIME IS ON THEIR SIDE.
AND COLORS WOMEN IN CHILDREN’S BOOKS

BCBF19_pubb_PUBLISHERWEEKLY.indd 1 26/03/19 15:49