Bolognafiere – one of Europe’sleadingorganisers of fair events and the organiser of the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, the standout global event for the professional community involved in content and publishing for children and young people, today announced a new important chapter in its own international activities. On 19th November, Shanghai XinHua Distribution Group Co., Ltd. signed an agreement with BolognaFiere S.p.A, the organiser of the Bologna Children’s Book Fair (BCBF), to co-organise the China Shanghai International Children’s Book Fair (CCBF) beginning with the 2018 edition at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition & Convention Center. The Cooperation Signing Ceremony was attended by Xu Jiong, Head of the Shanghai Press & Publication Administration (SPPA), Peng Weiguo, Deputy Director of the Administration (SPPA), Li Xiang, Deputy General Manager of Shanghai United Media Group, Li Shuang, President of Shanghai XinHua Distribution Group Co., Ltd., as well as representatives of BolognaFiere, including Marco Momoli, the Commercial Director Italy, Alessandro Savoia, the Chief Financial Officer, and Elena Pasoli, the BCBF Exhibition Director.
Following the launch of the new professional event the New York Rights Fair, the first editionof which will take place in NY from 30May to 1 June 2018, BolognaFiere thus completes its strategy of development and reinforcement in the market of professional publishing events. By creating a calendar of appointments,BolognaFierenow covers the two main global markets (USA and China)thanks to the experience and leadership of the Bologna Children’s Book Fair.
“With this new initiative,”announced Gianpiero Calzolari, President of BologaFiere, “we are proposing the creation of an exhibition network involving the main international markets also for the Children’s Book Fair. It is an exhibition model that BolognaFiere has developed also for other leading global eventsand has demonstrated is strategic value to the exhibiting companies and for international operators. Children’s publishing will now have, alongside the key annual event in Bologna, two new initiatives, one in the USA and another in China: two appointments that will provide a boost to the publishing trade with the US and Chinese markets.”
The China International Children’s Book Fair, the fifth edition of which was held from 17 to 19 November 2017, is the only event on a global level with a similar profile to that of the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, focused exclusively on children’s publishing and with a format designed primarily for professionals from the sector.
Established in 2013, after five highly successful editions, today the Shanghai International Children’s Book Fair is an event that is rapidly confirming its status asa global professional event of great importance to the tradein rights to children’s books, helping to promote awareness of Chinese production of children’s literature around the world and contributing to increasing the number of young readers.
Already today the event involves the participation of all of the leading Chinese publishers of children’s books and a healthy number of international exhibitors, who are taking part both individually and as part of national collectives from Britain, Germany, France, Canada and Japan. The involvement of BolognaFiere has the aim of further cultivating this participation in order to consolidate this event in just a few years as a reference event for professionals involvedin children’s publishing in China and all of the Asian Far East, an area that has always been particularly rich in high quality publishers, authors and illustrators.
BolognaFiere will be making available to the CCBF its experience and expertise in addition to its own consolidated international network of contacts, with the aim of recreating in Shanghai an event that, like the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, is able tocombine high level activities of copyright trading between publishers with opportunities for cultural exchange and professional training through illustration exhibitions, awards and international conferences. In this way it can also provide a fundamental contribution to the development and the establishment on a global level of publishing industry for Chinese children.
The China Children’s Book Fair 2018 will take place from Friday 9 November to Sunday 11 November 2018 at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Convention Centre.