What To Expect at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair: Q&A with Elizabeth Vinson

The annual three-day Bologna Children’s Book Fair was held in Italy last month from April 8 to 11. This international book fair showcases only children’s books, gathering publishers, authors, illustrators, and other book people worldwide. Publishers get a booth to showcase their biggest books of the year and meet with other international publishers to discuss the potential of licensing rights to their books in a different country or language. This year, Pace’s MS in Publishing program sent two attendees: Professor Jennifer Romanello and graduate student Elizabeth Vinson.

We’ve asked Elizabeth all about the Bologna Book Fair, and here’s what she said:

First Question: What were your initial expectations before attending the Bologna Book Fair, and how did the experience compare to those expectations?

Going into the book fair, all I knew for sure was the list of events—panels, lectures, exhibits—that the book fair would be hosting. My former colleagues at Scholastic and my mentor at Crown Books for Young Readers had told me variations of the same two things: (1) their usual experience of working at the fair consisted of back-to-back meetings for three days to discuss licensing and rights between them and other publishers, and (2) the food is amazing because it is Italy. I think I expected something much smaller than what the Bologna Book Fair actually was.

In reality, there was so much color! Because it was about children’s books, there was art and book-covers everywhere you looked. I wasn’t too surprised that the emphasis was on picture books with less attention on middle-grade and young adult books, though they were also present.

There was so much to see, like right when you walk in, there’s an exhibit of art that showcases hundreds of illustrators with QR codes to scan if you are interested in contacting them about their work. The map helped, but I would recommend wandering through each of the halls for the first hour or so to orient yourself. Then, you can start figuring out where the lectures and panel are, what you want to see, and where to go first.

So once you settled into the experience, what were some of the highlights or most memorable moments from your time at the fair?

I think the conversations with publishers of Just Us Books, the senior VP of Marketing and Publicity in Audio for Penguin Random House, and the children’s subrights director at Simon & Schuster were invaluable. To hear about the book fair from their perspective, I was able

to understand not only how the book fair worked but also learn more about what a job on their side of publishing would entail. I also thought the lectures were so fun—I wasn’t expecting the book fair to have a section dedicated to licensing brands, with representatives from companies like Mattel

and Pokémon. They gave many presentations, like “Girl Power Through Publishing and Licensing” about the Pippi Longstocking and Rebel Girls book series, and “From Books to Screen, Facts and Figures” about what children’s books have the most likely chance of being adapted to television in which countries. These talks give you so much to think about.

That sounds amazing! From those lectures and meetings, and as a student in the MS in Publishing program, how do you see the knowledge gained from attending the fair influencing your future career in publishing?

It was great to see how the book fair worked. There is an emphasis on the subrights because they are the team responsible for selling rights to a publisher’s books, which makes sense since so many publishers go to meet with other publishers. If you are interested in that field, you’ll probably have to go to these international book fairs. The lectures and panels also showed what’s top of mind in the industry worldwide: AI; licensing, expanding properties, and transmedia; expanding the presence of a specific

country or publisher around the world. Also, the Bologna Book Fair gives out awards for books, so you’ll get a chance to see those books and what type of art styles, text, and tone is working in other countries—ask yourself what will work in the American market. These are things that can be helpful to know and explore further in your future career.

And what were some of the most surprising and unexpected aspects of the trip for you?

I was surprised to learn that the book fair was open to the Italian public, with many parents with their kids attending, leading to many Italian publishers or smaller publishers selling books, illustrated prints, and other goodies out of their booths. It made the event even more lively. There were also specific events dedicated to advising Italian illustrators and authors on how to break into the book market in Italy or internationally.

It’s also interesting to see which publishers had the largest physical presence, like Penguin Random House, Hachette Livre (the French headquarters of Hachette), and Scholastic. Also, many countries had a booth dedicated to their country with many publishers featured. This was the case for most countries, with notable exceptions being Italy, the United States, the UK, and China.

Now, the Bologna Book Fair is in Italy! Did you have any free time to explore Bologna or immerse yourself in Italian culture outside of the fair?  

Yes, I did! We left a couple of days after the book fair ended because of all the people coming in and out of Bologna at the same time. I took a day trip on our free day to Florence. It was fascinating to see the difference between Bologna and Florence, the latter of which was more of what I imagined when I thought of Italy before. I got to see the Boboli Gardens, which had a gorgeous view overlooking the city.

Since many restaurants were concentrated around the city center, we also went into the main part of the city every night to walk around and eat dinner. We went into one of their local bookstores, found a tea shop, and walked through the amazing porticos (arch-roofed walkways supported by columns rather than open sidewalks). We had amazing dinners, eating so much pasta, pizza, gelato, and many other classic northern Italian dishes.

How exciting! I’m sure MS in Publishing students who may go to Bologna in the future would love to know, what advice would you give to future students attending international book fairs for the first time?

In one line: set yourself up for success, but give yourself grace in figuring the event out.

As someone who went to the book fair as a spectator, as opposed to someone working the fair, I would say going in with a plan is the most helpful thing. Walking into the book fair at first can be overwhelming, I think what made it easier to manage was having a tentative itinerary ready to go (that’s where knowing the list of events ahead of time came in handy.) It gives you something to fall back on if you don’t know what to do next, but you can also stray away from it if you find something unexpected.

To do this, I would recommend that as a group (you, the professor, and any other students you are traveling with) should work together to see who you know in the children’s book industry – an alum of the program, or one of your mentors or previous colleagues? Ask them about their experience with the book fair, and if they would be willing to connect you with anyone they know who will be attending the event from their company. If I could do one thing differently, it would be to try to schedule meetings with those people because it’s difficult to just show up at a booth and meet with someone even if you have connections, since most people are meeting most of the day.

I would also say that you probably won’t do everything on your list, or at the fair. Be open to exploring, but also have fun. There is so much to take in at every moment that no matter where you look, or where you stop, you are observing and learning something new. It’s totally good to do familiar stuff, too. After three days at the fair, on my first free day, I went to a McDonalds (just to see the difference between the ones here and the ones in Italy).

And, finally, the last question for fun. What was the best food you had in Italy?

Gelato. Period. Specifically this egg cream gelato, which I know sounds strange, but was amazing. Also, the meats and cheeses from the antipasti – delicious!