Bologna fair shifts spring focus

Children’s publishing has a spring checkpoint, and this year it lands in Bologna on April 13 to 16 with about 1,500 exhibitors from 90 countries gathering for four days of rights deals, awards, and scouting. The fair now bundles three businesses under one roof: children’s books, general trade publishing, and licensing for brands aimed at kids and young adults. (bolognachildrensbookfair.com, publishersweekly.com) That mix explains why Bologna matters beyond picture books. A publisher can buy translation rights for a novel, an agent can pitch foreign editions, and a studio can shop television, film, or game tie-ins in the same fairground. (bolognachildrensbookfair.com, bolognachildrensbookfair.com) The scale has been building, not stalling. The 2025 fair drew 33,318 professionals, 1,577 exhibitors, and delegates from 95 countries, which is why the 2026 edition is being treated as the next place to read the market after the winter fair season. (publishingperspectives.com) This year’s official motto is “Together we are better,” but the program is aimed at a harder problem: fewer young people are reading for pleasure. Publishers Weekly says the fair’s policy talks are being framed around the global decline in youth reading and the pressure of screens on kids’ time. (bolognachildrensbookfair.com, publishersweekly.com) One Monday conference at the Illustrators Café is built around that exact question. It brings together the Federation of European Publishers, the International Publishers Association, and the International Board on Books for Young People to compare reading-promotion campaigns from Italy, France, and the United Kingdom. (publishersweekly.com) The fair is also leaning harder into career training, which is why workshops and masterclasses are getting so much attention before the doors even open. The Illustrators Survival Corner is back with sessions on self-promotion, publisher interviews, contracts, social media, and creative process, turning the fair into something closer to a trade school for freelancers as well as a marketplace. (bolognachildrensbookfair.com, bolognachildrensbookfair.com) Publishers get their own training lane too. BolognaBookPlus, the general publishing arm that has now run for six editions, is opening with a Sunday, April 12 course called “How to Sell Rights and Understand Licensing in Children’s Books,” aimed at publishers, agents, and rights professionals trying to expand international business. (bolognachildrensbookfair.com, bolognachildrensbookfair.com) The art side is still central. The Illustrators Exhibition reaches its 60th edition in 2026, and the fair describes it as a rare route for emerging and established artists to get their work in front of art directors and publishers during the event and afterward on tour. (publishingperspectives.com, bolognachildrensbookfair.com) Awards are part of the traffic too, not just decoration. The 2026 BolognaRagazzi Awards logged 4,120 submitted titles from 73 countries and regions, a record for the prize, and the related Amazing Bookshelf exhibition distilled that flood into 150 selected titles from 43 countries and territories. (bolognachildrensbookfair.com, bolognachildrensbookfair.com) Norway adds the national showcase that big fairs like this use to steer attention. As 2026 Guest of Honour, it is bringing a “What if?” program, 49 selected illustrators, and exhibitions and workshops spread across both the fairgrounds and the city of Bologna. (bolognachildrensbookfair.com, bolognachildrensbookfair.com) So the spring focus is not just one fair date on a calendar. It is a four-day market that now runs on three tracks at once: discover new illustrators, train the people who sell books across borders, and decide which children’s stories can jump from page to translation, classroom, screen, or toy shelf next. (bolognachildrensbookfair.com, bolognachildrensbookfair.com)