International Update: Bologna Children's Book Fair Goes Digital, Aid for Dutch Bookshops

The Bologna Children's Book Fair, which had already been postponed from April dates to June 14-17 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, has canceled this year's physical events and will go digital-only, the Bookseller reported. The event will run alongside BolognaBookPlus and the Global Rights Exchange.

Gianpiero Calzolari, president of BolognaFiere, said: "Bologna Children's Book Fair, BLTF and BBPlus offer a home-from-home for the international publishing community to meet, do business and launch new projects. As international travel remains so uncertain during the continuing global pandemic, and therefore the presence of international participation, the painful decision to postpone the physical fair to 2022 was taken thus allowing us to concentrate on the extensive digital program in anticipation of meeting in spring 2022--in Bologna, in person."

BCBF director Elena Pasoli commented: "Despite our earlier optimism for an improved global pandemic picture, in order to allow our exhibitors and visitors to plan, we know that the responsible course of action is to share our decision at this point.... We are putting all our energies into the digital programme and look forward to welcoming everyone in person in 2022 for the 59th edition of BCBF with BLTF and the second edition of BBPlus.”

Jacks Thomas, guest director of BBPlus, added: "Flexibility is the name of the game in planning any event during these unprecedented times and as the transition to a digital only model has been key in our thinking. We look forward to getting the globe together virtually in June and face to face in spring 2022."

--- 

In the Australian Booksellers Association's latest newsletter, CEO Robbie Egan wrote: "I am happy to be able to report that an application for Restart Investment to Sustain and Expand (RISE) funding by the Australian Publishers Association in partnership with the ABA has been successful. Letters of support came from booksellers, ALIA, ASA and other industry stakeholders. Thank you to the booksellers who provided support without notice. Pulling the application together was a huge task and our thanks go to Cat Colwell, TitlePage and Supply Chain Manager at the APA, who put together a coherent and successful proposal in swift time. Cat consulted widely and was patient and accommodating to my endless lobbying for bookshops, and we are delighted to partner on this project to improve supply chain efficiency in our industry."

--- 

Dutch literary organizations will offer aid dedicated to bookshops. The European & International Booksellers Federation NewsFlash reported that earlier this year, Dutch cultural and literary organizations initiated a temporary support measure for writers, "which has seen a great successes in facilitating over 1,400 online events for authors. As a follow-up to the success of this scheme, the organizations behind the aid, including the Dutch Booksellers Association, will be introducing an additional arrangement for writer's appearances in bookstores in the Netherlands later this spring."

--- 

Award-winning illustrator Dapo Adeola is the creator of this year's Books Are My Bag limited-edition tote, which will be available exclusively in bookshops across the U.K. and Ireland on Bookshop Day, October 9. 

"I was super stoked to be asked to illustrate this years Books Are My Bag tote," said Adeola. "Supporting bookshops is and has always been a huge part of my journey in this industry, so saying yes to this opportunity was a no brainer. Now more than ever bookshops need our help to stay afloat. We're gonna need the type of magic only they can provide when things go back to normal, so anything we can do to help them in the meantime should be done. Let's keep these wonderful hubs for magic and community alive." --Robert Gray

Powered by: Xtenit