Since 1964, every spring “La Rossa” (the beautiful red city of Bologna, Italy) becomes the global capital of children’s publishing. This year, 1,577 exhibitors from ninety-five countries and regions gathered for four intense days from March 31–April 3, 2025, in the BolognaFiere Exhibition Centre to establish partnerships, buy and sell rights, discover new talent, and discuss trends at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair. The fair welcomed 33,318 trade visitors — publishers, booksellers, illustrators, writers, translators, librarians, and agents — who took part in over 500 events. The city itself hosted additional exhibitions, meetings, and parties.

Just browsing the event schedule in the app can be overwhelming. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone suffering from FOMO! Where to start? At the Translators Café? The Comics Corner? The Illustrators Survival Corner? One of the exhibitions? Or perhaps with Estonia, this year’s Guest of Honor Country?

A great place to get an overview without walking too much are the stands of international organizations like IBBY (International Board on Books for Young People) and the International Youth Library, which displayed books from The White Ravens catalog of more than 200 notable new children’s and YA books from about fifty countries and in over forty languages (free download: The White Ravens).

At the heart of the fair is the Illustrators Café, a large stage surrounded by exhibitions. I was lucky to catch a talk by Sydney Smith, winner of the 2024 Hans Christian Andersen Award for Illustration [ed. note: and also several Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards!], while walking through an exhibit of his art. Also on display was the vibrant work from Estonia, a small country with a remarkably strong children’s book scene.

Bologna is also the place to celebrate general excellence in children’s publishing. The BRAW (BolognaRagazzi Awards) are the fair’s main prizes (BRAW info), and all nominated titles are available for browsing in The BRAW Amazing Bookshelf exhibition. This year’s special category — Sustainability: 17 Goals for a Better Future — was so rich that it received its own dedicated exhibition.

One clear trend: more images, fewer words. Picture books dominated the fair, and the Comics Corner, now a fair staple, keeps growing. Publishers also showed interest in shorter, illustrated middle-grade books — perhaps a response to post-pandemic reading habits and attention spans.

The contrast between major and small publishers was striking. Take Scholastic, with its massive, closed-off stand — high walls, no access to the books for the public, strictly by appointment. Meanwhile, smaller publishers welcomed visitors with genuine enthusiasm. Some came mainly to buy or license content, others to sell, and some to network and collaborate. And it is also not news that English-speaking publishers are not as keen on translating foreign books.

Many countries or regions shared collective stands. I spent a lot of time in the hall with publishers from Latin America, Spain, and Portugal. It is not easy to get books from many of the small presses in these regions, so Bologna gives me the chance to check them out. These stands buzzed with activity, meetings, and talk, and often ended the day with drinks and snacks, sharing joy and camaraderie.

Two highlights stood out for me this year. First, the Poetry Corner, tucked in the far end of Hall 25, dedicated to illustrated poetry books. They ran a “Vote for Poetry” initiative, inviting visitors to read and vote for their favorite titles. I also attended a beautiful panel discussion on children’s poetry with writers, illustrators, and publishers — all to an enthusiastic audience.

The second was a conversation with Dimpna Figuracion from Hawaii’s Bess Press, a small publisher of books about Hawaiian and Pasifika cultures. Her booth — just a table and shelf space — was part of the fair’s Hosted Publishers initiative. She was networking and exploring future collaboration with a publisher from the Philippines — exactly the kind of connection Bologna helps make possible.

In fact, there are many fairs within the fair. There’s the editors’ and agents’ fair, full of back-to-back meetings, with little time for talks or serendipitous discoveries. There’s the illustrators’ fair, full of hopeful artists queuing for hours with portfolios, hoping to catch an art director’s eye.

I spent my days wandering the aisles, browsing picture books, listening to talks, soaking up creative energy. And afterwards, the inevitable questions arise: Do we really need more children’s books? What could I possibly write that hasn’t been done? But the excitement of being among so many passionate people, the conversations, the nightly walks through Bologna chatting about books — all of it is a huge source of inspiration. Maybe enough to last for a year.

Until Bologna 2026!