Bologna Children's Book Fair Guide for Illustrators

Bologna Children's Book FairChildren's Book Illustration

Aug 5

Several months ago I had the pleasure of attending the Bologna Children’s Book Fair for the first time in Bologna, Italy. I was super excited to go, as in the past I was never able to attend due to work deadlines. However, this year I lucked out as the fair was in early April and I got the go ahead from my job to take the week off. While preparing for the fair I was searching the internet for resources and had a difficult time finding information from other illustrators who attended recently. I decided to make a blog post for those who are interested in attending, with some updated information on how the fair is organized. I hope any fellow illustrators will find this helpful!

Me in front of my artwork at the Illustrators Wall!

First off - what is the Bologna Children’s Book Fair? The fair is one of the largest (if not the largest) publishing events for children’s books in the world. It is focused on publishers licensing and selling their rights to other publishers globally. Throughout the years the fair has drawn illustrators from around the world resulting in the inclusion of an illustrator’s wall, an illustrator’s exhibit, portfolio reviews and much more. I’ll be focusing on the opportunities for illustrators here, along with providing tips for anyone who may want to attend in the future.

First I’ll start off by emphasizing that although the tickets for the fair are cheap (you can sign up early for a discount and/or sign up as an illustrator for an even more discounted price), attending the fair as an American was expensive. Between buying the flight, accommodation, tickets, food, drinks, promo materials and of course books the fair easily cost me a hefty penny. However, whether or not it is worth attending depends on what you make of your time there. Here are my tips for making the best of your time at the fair and in Bologna!

Book Accommodations Early. I cannot emphasize this enough, how important it is to book accommodations months in advance. The book fair is not located in the city center, however the city arranges several buses from the center to go directly to the fair. So to make your life easier, staying in the city center is ideal. Accommodations will only become more expensive the longer you wait - including flights if you are coming from the US.
Arrange portfolio reviews ahead of time. I wish I was able to do this months in advance but since I was preparing my portfolio till the last minute I was not able to reach out to any publishers. The Bologna Children’s Book Fair releases a directory where you can look up all the publishers in attendance. This is extremely helpful as it sometimes includes not only the name of the sales rep but also their email. You can also reach out beforehand to any publishers you are interested in meeting with since most publishers in the industry attend the fair. I was told by some publishers and illustrators that they found out about publishers offering portfolio reviews via Instagram so be sure to follow publishers that you are interested in for updates. Portfolio reviews can also be arranged through the Bologna Children’s Book Fair website - one week before the fair they have a small window where reviews are open for illustrators with other illustrators or professionals. These are extremely hard to snag (I happened to be on Instagram and saw that they were opening up soon so I got one), but if you can manage to get an interview it would be well worth it.
Most American Publishers Offer No Portfolio Reviews.. But European Ones Might. This came as a shock to me as no one mentioned this in any blog post that I found but if you are trying to get your art viewed by American publishers, all they had was a box for postcards to be left. I found that the only reviews I was able to get were with the European publishers. The publishers would put out signs in their booths detailing what days and times they were holding portfolio reviews. It would be wise to spend Monday morning at the fair finding out which publishers are having portfolio reviews and when so you can plan accordingly. I would also encourage you to look up the publisher ahead of time and make sure your style fits within their aesthetic so as to not waste time.
Be Ready To Wait On Lines. This unfortunately cannot be avoided at Bologna. The fair starts at 9:00 and even if I got there at 8:30/9 by the time I got to the Illustrators Survival Corner to schedule last minute portfolio reviews there was a line. I would suggest getting to the fair as early as possible so you can make the best of your time. These lines also tended to form for the publisher reviews - I would suggest for these that if they say they are starting reviews at 10am to get there no later than 9 am. Otherwise the line will only get longer and if you are waiting behind 20 illustrators you might not make the cut.
Take Advantage of The Illustrators Survival Corner. The book fair has a corner where they schedule all illustrator events and this is called The Illustrator’s Survival Corner. This area was by far one of my favorite parts of the fair. Before the fair they release a schedule of events that you can attend - there are tons of events at the Illustrator’s survival corner including but not limited to portfolio reviews, masterclass workshops, talks and more. There is an app you can download so you can check out the events ahead of time as well as their locations. I was able to attend a talk featuring one of my favorite illustrators, Felicita Sala and another one featuring Oliver Jeffers. Be sure to check your scheduled portfolio review times vs talks so that none overlap.
Bring Promotional Material. This was definitely well worth it for me regardless of the steep cost. You’ll need some posters for the illustrators wall, I brought some 11x14 and some 8x10 each a different illustration. I had 10 with me but I used about 4 that I placed at different sections of the walls. Be sure to bring some packaging tape to adhere your art to the wall! Postcards and business cards are also a must so you can pass them out to publishers and other illustrators. I would highly recommend creating card holders to put under your posters so that people can take your cards as they look at the wall. I brought all together 250 postcards and 250 business cards and almost used them all! And last but not least a portfolio - I went the extra mile and had a portfolio book created on Blurb, this of course is not required but was noticed by agents and art directors who were looking at my work. The fair is after all a publishing event so if you can have your work printed professionally that is great, if not a simple 8x10 portfolio holder would be sufficient. Side Note: Create a QR code to your website and make sure that is on all of your postcards, business cards and posters. Most illustrators had this and I wish I had thought to do the same!
Wear Comfortable Shoes. I cannot emphasize how important this is, you will be on your feet all day. I unfortunately was having foot pain due to a prior injury before attending the fair. There are some areas to sit but you’ll want to make sure your feet are comfortable so you can stay focused on making connections rather than on your pain.
Talk To Others! I met a lot of really cool illustrators from around the world just by talking to them while waiting in queues or even by being on the bus. You never know who you’ll meet, I spoke to several publishers while getting to the book fair and shared my postcards with them. It can be really intimidating to be alone at the fair but from my experience everyone was friendly and you may as well chat with others while queuing online.
Explore and Take In All The Art. There is so much art at the fair that it can be completely overwhelming. I spent most of the first day exploring the fair, looking at the books that publishers from around the world were selling, checking out the illustrators wall and of course the illustrators exhibition. The amount of artwork on the illustrators wall is incredible and I would highly recommend taking your time to look through them and grabbing some business/postcards! This year the Society of Illustrators exhibited their Original Artwork Show which was also great to see. The fair truly offers a unique opportunity to see what is being published all over the world, so make sure to soak in as much art as you can!
Enjoy Bologna. Prior to this trip I had only gone to Italy 15 years ago where I went to Rome for 3 days. I was excited to go back and Bologna did not disappoint. Unlike other major cities in Italy, the city is pretty small but is the epicenter for some of the best food found in Italy. Bolognese (or as they call it Ragu), Lasagna, Tortellini, Mortadella and much more all come from the Emilia-Romagna area. I booked some restaurants in advance and ate deliciously while in the city. You’ll also want to allow yourself a day or two before the fair to explore (especially if you’re an American as jet lag can quickly kick in)

Well those are my main tips for illustrators going to the Bologna Children’s Book Fair! I think it is really important to be present while you’re at the fair and try to not feel imposter syndrome or overwhelmed. Despite all the incredible art out there, there is room for your art as well and you’ll see that at Bologna. Overall I thought going to the book fair was worth it, it was truly incredible to be surrounded by so many others who are passionate about the publishing industry. Please leave any comments if you have any questions or additional tips!

Maral Varolian