One of the biggest in the world. Full of picture books, publishers and of course, illustrators - millions of illustrators all keen to show off their work.
Mostly illustration. Seeing what the best in the world are producing right now, if and how my stuff measures up, and what I can learn & discover about the latest trends and opportunuities
Also agents. Like the Edinburgh Fringe, the industry is all in one place. I don’t need an Illustration agent, but that didn’t stop me from getting in front of a couple just to gauge my market worth.
Finally, my love of comics. A particular type of comics. The European market is very different from the rest of the world, and bigger than anything we have here in the UK.
The Bologna Children's Book Fair is as much a festival as a trade fair. All the big publishing players are here with exhibition stands the size of coffee shops, covered in gigantic illustrations of the most popular characters. Walking the enormous five halls, meetings were everywhere; on the first day I could hear the polite cut and thrust of business being done and imagine the inky smell of contracts being signed.
Bologna fair is huge, industrial scale commerce, and I’ll admit I ran a full gamut of emotions. So many visuals - so much competition!
For a moment, I was swept back to the mid-1990s when I'd attend UKCAC (the UK Comic Art Convention) and the Caption indie comic fest in Oxford. Amazing events those.
Here, I felt for the seer number of optimistic young illustrators clasping portfolios, eager to show off work. The portfolio area, where agents reviewed art was hectic and rammed.
Ironically, the area was called ‘The Illustrators Survival Corner’. I was expecting an open space where illustrators could show and share work, and despite some great masterclasses and workshops, the space felt dominated by the portfolio reviews, stressed staff trying to manage a torrent of emerging artists.
I didn't spend much time there. This book fair has been running since 1963, and I suspect it wasn't always like this. My takeaway on this aspect - if you have an ‘Illustrators Survival Corner’ don’t put agent reviews in the same space. Otherwise, your putting the cat in with the birds.
I attended some amazing panel talks. The highlight was 'Where are the boys', discussing the lack of relatable characters for boys that aren't superheroes or stereotypes. A proper hot topic in the UK, with references during the chat to the Netflix TV show 'Adolescence'.
Italian Author Francesca Cavallo made powerful points about the differences girls and boys have growing up and addressed the small percentage of males in publishing (a mostly female industry).
Did I mention it was huge? In the entry hall was a long gallery wall space where any illustrator could hang their work to be seen, and I witnessed the massive rush on the first day as people filled the walls with posters and postcards. It felt a bit like the Royal Mile during the Edinburgh Festival, except folks were polite and didn't post over the top of each other! I stuck up a couple of postcards for fun but didn't see the worth of it. Aside from that the walls had an odd a porous texture, and by the end of the first day a fair amount of it was on the floor.
Aside from the main draw of children's illustrated book, there were comics, and this is where Bologna really shone for me. The amount of beautiful graphic novels was glorious, regardless that very few were in English.
Mainland Europe has a very different relationship with comics than the UK or the US. In Manchester, my home town, the comic shops cover mainly US comics and toys, and the local Waterstones has one section for graphic novels and one shelf for independent graphic novels.
There’s a far bigger scene in Europe, a difference in the culture, reflected by the kind of works seen in print. The costs to translate outweigh the cost of production and sales, so a graphic novel has to be as popular as Blacksad to break through. Here are some examples;
I topped out my three days with a bit of networking, meeting folks from Boom studios, Maverick Publishing and author/illustrator Kevin McClosky.
To conclude with the best news I picked up, I'd heard last year at the Northern Lights writers' day that more visual books were on the increase, and this was confirmed in Bologna.
Mainstream publishers are becoming more interested in 'comics' in it's looser more literate definition. Graphic readers’, books which are lead by visuals as much are text, are also on the rise as a way to bring new readers in.
My book should be out sometime in 2026.
Big thanks for Trafford Creative and the artist's bursary, which helped make my visit happen.
Links;
Anna Goodson
Bologna Children's Book Fair
Boom Studios
Chris Haughton
Harper Collins
Francesca Cavallo
Folio Art
Maverick Publishing
Rebellion
Publishing Perspectives
I was recently at the Business Growth Hub Festival of Enterprise in Manchester at the Royal Exchange Theatre. An amazing opportunity to connect with people from other businesses and catch up with some of the uber networkers I know for the Manchester scene.
One of my favourite aspects of the event was 'Speakers Corner' where anyone could get up and deliver a 60-second pitch. A queue quickly formed for this, and you could see the anticipation in the eyes of those in the queue.
Some were jumping at the chance to be heard, while others were steering well clear. There were some great pitches and some not-so-great, but all the better for those who did it. For me, a networking opportunity to address a room of a couple of hundred people shouldn't be missed.
Delivering a 60-second pitch shouldn't be a chore or something to be fearful about. At this event it was a quick way for many people who understand what you do. A fast way to generate interest and make it easier to start conversations.
Many kinds to the Business Growth Hub in Manchester for putting this event on.
John Cooper is a comedian and presenting skills trainer based in Manchester
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