500 exhibitors to participate in children's book fair

Credit: Wang Rongjiang

The 2023 China Shanghai International Children's Book Fair will be held from November 17-19 at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Convention Center.

Nearly 500 exhibitors from 25 countries and regions will display over 30,000 children's books at this year's festival.

Over 200 professional exchange and reading promotion activities will also be held.

Around 45,000 visitors, including publishers, copyright agents, writers, distributors, and other professionals, are expected to attend these events.

Foreign publishing firms from Italy, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada, Belgium, Austria, and South Korea are participating in the festival.

Among them are well-known publishers such as Bayard Publishing Group, Gallimard, Clavier Clavis, Corraini, Hachette, MacMillan, and Oxford University Press.

Furthermore, specific exhibition zones, such as the Bologna Annual Best Children's Book Publisher Awards area, will bring together award-winning publishing houses from Asia, Europe, South America, North America, and Oceania.

Credit: Wang Rongjiang

Meanwhile, there is a strong lineup of guests, including illustrator Suzy Lee, who won the International Andersen Award for Illustration; Cao Wenxuan, who won the International Andersen Award for Writer; illustrator Bernardo P. Carvalho, who won the Best Children's Book Award at the Bologna International Children's Book Fair; and Spanish Torres Children's Literature Award-winning writer Llus Prats.

This year's children's book fair will concentrate on non-fiction picture books that are more about science popularization and realism. There will be an exhibition named "Children's Books+: A Beautiful World."

This event is the outcome of several research studies conducted by the University of Bologna in Italy and the Bologna International Children's Book Fair. It will also showcase over 200 non-fiction publications as well as cultural events related to non-fiction books.

The Shanghai Children's Book Fair will collaborate with the International Children's Book Alliance to establish a book list for children with disabilities and build a "barrier-free" reading environment for them.

These children will also be invited to the booth to try and read the books.