Children's book expo turning a new leaf

This year's Shanghai International Children’s Book Fair will have some Italian flair.

The fair, now in its sixth year, will be run with the Bologna Children’s Book Fair's organizer BolognaFiere.

It will be held at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Convention Center between November 9 and 11 from 9am and 5pm. 

In addition to the Chen Bochui International Children’s Literature Award,  and master classes and workshops,  BolognaFiere has organized three new lounges.

The Bologna Prize Lounge is dedicated to distinguished children’s book publishers.

The Strega Prize Lounge will house those shortlisted for this literature prize. It is expected to feature the best children’s novels.

The Asia Pacific New Entry Lounge will have both classic and recent works from publishers which were shortlisted for the Bologna Prize for the Best Publishers of the Year.

The popular Illustrators’ Survival Corner from the Bologna festival, a series of workshops and master classes for illustrators, will also run in Shanghai.

The number and quality of participants and visitors has continued to improve since the fair began in  2013 thanks to the increasingly larger, better-quality and more diverse children’s book market in China. 

This year, the fair’s organizers expect to have more than 300 exhibitors, with many first-comers.