Bologna · Italy
Bologna Children’s Book Fair
The global marketplace for children’s and YA content, illustration and licensing.
Next dates
5–8 Apr 2027
170 days away
Venue
BolognaFiere
Author access
Mostly by appointment
Floor
Trade / professional
Italian · English
The fair
If you write or illustrate for children, Bologna is the fair that matters. Publishers, packagers, licensors and TV/film scouts gather at BolognaFiere each spring. BolognaBookPlus sits alongside for general (adult) trade publishing. It is a working professional event, not a public festival. Illustrators traditionally have more walk-up culture (portfolios) than prose authors do.
Advice for visiting authors
- Children’s illustrators: a tight portfolio of 8–12 samples in the style you want to be hired for is the standard approach.
- Prose authors in children’s/YA: research stands in advance and request meetings. Cold pitching a middle-grade novel on the aisle is rarely welcome.
- Study what is on the tables. Bologna is the best place on earth to see tomorrow’s picture-book trends two years early.
- BolognaBookPlus is the adult-trade satellite — useful if you also write for grown-ups, still a professional floor.
Address
BolognaFiere, Viale della Fiera 20, 40127 Bologna, Italy