By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson

Votes Due for Bologna Publisher Prize

Exhibitors at this year’s Bologna Children’s Book Fair, April 3 through 6, this week have been voting for the Best Children’s Publisher of the Year prize.

The prize comprises awards in six geographical areas and is meant to recognize “the editorial projects, professional skills and intellectual qualities of work produced by publishing houses” and “to foster a mutual exchange of knowledge and ideas among different nations and myriad areas of the world’s cultural heritage.”

The nominees are as follows.

Africa

• Ganndal – Guinea 
• Human & Rousseau – South Africa
• Jacana Media – South Africa
• Ruisseaux d’Afrique – Benin
• Tafelberg Publishers – South Africa

Asia

• Borim Press – South Korea
• Epigram Books Pte Ltd. – Singapore
• Kaisei-sha Publishing Co, Ltd. – Japan
• Karadi Tales – India
• One Stroke – Japan

Central and South America

• Babel Libros – Colombia
• Companhia das Letras – Brazil
• Ediciones el Naranjo – Mexico
• Fondo de Cultura Económica – Mexico
• Tecolote – Mexico

Europe

• Dwie Siostry – Poland
• Hélium – France
• La Joie de Lire – Switzerland
• Lantana – UK
• Orecchio Acerbo Editore – Italy

North America

• Candlewick Press – USA
• Comme des géants – Canada
• Eerdmans Books for Young Readers – USA
• Farrar, Straus & Giroux Books for Young Readers – USA
• Kids Can Press – Canada

 Oceania

• Berbay Publishing – Australia
• Lake Press – Australia
• New Frontier Publishing – Australia
• The Text Publishing Co. Pty Ltd. – Australia

Here’s a short promotional video on the awards ceremony.

BookExpo and BookCon

Lance Fensterman‘s ReedPOP, this year producing both BookCon and BookExpo, has announced the addition of what it terms “an extra bit of girl power” to the consumer-facing BookCon roster of speakers, June 3 and 4.

Those newly added actors include:

• Actor Krysten Ritter, who plays the title role in Marvel’s Jessica Jones and whose book Bonfire is due out from Crown in November;
• Mayim Bialik of The Big Bang Theory, whose book Girling Up is out May 9 from Philomel Books; and
• Rainbow Rowell, author of Carry On, the paperback of which is out on May 9.

More about BookCon is here.

Meanwhile, at BookExpo proper, May 31 to June 2, the show is “taking a more political stance this year,” according to press communications, and points our attention to an appearance by Sen. Al Franken, Democrat of Minnesota, whose memoir Al Franken, Giant of the Senate, is out May 30.

Franken is to be in conversation onstage with comedian Marc Maron, whose book Waiting for the Punch: Worlds to Live By From the WTF Podcast, is scheduled to release October 10 from Flatiron.

More about BookExpo is here.