Bologna Children's Book Fair Grows: 31,735 Trade Visitors

The 31,735 trade-visitor attendance numbers organizers are releasing show a 10-percent jump over 2023 statistics.

A billboard reminds trade visitors of next year’s Bologna Children’s Book Fair dates on the way out of Bologna Fiere. Image: Publishing Perspectives, Porter Anderson

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

‘We Are Particularly Satisfied’

Ffor those international publishing professionals and associated exhibitors who have spent the week at Bologna Children’s Book Fair insisting that there were more people in the halls than in past years, it’s welcome news that 31,735 trade visitors took part during the four days of the trade show—up from 28,894 last year.

Programming featured 386 events from the Bologna’s Children’s Book Fair (BCBF) itself and more than 220 additional events organized by exhibitors, both on site and in other parts of the city.

In a statement on the news of the numbers, Gianpiero Calzolari, chairman of BolognaFiere, said, “We are particularly satisfied with the success of this edition of the fair—a reward for the work carried out throughout the year and confirmation that Bologna stands at the center of the world publishing market.”

As Publishing Perspectives readers know, BCBF opened Monday with Angola, Belarus, Benin, Bolivia, Cameroon, Colombia, Luxembourg, Mauritius, Monaco, Moldova, Paraguay, the Philippines, Togo, and Uganda in place for the first time.

The show also drew praise, organizers say, for press and blog coverage with page views reportedly reaching more than 2 million over the past year, from more than 190 countries, and journalists from more than 40 countries attended the event.

Emphasis this evening is being put by the show’s producers on the fact that the combination of the core trade show and its “brand extension” parallel presentations—Bologna Book Plus and the Bologna Licensing Trade Fair/Kids—work often together as both promoters and showcases for content and its development across the length of the supply chain.

More coverage is to come from many of the news media that were in town for the week.

The 62nd edition of Bologna Children’s Book Fair is scheduled to take place from March 31 and April 3. Estonia will be the guest of honor market.

More of our coverage relative to the 2024 Bologna Children’s Book Fair

More on Bologna Children’s Book Fair is here, more from us on children’s books is here, more on publishing and book awards is here, and more on world publishing’s trade shows and book fairs is here.

About the Author

Porter Anderson

Porter Anderson has been named International Trade Press Journalist of the Year in London Book Fair's International Excellence Awards. He is Editor-in-Chief of Publishing Perspectives. He formerly was Associate Editor for The FutureBook at London's The Bookseller. Anderson was for more than a decade a senior producer and anchor with CNN.com, CNN International, and CNN USA. As an arts critic (Fellow, National Critics Institute), he was with The Village Voice, the Dallas Times Herald, and the Tampa Tribune, now the Tampa Bay Times. He co-founded The Hot Sheet, a newsletter for authors, which now is owned and operated by Jane Friedman.