For all of us who had our eyes set on this year’s Bologna Children’s Book Fair with hope and anticipation… cancel your reservations and flights, we’re staying home in front of our computers. Bologna Children’s Book Fair 2021 will be held online again, but the dates remain unchanged – June 14-17, 2021!
Despite all the global restrictions, despite the supposedly dropping anti-epidemiological measures and despite the increasing vaccination rates, both in Italy and worldwide, the organizers have made the difficult decision for the second year in a row to hold the fair online. I will admit that despite my great desire to visit this unique event and even though I am already vaccinated, and even though I managed to leave, and even return, the borders of Bulgaria this year, I also did not make any plans for Bologna. Something inside me could not believe that BolognaFiere would once again unite the world under one roof.
BCBF Director Elena Pasoli wrote to us, the media: “The magic of BCBF is its flexibility, the incredible diversity of content, it offers a relentless search for the new, the different voices and cultures that meet on the Bologna stage. Our commitment in preparing the second online edition was precisely this: to recreate as much as possible the true essence of BCBF, while offering at the same time an efficient marketplace and a comprehensive program of events, awards and meetings. Both in the past pandemic year and this one, we organized many successful online events through our new Open-Up: BCBF Skill Box and we felt that this time too we would rise to the task of BCBF 2021 online. We learned that the right digital organization, combined with personal commercial flair, can have not only a brilliant present, but also an incredible future in terms of continuous dialogue with the children's book and content community, which is so important to us.”
At the end of this not very bright news, Bologna promises us that in 2022 we will see each other face to face on their territory. Again in the spring and again under the roof of BolognaFiere. The dates are now clear – March 21-24, 2022!
We will try to be there to make you part of the largest book event in the world again, and until then – follow the online events of the fair, some of which we will also share on our website.
Text: Milena Radeva
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