The Bologna International Book Fair is a personal journey for every illustrator, writer and publisher. A journey filled with personal hopes, ideas and expectations for the encounter with the big world and great opportunities. Many years ago (already) I was at this huge forum for the first time. Back then, as a young, green illustrator, I looked at the fair with eyes full of hope, today I have a new perspective – that of the Bulgarian Illustration website!
This new journey for me began at 3:30 a.m. on Saturday morning. Shaking like a penguin in the snow, carrying a backpack on my back, a suitcase in one hand and coffee in the other, I crawled to the car. After a whole hour in the snowdrifts on our unpaved roads, Serbia did not welcome us with better road conditions. Only after Belgrade did the thermometer indicate the coveted 3 (!!!) degrees. I admit, there is no more boring highway in all of Europe, but it becomes especially interesting when your window electronics fail and you find yourself driving at 120 km/h with the window open. Sometimes I think that everything that has ever happened to me on the roads outside “home” would never have happened to me if I had just sat “at home”. Anyway, after a short struggle, a little agony and a whining drama, the window was raised and flat Croatia welcomed us sunny and happy.
The day ended in the heart of Slovenia – Gothic Ljubljana, filled with dragons, castles and an exhibition of illustrations. At the Kresija Gallery, the artist Damjan Stepančič presents his illustrations for the book “Servant Jernej and His Rights”. This is an art-book and a personal project, which is being presented to the public for the first time, although it was published by Mladinska knjiga in 2014. At this year’s celebration of the author – Cankarjev, the original illustrations are being shown for the first time. “His visual language perfectly expands the perception of Cankarjev’s literary text. His rough drawing style and the materials used are in harmony with the story and emphasize the tragedy of the hopeless hero. The artist adds a new dimension, which is usually the basis of the depiction of classic literary works. In illustrated books, the question sometimes arises of what else to do. Part of the answer may be that the illustrations accompanying the text are part of a conversation between two languages. One is a literary conversation, the other is artistic, but at the same time they tell the same story,” writes Pavle Učakar about the exhibition. The last place to explore on this long day was a small, cute bookstore in the center of Ljubljana. Although it was somewhere around 9:00 in the evening, it was filled with young people buying books! I wondered where in Sofia I had ever seen a full bookstore at nine in the evening?
The next morning we were on the road again. The first stop was the Škotsianske jama cave, which I only note as a suitable place for a change of scenery, and we headed towards Padua.
One of the cities that heralds the wonders of the Renaissance with Giotto's frescoes in the "Great Hall" above the Covered Market and the Scroveni Chapel. This weekend is also the weekend of the Festival internazionale 2018 under the motto "Be Comics!", with a focus on Japan. A country known in the book art world mainly for the giant manga industry in comics and animated films. The exhibitors' gaze will also stop at "traditional elements" - events dedicated to the Japanese language, practical information about food, food zones, cosplay and much more.
Yes, Italy is a country in which books and book art in any form are not only revered, but also part of the country's cultural everyday life, so we would not be surprised if other cities also have similar events that can even be detected as time.
We leave Padua and head to Bologna. Stay tuned for our report from the first day of the Bologna Children’s Book Fair 2018 tomorrow morning.
Text and photos: Milena Radeva
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