Bologna Children's Book Fair 2018

This was my second visit to the Bologna Children's Book Fair. It was wonderful to be back in Italy to help staff the SCBWI booth. We had a variety of activities at the booth, including a celebration of our Bologna Illustration Gallery winners, portfolio reviews, illustrator showcases, and six different iterations of the every-popular Dueling Illustrators.

This year we added a new twist: the manuscripts that were read out were the top 6 of those entered in the inaugeral SCBWI Dueling Illustrators Manuscript contest, which was judged by editor Emma Ledbetter. It's always a delight to see how two illustrators interpret the same text, and under time pressure! They have only two minutes to illustrate each passage of text that is read out.

Here are a few photos from the week (click on the photos to see bigger versions). It was a delight to speak with so many illustrators, writers, editors and publishers at the fair. I've come back inspired by the number of people who believe in creating and publishing stories for the children around the world.