By Jung Joo-ri
Twenty-six domestic publishers are participating in this year's Bologna Children's Book Fair, the world's biggest trade show for children's books.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on March 6 said, "Korean authors of children's books and their works will showcase their potential on the world stage through the Bologna Children's Book Fair in Italy."
The event will run from March 6-9.
At the fair's Korean Pavilion, which serves as a group venue for the publishers, the 26 including Munhak Dongne and Bilyongso will hold export consultations for their books. Seventy books from 22 publishers that could not attend will also be exhibited.
At the "Killer-content Exhibition," 19 picture books and 24 copies of works by authors Kwon Jung-min, Lee Ki-hoon, Lee Gee Eun and Choi Deok-gyu will be exhibited. Other events include meetups with authors and book talks. Lee Suzy, who was invited to the fair as the face of the event's illustrator collection, will jointly host a seminar on Korean picture books with Lee Ki-hoon and Choi.
Korean picture books are also nominated for this year's Bologna Ragazzi Award, which honors outstanding creativity and artistry of works displayed at the fair. The winners were Lee Ji Yeon's "Moving Away" published by NCSoft Corp. in the fiction category; Mia's "The Blue: Bench" (Studio Woom) in the Opera Prima section; and "The Shadow Theater" (Bear Books), written and illustrated by Kim Kyu-ah, and "House of Dracula," (Dogbooks) written by 5unday and drawn by Yun Heedae both in the Comics - Middle Grade (ages 9-12) category.
Marking its 60th anniversary this year, the fair opens every March to exchange the latest information and trade copyrights on children's books with the participation of 5,000 illustrators, authors as well as staff from more than 1,000 publishers in 70 countries.
