From 8 to 11 April, the 61st edition of the Bologna International Children's Book Fair (BCBF) was held as scheduled. The Bologna Children's Book Fair is not only dedicated to the trade of children's book rights, but also a stage to promote world exchange and stimulate the emergence of new ideas and things. CITIC Children's Books selected 35 kinds of books to participate in the exhibition, and held brand activities such as "Red Cloak Picture Book Contest International Call for Papers" and "Chinese Characteristics and Internationalization of Chinese Picture Books" during the Book Fair. At the same time, CITIC Children's Books also released the top 10 original book projects in 2024 to tell Chinese stories and convey Chinese voices to the world.
Adhere to the quality of original children's books and promote the "going out" of original children's books
CITIC Children's Books has always adhered to the concept of "child-oriented", adhered to the principle of high-quality original children's books, and strived to promote excellent original children's books to "go global". At this year's Children's Book Fair, CITIC Children's Books selected 35 good books were exhibited, mainly showcasing original children's books exported in recent years and original books to be published this year. Among them, there are some masterpieces by famous artists, such as Cao Wenxuan's "Today is Waiting for Tomorrow", Tang Sulan's "Looking for Lin Musen Bookstore" and other famous new works, as well as traditional cultural masterpieces such as "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" and "Luo Shen Fu" picture books by Ye Luying, a cutting-edge author cooperating with CITIC Children's Books in recent years, and Hua Zhangyi's "Pipa Xing" picture book.
Since its establishment in 2015, CITIC Children's Books has signed contracts with 158 original creators and published a number of high-quality original children's books that promote the excellent traditional Chinese culture, express the lives of Chinese children, and reflect China's development and changes. Among them, 228 of the published original books have been translated into 8 Chinese languages such as English, Korean, and Italian, and have been brought to many countries and regions around the world through copyright export, actively promoting Chinese original books to the world.
Compared with imported works, CITIC Children's Books has always firmly believed that original works can better demonstrate Chinese characteristics and cultural heritage, and will be based on the global market, through form innovation, model innovation, to expand the path of "going global", and has achieved a new round of overseas export results.
Actively Promoting International Publishing Cooperation The Red Cloak Picture Book Competition is the first to solicit international submissions
Chinese children's books are entering the world stage, showing a new trend of coexistence of multiple channels and forms. In addition to copyright output, joint creation between China and foreign countries has also become a trend. At this book fair, CITIC Children's Books' "Red Cloak Picture Book Competition" was officially unveiled on the international stage at the Bologna International Children's Book Fair. This is also the first time in the four years since the Red Cloak Picture Book Competition was held that the competition is open to the world, hoping to give global picture book creators a platform to show their talents and jointly promote the internationalization of Chinese picture book creation.
The guests jointly launched the Red Cloak Picture Book Contest and officially solicited international submissions
Since 2021, the Red Cloak Picture Book Contest has been held for three consecutive years, with a cumulative number of more than 2,000 manuscripts, and has successfully published a number of excellent works that conform to children's psychology and respect children's development, such as "Pipa Xing", "Grandma Mountain" and "Li Bai: Calling for a White Jade Plate", all of which have been widely praised by the industry and the market. Among them, "Pipa Xing" sold 8,000 copies in 3 days after its launch, and won the "2023 China Animation Golden Dragon Gold Award". The Red Cloak Picture Book Contest has become a vane in the field of original picture books, which has played an active role in promoting original picture books in China, and has also allowed children around the world to learn about China through picture books.
At this event, we invited Hai Fei, a senior children's book publisher and children's book writer, Zhang Mingzhou, former president of the International Children's Book Federation and chairman of the Tree of Life Culture Promotion Center, Xiong Liang, a well-known original picture book master in China and the first painter in China to be shortlisted for the Hans Christian Andersen Award, Wang Lijun, secretary general of the Comic Art Committee of the China Artists Association and promoter of China's original picture books, Xie Fengbei, professional consultant of the Shanghai International Children's Book Fair and children's book copyright agent, and chief publisher of CITIC Children's Group. Feifei Wong, head of the International Picture Book Group, and the guests jointly opened the submission mailbox and officially threw an olive branch to the innovative and artistic picture book creators around the world, helping China's picture book creation through cross-border exchanges and co-creation.
Feifei Wong, Chief Publisher of CITIC Children's Group and Head of International Picture Book Group, also announced the top 10 high-quality projects of CITIC Children's Books in 2024, including "Journey to the West Picture Book", "The Great Joy of the Dragon King's Family", "Pipa Xing" and so on. She said: "We hope that with the help of the Red Cloak Competition, we can cultivate more potential new authors and launch excellent works that reflect the pulse of the times and modern children's lives." We sincerely welcome all creators with innovative thinking and unique perspectives to participate in the Red Cloak Picture Book Competition. ”
Constantly explore the internationalization of Chinese picture books and tell the world the story of China
At this book fair, CITIC Children's Books also held a copyright promotion conference with the theme of "Chinese Characteristics and Internationalization of Chinese Picture Books" for "Today is Waiting for Tomorrow: Cao Wenxuan International Master Philosophical Picture Book". The meeting was chaired by Mr. Zhang Mingzhou, former President of the International Children's Book Alliance. The guests included the author Cao Wenxuan, the professor of the Academy of Fine Arts of Venice, Alessandro Sanna, the British translator of children's literature, Wang Hailan, the senior Austrian publisher Michael, and Wang Shaohua, one of the Chinese organizers of the Bologna Illustration Exhibition. From the perspectives of text authors, picture authors, translators, international publishers, and copyright agents, they summarized the successful experience of international cooperation in picture books, and discussed the solutions for Chinese picture books to maintain their national characteristics while gaining recognition from readers around the world.
Celebrities gathered to explore the Chinese characteristics and internationalization of Chinese picture books
The book "Today is Waiting for Tomorrow: Cao Wenxuan's International Master Philosophy Picture Book" has been published in Italian. Six well-known copyright companies and international copyright agents, including Boda and Yanchang Culture, attended the meeting, and several publishing houses in France, Belgium, and the United Kingdom expressed strong cooperation intentions.
At the "Global Children's Publishing High-Quality Development Forum" held at the Palazzo Achiginacio in Bologna, Zhang Jianchun, Director of the Propaganda Department of the CPC Central Committee, attended the forum and discussed with the participants on international cooperation publishing and global reading promotion. This set of books was held at the official forum with the theme of "International Creative Trends of Chinese Original Picture Books" held by the Chinese delegation, and became a successful case of international cooperation that was hotly discussed by the participants.
Mr. Cao Wenxuan was interviewed by CCTV overseas reports
The top 10 original book projects of "Going Global" released by CITIC Children's Books during the exhibition are "Today Waiting for Tomorrow: Cao Wenxuan International Master Philosophical Picture Book Changes", "Looking for Lin Musen Bookstore", "I Am the Monkey King", "Pipa Xing (Picture Book Edition)", "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains (Picture Book Edition)", "Little Elephant Setti", "The Great Joy of the Dragon King's Family", "Journey to the West Picture Book", "Interesting Manufacturing" and "Murphy's Law (Youth Edition)".
"Today is waiting for tomorrow: Cao Wenxuan's International Master Philosophy Picture Book Change"
Cao Wenxuan/Author; Alessandro Sanna/Illustration
Copyright Output: Italian
"Looking for Lin Musen Bookstore" by Tang Sulan/
Copyright Export: Russian
""Journey to the West" Picture Book Series" Fox Home/Illustrated
Copyright Output: Vietnamese, Traditional, Hindi, Portuguese, Sinhala, Indonesian, Russian, Arabic, Belarusian, Kyrgyzstani, Kazakh, Nepali, Turkish, Bengali, Malaysian, Thai
"I Am the Monkey King" Yang Peng/author
Copyright Export: Russian
Pipa Walking (Picture Book Edition)
【Tang】Bai Juyi/Original, Liu Yang/Adaptation, Hua Zhangyi/Painting
Copyright Output: Multilingual
A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains (Picture Book Edition)
Ye Luying/Painting;
Copyright Output: Multilingual
"Little Elephant Seti" by Chen Jiatong/author
Copyright Output: Multilingual
"The Great Joy of the Dragon King's Family" Rune Zheng/Illustrated
Copyright Output: Multilingual
"Interesting Manufacturing"
张金妙、滕意/著；何月婷/绘
Copyright Output: Traditional
"Murphy's Law (Youth Edition)" by Tang Bin/
Copyright Export: Vietnamese
In the future, CITIC Children's Books will increase the export of original and excellent children's books, and let more readers around the world hear Chinese stories through diversified market operation methods and innovative publishing models, so as to contribute to the development of new quality productivity of China's publishing industry in the new era.
Text/Beijing Youth Daily reporter Zhang Enjie
Editor/Qiao Ying