A&U, Books Illustrated to create Australian collective stand at Bologna

Allen & Unwin and Books Illustrated will combine their stands at this year’s Bologna Children’s Book Fair to create an Australian collective stand.

The Australian stand will also host four small presses: Berbay Publishing, Melbournestyle Books Australia, MidnightSun Publishing and Upload Publishing.

The Australian Publishers Association has previously hosted an Australian collective stand at Bologna but was absent last year due to lack of funding from the Australia Council and lack of demand from larger publishers.

The collective stand will feature Books Illustrated’s annual ‘Hello! from Australia’ exhibition and catalogue, which includes over 100 recently published picture books from 26 Australian publishers. The initiative is funded by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund.

Books Illustrated co-founder Ann James told Books+Publishing that ‘a dozen authors and illustrators are attending the fair and will spend time on our creators’ table, drawing and chatting to visitors’. ‘Leigh Hobbs, current Australian Children’s Laureate, will be there too, participating in the third international Children’s Laureate Summit alongside colleagues from a number of countries.’

Category: Junior Local news