Bologna Children´s Book Fair: Basque. Books.

The prestigious international book event, Bologna Children’s Book Fair, will be held this year from 8 to 11 April in Bologna, Italy. Once again, the Basque Publishers´ Association (Euskal Editoreen Elkartea) and the Euskal Irudigileak association, under the umbrella of the Basque.Books. brand, will be present thanks to the collaboration of the Basque Government´s Department of Culture and the Etxepare Basque Institute. Basque.Books. is the brand that promotes the internationalisation of Basque literature and the Basque publishing industry.

Basque books will once again take centre stage at the fair this year. Eleven publishers have registered to showcase their work at a stand at the fair: A fin de cuentos, Grupo Comunicación Loyola, Cartem, Bonito editorial, Ediciones Modernas El Embudo, Elkar, Erein, FulgencioPimentel, Ttarttalo, Txalaparta and Pamiela.

Euskal Editoreak, the association of Basque language publishers, will be at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair at the Basque. Books stand (Hall 29 E 17). They will also take part in different activities as part of the programme, such as the sale of books and comics by Basque illustrators in the Comics Corner (Hall 30 D24 F29) section. The catalogue of Basque book rights will also be made available.

The Euskal Irudigileak association  will coordinate a variety of activities at the Illustrators Survival Corner, as part of the fair’s official industry professional programme:

8 April

• WORKSHOP - HORMAK : Murales dai Paesi Baschi / Murals from the Basque Country

Participants: Markel Urrutia (Smoke Signals Studio) and Natalia Albéniz.

• - Portfolio reviews (IRUDIKA): Maria Barriga and Jorge Mato (Ca-Teter).

10 April

• Talk: "Manifiesto para la regulación del uso de la inteligencia artificial generativa" (Manifesto for the regulation of the use of generative artificial intelligence")

Participants: Euskal Irudigileak + EGAIR + European Illustrators Forum

• Portfolio reviews (Basque Illustrators): Elisabeth Perez, Markel Urrutia and Natalia Albéniz.
• Fiesta PATXANGA (22:00-02: 00). IRUDIKA 2024 poster presentation party in collaboration with FIL Guadalajara.

Organiser: International Professional Illustration Fair IRUDIKA.

The Bologna Children’s Book Fair has been held annually since its creation in 1963. The event is a benchmark event in children´s literature, with 1,400 exhibitors and around 30,000 visitors each year. It is the meeting point for professionals involved in the creation and publication of children´s literature and, above all, a space for buying and selling authors´ rights.

This year the Etxepare Basque Institute launched the Basque. Books portal for samples of literature in Basque, designed as an online tool to promote the internationalisation and translation of literature in Basque into other languages.