With London, Bologna and now Shanghai all lining up for the spring it could be a very exciting time for publishing, but the likelier reality right now is more disappointment for those who value in-person events, and more disappointment for those who would be happy with online events given that once again the online components are likely to be treated as last-minute necessary-evils bolt-ons.
If it goes ahead it could be spectacular – two of the world’s biggest publishing fairs for children’s books will now run simultaneously in China and Italy, and will link together online.
A match made in heaven children’s book lovers might argue, but just how likely is it this will go ahead?
The latest postponement (following the postponement of the Beijing Book Fair in August) comes less than two weeks before the scheduled November 19th opening day as scheduled. The new dates are March 20-22, 2022.
The announcement explained:
These new dates coincide with the 59th Bologna Children’s Book Fair (BCBF) held in Italy from 21 to 24 March 2022. For the first time, the two major professional children’s book fairs will connect East and West through innovative real-time events. By mobilising their wide array of resources, the two fairs will organise joint activities in copyright trade, book promotion and illustration so that participants at both ends of the earth can network efficiently through time and space.
..We are convinced that the new situation will bring exciting opportunities so as to create a good exhibition and a fruitful business environment for all participants.
All well and good, but as the situation deteriorates across Europe and winter prepares to arrive, past experience has shown things will get worse before they get better, and that current vaccine programmes have yet to make a significant dent in Covid-19’s armour.
With London, Bologna and now Shanghai all lining up for the spring it could be a very exciting time for publishing, but the likelier reality right now is more disappointment for those who vale in-person events, and more disappointment for those who would be happy with online events given that once again the online components are likely to be treated as last-minute necessary-evils bolt-ons.
