Bologna and Shanghai book fair clash leaves publishing teams stretched

The clash in dates between the Bologna and Shanghai children’s book fairs will stretch UK publishing teams, with some saying they do not have the resources to attend both and will miss out on valuable meetings with Chinese publishers.

Next year’s Bologna Children’s Book Fair is scheduled to run from 21st to 24th March, while The Shanghai International Children’s Book Fair, originally due to be held last month but postponed owing to the pandemic, will now run from 20th to 22nd March, the first time the two have clashed.

Most agents and publishers The Bookseller spoke to have said Bologna will be highest on the agenda, though there is some scepticism about international in-person attendance given the recent uncertainty caused by a rise in coronavirus cases and the new Omicron variant. 

Kate Wilson, m.d. at independent children’s publisher Nosy Crow, said she was “very concerned” when she became aware the two would coincide, and said her team will not be able to devote as much attention to Shanghai’s online offering, focusing instead on Bologna. Wilson’s was one of the few UK firms to attend Frankfurt this year, when she lamented the lack of a presence from these shores.

“It’s hard to predict what book fairs will look like next year,” she said. “Our focus, though, will be on Bologna, which we hope will be our first proper face-to-face international fair since the pandemic started, though realistically, we know that some publishers won’t be attending, and there will be some virtual meetings too. Running hybrid book fairs takes a lot of time and energy though and we frankly won’t be able to engage with the virtual international component of the Shanghai book fair as we would have hoped to have done. 

“This is a pity. We’ve really found the children’s focus and the different geography of the Shanghai fair make it a great complement to the Beijing fair, but next year, I suppose, our main opportunity for contact with Chinese publishers and customers will have to be Beijing, assuming it goes ahead as a physical fair.”

Elinor Bagenal, rights director at Chicken House, who said she will also not be able to attend either fair, hoped Chinese firms could instead make it to London next year. She said: “I can see that it is a huge problem for Chinese publishers, I just hope that they might be able to attend the London Book Fair. Having said that, I notice that there is a growing sense of unease about the attendance of any book fairs next spring. Though I hope I am wrong.”

Despite the “unfortunate” overlap in scheduling, Paula Ziedna, director of foreign language operations at Usborne was less worried about the firm’s translation rights business being adversely affected.

“Assuming international travel is possible, we have had indications that both Chinese and other Asian publishers who are interested in buying translation rights from European, UK and US publishers would still be travelling to Bologna," she said. "Shanghai book fair is more of a ‘selling fair’ for Asian publishers who can always send their colleagues in charge of rights sales, distribution and marketing there at the same time, allowing their companies a presence at both fairs."

As global cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant rise, there is some speculation about whether publishers will turn out en masse for either fair next year and some want to wait until more is known about travel restrictions before booking. 

Grant Hartley, export sales director  at Usborne, said Bologna is the bigger event in terms of popularity and footfall and his team will be focusing efforts there, though he is among those waiting to hear about travel restrictions before confirming in-person attendance.

He said: “I anticipate our Chinese customers will be [in Bologna] if travel restrictions allow. Of course, it’s possible that Chinese destinations will unlock at a slower pace than European ones, so we’re keeping a close eye on both fairs and will make a decision nearer the time about our attendance.”

Children’s literary agent Julia Churchill said her team are “soft-planning” to be at Bologna in person. She added: “Because we’ve got a bigger rights team, those staying at home will be handling the Shanghai fair online, and with the help of our co-agents in China. So [it will be] ok for us.”

Literary Scout Natasha Farrant, who agreed most publishers would attend the Italian fair, is most concerned about what might happen to international collaboration and the future of children’s book publishing if live fairs stop happening.

This year’s digital Bologna Children’s Book Fair saw a 55% increase in page views compared to the previous year’s online edition, according to organisers. The fair, which moved to June owing to the pandemic, said it attracted more than 75,000 visits from around the world. In all, 16,000 people took active part in its scheduled initiatives, while 800 exhibitors registered on tits rights exchange platform. 

However, Farrant said the industry “really does need a proper book fair”.  She said: “If we don’t have book fairs in the future, the way we do business internationally would look very different — I don’t know how we’d proceed”.

“We’ve missed spring 2020, autumn 2020, spring 2021 and autumn 2021 really —  that’s a lot of book fairs that haven’t happened, or only partially happened. We’re still pretending they are, but at each fair, there are fewer appointments, there’s less appetite to have a big live event. 

“It would be interesting to see how children’s publishing would change with this reality in the future. The adrenaline of the fair – that’s what we’ve been missing."