Hi everybody!
It was wonderful spending last week in ITALY for the Bologna Children’s Book Fair. It’s one of the largest events in the world for children’s publishing, and I had a blast.
WHAT IT IS: The Bologna Children’s Book Fair is where publishers and agents from around the world converge on beautiful Bologna Italy to discuss the books that they represent and publish in hopes of selling/buying the rights to publish more books in foreign territories.
HOW LONG HAS IT BEEN HAPPENING: for more than 40 years.
WHY I WENT: my wonderful agent, Kristin Nelson, suggested that this would be a great opportunity to meet some of my foreign publishers, and boy was she right!
It’s one thing to know that the books are on shelves in Poland, Japan, Brazil, Italy, etc. It’s another thing to meet the wonderful people who made that possible and talk to them about the series and the future.
WHAT I DID: Well, the work part was a lot of fun–the meeting with foreign publishers and talking about current and future books and hearing what they have planned for the series. But it was also fun just to walk around the fair and look at the booths from publishers all over the world.
You could see what covers were big in Japan and what genres were very popular in South America. You could see some foreign covers and immediately recognize the image as being “hey, that’s Twilight…in Portuguese” or “wow, I would have never recognized that as being written by Meg Cabot.”
Plus, it was an excellent way to realize just how global the publishing industry is and how foreign markets can really be significant in an author’s career.
WHERE I WENT: Now, of course, the official purpose of the trip was the fair, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to take full advantage of my first trip to Italy!
I flew in a couple of days early and took a train up to Venice with Kristin (my agent) where we met Kristin’s client (and general, all-around awesome person) Sarah Rees Brennan and her lovely friend Natasha. Kristin had arranged for a guide for half the day, and that was something I’d highly recommend to anyone who travels to Venice in the future because Venice is lovely and cool but also crowded and VERY confusing, so a private guide was more like having a friend who lived there show you the city.
While walking around we ran into Cassie Clare and her fiance and they joined us for lunch. Then we went on a gondola ride, walked around a bit more, and Kristin and I finally made our way back to the train station and on to Bologna.
I had Sunday free, so on a lark I jumped on another train and went to Florence.
People I trust tell me that Florence is one of the greatest cities in the world. I had a great time, but I wish I’d been better prepared because you really need to reserve tickets to the museums days or weeks in advance (and since I didn’t know I was going until that morning, that wasn’t possible).
Still, it was great to just walk around and shop at the booming street markets, eat gelato (Florence is supposed to have the best in all of Italy) and just see the city.
I also had some time to wander the streets of Bologna.
And eat.
Trust me, the real reason to visit Bologna is the eating.
WOULD I GO BACK: To Italy? In a heartbeat. To the fair? Absolutely. I don’t think it will become an annual trip for me, but in a few years I’m sure I’ll feel the itch again. Plus, hopefully by then I’ll have lots of new books to talk about, so I would definitely hope that this was not my last Bologna!
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I have lots of pictures and lots more stories to tell, but sadly the airline lost my luggage…again (both coming and going this time–this is why I NEVER check a bag on tour!) and my camera cord is in my suitcase, so that might just have to wait for the time being.
In short, I guess I’m really glad I went.
But I’m also really glad to be home.
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Take care, everybody!
-Ally
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