In the run up to this wonderful fair, which is a Patron Member of the IPA, we also have our partner IBBY (International Board on Books for Young People) marking the 2 April as International Children’s Book Day. And their chapter in Cyprus has chosen a wonderful theme for 2026: Plant stories and the world will bloom!
In Italy, spring will very much be in the air. This time of year when the first flowers come through reminds us of our natural world’s amazing capacity for regeneration. In this time of terrible conflicts around the world, this time of political division in many countries, our book sector too has a responsibility to renew its energies, to find new ways of reaching young readers, stimulating their imagination, equipping them to deal with the challenges they will face, and inspiring them to believe a better world is possible.
This responsibility we bear as a sector is particularly important. Young readers are the most systematically targeted by governments who want to restrict the freedom to publish. Oppressive governments mark books as obscene, they require books be removed from school or municipal libraries, they nationalise educational resources and publishers. All this to restrict the ability of our children to understand other contexts, other experiences, other lives.
But all hope is not lost of course. As we saw in London at our session around democracy and reading, there are countries who have recognised the importance of inspiring children to read. They know that this is important for their democracies, for their economies, and for the cultural health of their citizens. And, just one look at the book fair floor shows us, there are many of us, all striving to reach these young readers.
The beautiful green and yellow poster (below) and the talk of plants and blooms reminds me of the project that both IPA and IBBY worked on together, alongside the EIBF, IFLA and UN Publications: The SDG Book Club.
The SDG Book Club presented lists of books for children aged 6-12 for all 17 of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (the SDGs) in all six UN languages (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish).
That Book Club has certainly bloomed. From the 6 languages we covered at the start, chapters have grown in Norway (this year’s Guest of Honour at Bologna), Brazil, Portugal, Africa (covering English, French, Arabic and indigenous languages), the Netherlands, Germany, withothers being developed.
So many of these topics will be part of the programme in Bologna, and IPA is proud to be part of it with our partners UN Women and UN Publications, our Italian member AIE and others.
The stories we plant may take time to bloom as todays’s young readers grow into adults and future leaders. For publishers, it is a privilege to be a part of it.
