Illustrators Survival Corner

It is coming straight from Bologna and is co-organised with Milan-based art school Mimaster: the Illustrators Survival Corner is a multi-function space for emerging all illustration and picture book professionals (illustrators, editors etc.).

The Illustrators Survival Corner is a concept brewed in Italy by Milan-based illustration school Mimaster in partnership with Bologna Children’s Book Fair. The programme of interactive events and seminars exclusively designed for illustrators, picture book editors and anyone professionally interested in the fascinating world of illustrated children’s books. It’s the place where you can share experiences, successes and doubts about the profession and the market. It’s an area for the seasoned professionals and beginners of the visual communication world.

Here is the 2018 Illustrators Survival Corner agenda:

Nov 09 2018

10:00 11:30

Illustrators Survival Corner

Master Class: “From Illustration to Exhibition: How to Showcase Children’s Art”

*Session held in French and English

Participants

Serge Bloch (France)

Illustrator, designer and fine artist
Hervé Tullet (France)

Children’s Book Author, Artist and Performer

10:30 11:30

Illustrators Survival Corner

Portfolio Review

Reviewer

Giovanna Ballin (Italy)

International rights manager and editor, Maurizio Corraini Srl

Giovanna Ballin has been international rights manager and editor of Corraini Edizioni—one of the most prestigious Italian publishing houses in the area of children’s books, art, design and illustration—for more than 25 years.
She works both on the managerial and artistic fronts. On one hand, she deals with foreign rights management, regularly participates in some of the sector’s leading fairs and events (Frankfurt Buchmesse, London Book Fair, Bologna Children’s Book Fair, BookExpo America, Tokyo Art Book Fair, Seoul International Book Fair, Guadalajara Book Fair, New York Art Book Fair and New York Rights Fair), organises other events such as exhibitions and is in charge of communication with foreign authorities and institutions. On the other hand, her work involves research, scouting and discovering new, emerging authors and foreign publishing houses whose work is like-minded to ours and with whom we can develop projects and collaborations.
Suzy Lee (Korea)

Picture book artist

Suzy Lee’s books have been published and acclaimed around the world, most notably for Mirror, Wave and Shadow, known as The Border Trilogy. Wave won the gold medal from the Society of Illustrators at The Original Art Show, U.S.A., Wave and Shadow were selected for the New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Books. She is also author-artist of Lines, Alice in Wonderland, The Zoo, L’oiseau noir and Mi taller de pintura. Her illustrated books include Open This Little Books, which was awarded Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards (honor). In 2016, Suzy Lee was shortlisted for the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Award. She is currently living and working in Korea.
Chia Cheng En (Malaysia)

Editorial Manager, Big Tree Publications Sdn Bhd
Svein Storksen (Norway)

Founder and Publisher, Magikon Forlag

10:30 12:00

Illustrators Survival Corner

Creative Workshop: “Doodling, Drawing, Playing: Illustration Warm-up Exercises”

Participants

Kitty Crowther (Belgium)

Picture book artist

Kitty Crowther writes and illustrates children’s books. She was born and raised in Belgium by a Swedish mother and an English father. As a child she spent her summers in a small Dutch village by the water, and she always felt a strong connection to nature.
Born with hearing difficulties, Kitty struggled to communicate through her childhood – so she dived into the world of books. And since 1994 she’s been making her own books, communicating her thoughts, ideas, questions and emotions with a unique, honest and powerful voice. She says: “I don’t try to make pleasant books, but stories that fascinate me deeply. I don’t have the impression that I choose my stories; I think they choose me.”
She has written and/or illustrated more than forty books which have been translated into about thirty languages. She also works on a variety of other projects including theatre productions and live drawing events. She travels widely, giving conferences and workshops to children and adults all around the world.
She has won a large number of awards for her work, and in 2010 she received the world’s most prestigious prize for children’s literature: the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA).

11:45 12:30

Illustrators Survival Corner

Master Class: “Picture Books on China from Around the World”

Participants

Grazia Gotti (Italy)

Founder, Cooperativa Giannino Stoppani

After she graduated in Pedagogy in 1983, Grazia Gotti founded the Cooperativa Culturale Giannino Stoppani with a group of kindergarten and primary school teachers and educators of her work circle. The Cooperativa runs an independant children's book store and organises illustration exhibition and training courses for teachers and educators.
Grazia Gotti currently collaborates with many publishers, scouting for books and curating book series. She also runs her own publishing house.
Since 2003 she is a member of the Board of Education of the Accademia Drosselmeier, a study
centre and research and training school for teachers, educators, librarians and book sellers.
Grazia is also the author of several books, including A scuola con i libri. Avventure di una libraia-maestra (At School with Books—The Adventures of a Teacher and Book Seller), Rizzoli, 2013; Ne ho vedute tante da raccontar. Crescere con i libri (I Have So Many Things To Tell You About—Growing up with Books), Giunti Editore, 2014; 21 donne all'Assemblea (21 Women at the Assembly), Bompiani, 2016.

12:45 14:45

Illustrators Survival Corner

Creative Workshop: “Because It’s a Book”

Participants

Suzy Lee (Korea)

Picture book artist

Suzy Lee’s books have been published and acclaimed around the world, most notably for Mirror, Wave and Shadow, known as The Border Trilogy. Wave won the gold medal from the Society of Illustrators at The Original Art Show, U.S.A., Wave and Shadow were selected for the New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Books. She is also author-artist of Lines, Alice in Wonderland, The Zoo, L’oiseau noir and Mi taller de pintura. Her illustrated books include Open This Little Books, which was awarded Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards (honor). In 2016, Suzy Lee was shortlisted for the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Award. She is currently living and working in Korea.

13:00 14:30

Conferences & Seminars

East Meets West—Picture Books Today Across Cultures

Illustrators Survival Corner, Central Lobby of Floor 2

In this wide-ranging discussion, a panel of experienced publishing professionals will offer a comparative look at the underlying ideas and values that characterize the picture books currently being created in Asian and Western countries. What makes an Asian picture book "Asian" and a Western picture book "Western"? Why do some picture books "travel" successfully from one national market to others, and not others? What can artists, writers, and publishers learn from each other across national borders?

* Simultaneous interpretation between Chinese and English

Participants

Lin Xiaoxi (Ajia) (China)

Director, Beijing Hongniba Co., Ltd.

LIN Xiaoxi, better known by his pen name Ajia, is a leading advocate for reading programmes across China. He is also a writer, translator, and co-owner of an independent bookstore of children’s books.
Huang Xiaoyan (China)

Founder and CEO, Everafter Books

HUANG Xiaoyan is the founder, CEO and Editor-in-Chief of Everfater Children's Book Publishing. She is also a senior children's book publisher. She founded Macmillan Group's joint venture in China—Macmillan Century. Additionally, she has also worked with a number of international publishing companies including Harper Collins and Amazon. Through 26 years of experience in the publishing industry, she has gained has rich experience in publishing at home and abroad. She is also a mother to a warm-hearted and beautiful 18-year-old daughter.
Leonard S. Marcus (USA)

Children's book historian and critic

Leonard S. Marcus is one of the world’s foremost writers about children’s books and the people who create them. He is the author of more than 25 award-winning books, including Dear Genius: The Letters of Ursula Nordstrom; Golden Legacy: The Story of Golden Books; Show Me a Story: Why Picture Books Matter; Maurice Sendak: A Celebration of the Artist and His Life; and Helen Oxenbury: A Life in Illustration.
Leonard is a frequent contributor to the New York Times Book Review and Horn Book and was Parenting magazine's book critic for 21 years. He is a founding trustee of the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art and has curated numerous exhibitions including the New York Public Library’s landmark The ABC Of It: Why Children’s Books Matter.
Leonard has judged the New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Books of the Year Award (four times), the National Book Award, the Ragazzi and SM Illustrator Prizes of the Bologna Book Fair, the Fondacion SM's Catalogo Iberoamerica Ilustra, Scholastic Asian Book Award (jury chair), and Chen Bochui Award.
Deirdre McDermott (Ireland)

Creative Director, Walker Books Ltd.

Deirdre McDermott is the Picture Book Publisher and Creative Director at Walker Books, the largest independent children's publisher in the UK. Working with her talented team of picture book designers and editors, Deirdre has collaborated closely with distinguished bookmakers Helen Oxenbury, Chris Haughton, Jimmy Liao, Chinlun Lee, Anita Jeram, Bob Graham, Zhu Chengliang, John Burningham, Jean Jullien, and Oliver Jeffers—amongst many others.
She firmly believes that the stories that are read to us as small children shape us into the people we become, and her ultimate creative ambition is to empower artists and authors to tell stories that children want to hear again and again, and to make picture books that they will always remember.
A native of Dublin, Ireland and educated at the National College of Art and Design, Deirdre lives in London, England.
Maria Russo (USA)

Children’s Books Editor, The New York Times

Maria Russo has been the Children’s Books Editor of the New York Times Books Review since 2014. She previously worked as an editor and writer at The Los Angeles Times, The New York Observer and Salon. She holds a Ph.D, in English and Comparative Literature from Columbia University.
Zhang Hong (China)

Writer, founder of Magic Reading

Hong ZHANG, fondly nicknamed “Auntie Magic” by her young readers, is China’s award-winning writer for children’s literature. Born and educated in Shanghai, she began writing fantasy in school and has published more than 20 books including E girl, The Happy Little Crayons and Wonderlands: A Magical Atlas. She also translated into Chinese the masterpieces of E.B. White, Michael Morpurgo, Tomi Ungerer and David Shannon.
In 2014, Hong founded the digital media platform “MagicReading” on WeChat to enable children aged 2 to 12 years (and their parents) to easily find, share, and enjoy good books. In her work, Hong engages and collaborates with education experts, writers, illustrators, publishers, the media, charities, funds and the public service. Her non-profit organisation enjoys increasing the popularity of children’s books nationwide.
Hong was awarded the Chevening Scholarship by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office and was named among Shanghai’s Top 10 Youth in Culture & China’s Reading Promoter of 2018.

14:00 15:00

Illustrators Survival Corner

Portfolio Review

Reviewer

Fei Jia (China)

Senior Artistic Editor at Shanghai Juvenile and Children's Publishing House
Maria Jesús Gil (Spain)

Senior Editor, former President of Hans Christian Andersen Jury
Gita Wolf (India)

Founder, Tara Books

Gita WOLF founded Tara Books as an independent publishing house in India. As an original and creative voice in contemporary Indian publishing, she is known for exploring and experimenting with the form of books. She has written over twenty books for children and adults; several of these have won major international awards and have been translated into multiple languages. Tara creates most of its books in-house and collaborates with a range of unusual talents, from tribal artists to signboard painters to truck artists. They are also known for pioneering the craft of affordable handmade books for booklovers.
Beginning with The Very Hungry Lion in 1995, Gita has written over twenty five books for children and adults. Several have won major international awards and been translated into multiple languages. One of these – Do! – was honoured with the prestigious BolognaRagazzi New Horizons Award in 2010.

15:00 17:00

Conferences & Seminars

What Makes a Classic Picture-Book Character?

Illustrators Survival Corner, Central Lobby of Floor 2

At the core of almost every classic picture book is a character that children can identify strongly with. In this panel discussion, moderated by Maria Russo and Leonard Marcus, noted picture book artists from around the world will tell how such characters are created.

* Simultaneous interpretation between Chinese and English

Participants

Suzy Lee (Korea)

Picture book artist

Suzy Lee’s books have been published and acclaimed around the world, most notably for Mirror, Wave and Shadow, known as The Border Trilogy. Wave won the gold medal from the Society of Illustrators at The Original Art Show, U.S.A., Wave and Shadow were selected for the New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Books. She is also author-artist of Lines, Alice in Wonderland, The Zoo, L’oiseau noir and Mi taller de pintura. Her illustrated books include Open This Little Books, which was awarded Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards (honor). In 2016, Suzy Lee was shortlisted for the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Award. She is currently living and working in Korea.
David Shannon (USA)

Picture Book Artist and Children’s Illustrator, Caldecott Honour Book Author

David Shannon is the author and illustrator of many highly praised books for children. Born in Washington, D.C., he grew up in Spokane, Washington. He graduated from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, with a fine arts degree, and then moved to New York City.
He is the internationally acclaimed creator of more than 30 picture books, including No, David!— a Caldecott Honor Book and New York Times Best Illustrated Book of the Year. With more than 13 million books in print in 13 languages, No, David! burst onto the picture book scene in 1998 and was named a Caldecott Honor Book, a New York Times Best Illustrated Book, and has been a classic for 20 years. Shannon’s other bestsellers include A Bad Case of Stripes, Duck on a Bike, and Too Many Toys! His most recent book is Bizzy Mizz Lizzie.
His editorial illustrations have appeared in The New York Times, Time, and Rolling Stone, and his artwork has appeared on numerous book jackets.
Shannon is a passionate baseball fan and softball player. He and his wife now live in Los Angeles.
Kitty Crowther (Belgium)

Picture book artist

Kitty Crowther writes and illustrates children’s books. She was born and raised in Belgium by a Swedish mother and an English father. As a child she spent her summers in a small Dutch village by the water, and she always felt a strong connection to nature.
Born with hearing difficulties, Kitty struggled to communicate through her childhood – so she dived into the world of books. And since 1994 she’s been making her own books, communicating her thoughts, ideas, questions and emotions with a unique, honest and powerful voice. She says: “I don’t try to make pleasant books, but stories that fascinate me deeply. I don’t have the impression that I choose my stories; I think they choose me.”
She has written and/or illustrated more than forty books which have been translated into about thirty languages. She also works on a variety of other projects including theatre productions and live drawing events. She travels widely, giving conferences and workshops to children and adults all around the world.
She has won a large number of awards for her work, and in 2010 she received the world’s most prestigious prize for children’s literature: the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA).
Leonard S. Marcus (USA)

Children's book historian and critic

Leonard S. Marcus is one of the world’s foremost writers about children’s books and the people who create them. He is the author of more than 25 award-winning books, including Dear Genius: The Letters of Ursula Nordstrom; Golden Legacy: The Story of Golden Books; Show Me a Story: Why Picture Books Matter; Maurice Sendak: A Celebration of the Artist and His Life; and Helen Oxenbury: A Life in Illustration.
Leonard is a frequent contributor to the New York Times Book Review and Horn Book and was Parenting magazine's book critic for 21 years. He is a founding trustee of the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art and has curated numerous exhibitions including the New York Public Library’s landmark The ABC Of It: Why Children’s Books Matter.
Leonard has judged the New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Books of the Year Award (four times), the National Book Award, the Ragazzi and SM Illustrator Prizes of the Bologna Book Fair, the Fondacion SM's Catalogo Iberoamerica Ilustra, Scholastic Asian Book Award (jury chair), and Chen Bochui Award.
Maria Russo (USA)

Children’s Books Editor, The New York Times

Maria Russo has been the Children’s Books Editor of the New York Times Books Review since 2014. She previously worked as an editor and writer at The Los Angeles Times, The New York Observer and Salon. She holds a Ph.D, in English and Comparative Literature from Columbia University.

15:30 16:30

Illustrators Survival Corner

Portfolio Review

Reviewer

Anastasia Arkhipova (Russia)

Illustrator, Honoured Artist of Russia, Vice President of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY)

Anastasia Arkhipova was born in Moscow in 1955. Being the third generation of illustrators in her family, she started drawing at a very young age. She began illustrating books when she was still a student at the Surikov Academy of Fine Arts in Moscow and has been collaborating with Russian and foreign publishers ever since.
She met her first international success in 1984 after illustrating a Brothers Grimm fairy tale for a German publisher. Afterwards, Anastasia continued to illustrate classics by the Grimm brothers, Hans Christian Andersen—who remains her all-time favourite—, as well as Oscar Wilde and Charles Dickens. Most recently, she has also begun illustrating for modern Chinese authors.
Since 2012, Anastasia has been a member of the Russian Academy of Arts, from which she received a Silver Medal in 2013.
She teaches at the Stroganov Academy of Arts in Moscow and is Head of the Board of the Association of Book Illustrators and Designers at the Moscow Union of Artists. She organises book and illustration exhibitions, launched Image of the Book—an international contest for book illustrators and designers—, has participated as a judge in art competitions.
Since September 2018, Anastasia has been Vice President of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY).
Deirdre McDermott (Ireland)

Creative Director, Walker Books Ltd.

Deirdre McDermott is the Picture Book Publisher and Creative Director at Walker Books, the largest independent children's publisher in the UK. Working with her talented team of picture book designers and editors, Deirdre has collaborated closely with distinguished bookmakers Helen Oxenbury, Chris Haughton, Jimmy Liao, Chinlun Lee, Anita Jeram, Bob Graham, Zhu Chengliang, John Burningham, Jean Jullien, and Oliver Jeffers—amongst many others.
She firmly believes that the stories that are read to us as small children shape us into the people we become, and her ultimate creative ambition is to empower artists and authors to tell stories that children want to hear again and again, and to make picture books that they will always remember.
A native of Dublin, Ireland and educated at the National College of Art and Design, Deirdre lives in London, England.
Junko Yokota (USA)

Professor Emeritus of Reading and Language, President of the 2020 Hans Christian Andersen Award
Zhang Ye (China)

Founder of ZZCETISTAR Illustration

15:30 17:00

Illustrators Survival Corner

Creative Workshop “The Objective of the Camera and the Eye of the Picture Book Maker”

Participants

Zhang Fan (China)

Illustrator, Winner of the 2017 Golden Pinwheel Young Illustration Grand Award to a Chinese Artist

Nov 10 2018

09:30 11:30

Illustrators Survival Corner

Creative Workshop: “I Need a Spark of Inspiration Every Day”

Participants

Xiong liang (China)

Ink painter, picture book artist

XIONG Liang was born 1975 in Jiaxing, a small city in Southern China. As a child, he developed an interest in traditional Chinese ink and brush painting. He is completely self-taught and learnt from classic works of art and literature from inside and outside China.

His creations span a diverse variety of genres, including novels, children’s books, plays, modern ink brush painting and works of illustration for adults. His first illustrated children’s book was The Little Stone Lion in 2007. He has since illustrated a three-book collection of nursery rhymes and games entitled Children at Large (2013) and several other books where nature, weather and the seasons play a powerful role. These include The Solar Terms (2015), Monster of the Monsoon (2015) and Wandering with the Wind (2016). In 2018 he became the first Chinese artist to be shortlisted for the Hans Christian Andersen Award.

10:00 12:00

Illustrators Survival Corner

“The Content and the Container”—Picture Books as Design Objects

Illustrators Survival Corner, Central Lobby of Floor 2

A quick look around any book store shows that picture books have become extremely sophisticated objects: astounding formats, complex printing processes, virtuous die-cuts… One cannot deny that design is an important dimension for the marketing of a book. However, when it comes to picture books, design does not only respond to commercial and marketing needs. Unlike novels where text and design usually operate separately, picture books are objects in which formal decisions interact directly with the contents.

Far from being a new reality—the Art &Crafts movement and later Brunari Munari made a full demonstration of the world of possibilities provided by the connection design/content—, it is now at the centre of attention of all picture book publishers. How can book design and production best serve the authors’ creative intentions?

Moderator: Sophie Van der Linden (France), Children’s Book Critic and Novelist

* Simultaneous interpretation between Chinese and English

Participants

Giovanna Ballin (Italy)

International rights manager and editor, Maurizio Corraini Srl

Giovanna Ballin has been international rights manager and editor of Corraini Edizioni—one of the most prestigious Italian publishing houses in the area of children’s books, art, design and illustration—for more than 25 years.
She works both on the managerial and artistic fronts. On one hand, she deals with foreign rights management, regularly participates in some of the sector’s leading fairs and events (Frankfurt Buchmesse, London Book Fair, Bologna Children’s Book Fair, BookExpo America, Tokyo Art Book Fair, Seoul International Book Fair, Guadalajara Book Fair, New York Art Book Fair and New York Rights Fair), organises other events such as exhibitions and is in charge of communication with foreign authorities and institutions. On the other hand, her work involves research, scouting and discovering new, emerging authors and foreign publishing houses whose work is like-minded to ours and with whom we can develop projects and collaborations.
Chen Zexin (China)

Art editor, Phoenix Juvenile and Children’s Publishing

Born in Beijing in 1954, Chen Zexin’s family is originary from native of Shantou in Guangdong Province, was. He works at Jiangsu Children's Publishing House, specialising in the illustration and design of children's books. He feels fortunate to be able to work for the cause of children's literature and illustrated books. In 2016, he was the Chinese shortlisted candidate to the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award.
Sophie Van der Linden (France)

Children’s book critic and novelist

Sophie Van der Linden is a novelist and critic, specialising in the book album for youth. She is also editor (De Facto), editor of the Hors-Cadre[s] review, a trainer and a speaker.
Her latest book, Album[s], in collaboration with creator and editor Olivier Douzou sums up her theory of the album (De Facto—Actes Sud, 2013).
She is the editorial director of I’m looking for a book for a child (“Je cherche un livre pour un enfant")—a series of guidebooks co-published by Gallimard Jeunesse and De Facto, of which she also penned the first volume dedicated to 0–7year olds.
Besides articles and contributions, she also wrote Claude Ponti (2000 Editions Être) and Read Albums” (Lire l’album) (2006, L'Atelier du Poisson soluble), to be released in China in the Fall of 2018 by Everafter Books .
Since 2007, she has been Editor of the magazine Hors-Cadre(s) about picture books for youth and graphic literature for adults.
As a trainer and speaker, she also teaches children's literature at universities and art schools in France and Spain. She received the 2001 Critics' Prize in Literature for Youth.
Miao Wei (China)

Director of Book Centre, China Children’s Press & Publication Group

Miao Wei is a binding designer, book publishing planner, illustrator, cartoonist and writer. He was born in Beijing in August 1965.
In 1989, he graduated from the Central Academy of Arts and Crafts in bookbinding. In 1994, he attended the Japan Asia-Pacific International Cultural Exchange Centre to study illustrations, graphic design, and book planning. He has been working on the practice and research of children's book publishing, book illustration, and graphic design for many years, and has conducted in-depth research on book selection and development.
He works for the China Children’s Press & Publication Group since 1994, and currently works as the Director of the Book Centre.
Miao Wei is also a member of the Chinese Writers Association, the China Exhibition Designers Association, and the China Youth Cartoonists Association. He also writes for the Beijing Morning Post as a literary newspaper columnist.
His work has won the Japan NOMA CONCOURS International Book Illustration Excellence Award and, to date, remains the only Chinese artist to have ever received this award.
Gita Wolf (India)

Founder, Tara Books

Gita WOLF founded Tara Books as an independent publishing house in India. As an original and creative voice in contemporary Indian publishing, she is known for exploring and experimenting with the form of books. She has written over twenty books for children and adults; several of these have won major international awards and have been translated into multiple languages. Tara creates most of its books in-house and collaborates with a range of unusual talents, from tribal artists to signboard painters to truck artists. They are also known for pioneering the craft of affordable handmade books for booklovers.
Beginning with The Very Hungry Lion in 1995, Gita has written over twenty five books for children and adults. Several have won major international awards and been translated into multiple languages. One of these – Do! – was honoured with the prestigious BolognaRagazzi New Horizons Award in 2010.

10:30 11:30

Illustrators Survival Corner

Portfolio Review

Reviewer

Cai Gao (China)

Painter, first Chinese Artist to win the BIB Golden Apple
Andrea McDonald (UK)

Editorial Director, Picture Books Penguin Random House Children
Maria Russo (USA)

Children’s Books Editor, The New York Times

Maria Russo has been the Children’s Books Editor of the New York Times Books Review since 2014. She previously worked as an editor and writer at The Los Angeles Times, The New York Observer and Salon. She holds a Ph.D, in English and Comparative Literature from Columbia University.

12:30 14:00

Illustrators Survival Corner

Masterclass “Golden Pinwheel Reunion!—A Public Discussion with the 2018 Jury and the 2017 Winners”

Moderator: Elena Pasoli (Italy), Bologna Children’s Book Fair Exhibition Director

Participants

Elena Pasoli (Italy)

Bologna Children’s Book Fair Exhibition Director

Elena Pasoli was born in Bologna (Italy). She studied Classic Literature at the University of Bologna and in 1982 started her career as PR and press officer. She joined BolognaFiere in 1987, first as Special Events manager, then as project manager of the Bologna Children’s Book Fair. She left the company in 2006 to join the University of Bologna Foundation where she directed the Communication Area. Back to BolognaFiere in 2011, in 2014 she was appointed Exhibition Director of the Bologna Children's Book Fair.
Serge Bloch (France)

Illustrator, designer and fine artist
Cai Gao (China)

Painter, first Chinese Artist to win the BIB Golden Apple
Joan Negrescolor (Spain)

Picture Book Artist, Illustrator and Graphic Designer, Winner of the 2017 Golden Pinwheel Grand Award (international)
Adolfo Serra (Spain)

Picture Book Artist and Illustrator
Xiong liang (China)

Ink painter, picture book artist

XIONG Liang was born 1975 in Jiaxing, a small city in Southern China. As a child, he developed an interest in traditional Chinese ink and brush painting. He is completely self-taught and learnt from classic works of art and literature from inside and outside China.

His creations span a diverse variety of genres, including novels, children’s books, plays, modern ink brush painting and works of illustration for adults. His first illustrated children’s book was The Little Stone Lion in 2007. He has since illustrated a three-book collection of nursery rhymes and games entitled Children at Large (2013) and several other books where nature, weather and the seasons play a powerful role. These include The Solar Terms (2015), Monster of the Monsoon (2015) and Wandering with the Wind (2016). In 2018 he became the first Chinese artist to be shortlisted for the Hans Christian Andersen Award.
Yan Xiaoli (China)

Founder and chief editor of Beijing Dandelion Children's Book House
Fei Jia (China)

Senior Artistic Editor at Shanghai Juvenile and Children's Publishing House
Gita Wolf (India)

Founder, Tara Books

Gita WOLF founded Tara Books as an independent publishing house in India. As an original and creative voice in contemporary Indian publishing, she is known for exploring and experimenting with the form of books. She has written over twenty books for children and adults; several of these have won major international awards and have been translated into multiple languages. Tara creates most of its books in-house and collaborates with a range of unusual talents, from tribal artists to signboard painters to truck artists. They are also known for pioneering the craft of affordable handmade books for booklovers.
Beginning with The Very Hungry Lion in 1995, Gita has written over twenty five books for children and adults. Several have won major international awards and been translated into multiple languages. One of these – Do! – was honoured with the prestigious BolognaRagazzi New Horizons Award in 2010.
Zhang Fan (China)

Illustrator, Winner of the 2017 Golden Pinwheel Young Illustration Grand Award to a Chinese Artist

12:45 14:45

Illustrators Survival Corner

Creative Workshop: “Fast-drawing sketching workshop”

Participants

Miguel Pang Ly (Spain)

Picture Book Author, Illustrator and Graphic Designer

14:00 14:30

Illustrators Survival Corner

“Bologna Heads Up”—Meet Daisy Zuo!

* Session held in Chinese

Participants

Daisy Zuo (China)

Illustrator

14:00 15:00

Illustrators Survival Corner

Portfolio Review

Reviewer

Andre Letria (Portugal)

Editor and Founder, Pato Lógico
Erik Titusson (Sweden)

Director, Lilla Piratförlaget

Erik Titusson was born in 1974 and has been working with children’s literature for many years, in different capacities—in publishing but also as Director of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA), the world’s largest award for children’s literature. In 2011 he founded Lilla Piratförlaget, an independent publisher of high quality literature for children and young adults. Erik has also served on the board of Swedish IBBY and as jury for the HC Andersen in 2014. Currently, he is a member of the board of the Astrid Lindgren Society as well as the board of Swedish Best Book Design.
Sophie Van der Linden (France)

Children’s book critic and novelist

Sophie Van der Linden is a novelist and critic, specialising in the book album for youth. She is also editor (De Facto), editor of the Hors-Cadre[s] review, a trainer and a speaker.
Her latest book, Album[s], in collaboration with creator and editor Olivier Douzou sums up her theory of the album (De Facto—Actes Sud, 2013).
She is the editorial director of I’m looking for a book for a child (“Je cherche un livre pour un enfant")—a series of guidebooks co-published by Gallimard Jeunesse and De Facto, of which she also penned the first volume dedicated to 0–7year olds.
Besides articles and contributions, she also wrote Claude Ponti (2000 Editions Être) and Read Albums” (Lire l’album) (2006, L'Atelier du Poisson soluble), to be released in China in the Fall of 2018 by Everafter Books .
Since 2007, she has been Editor of the magazine Hors-Cadre(s) about picture books for youth and graphic literature for adults.
As a trainer and speaker, she also teaches children's literature at universities and art schools in France and Spain. She received the 2001 Critics' Prize in Literature for Youth.

14:30 15:45

Illustrators Survival Corner

Master Class: “A Few Keys to Editing Picture Books”

*Session held in Spanish and Chinese

Participants

Maria Jesús Gil (Spain)

Senior Editor, former President of Hans Christian Andersen Jury

15:30 17:00

Illustrators Survival Corner

Creative Workshop “How to Create a Smart Dummy”

Participants

David Shannon (USA)

Picture Book Artist and Children’s Illustrator, Caldecott Honour Book Author

David Shannon is the author and illustrator of many highly praised books for children. Born in Washington, D.C., he grew up in Spokane, Washington. He graduated from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, with a fine arts degree, and then moved to New York City.
He is the internationally acclaimed creator of more than 30 picture books, including No, David!— a Caldecott Honor Book and New York Times Best Illustrated Book of the Year. With more than 13 million books in print in 13 languages, No, David! burst onto the picture book scene in 1998 and was named a Caldecott Honor Book, a New York Times Best Illustrated Book, and has been a classic for 20 years. Shannon’s other bestsellers include A Bad Case of Stripes, Duck on a Bike, and Too Many Toys! His most recent book is Bizzy Mizz Lizzie.
His editorial illustrations have appeared in The New York Times, Time, and Rolling Stone, and his artwork has appeared on numerous book jackets.
Shannon is a passionate baseball fan and softball player. He and his wife now live in Los Angeles.

15:30 16:30

Illustrators Survival Corner

Portfolio Review

Reviewer

Kitty Crowther (Belgium)

Picture book artist

Kitty Crowther writes and illustrates children’s books. She was born and raised in Belgium by a Swedish mother and an English father. As a child she spent her summers in a small Dutch village by the water, and she always felt a strong connection to nature.
Born with hearing difficulties, Kitty struggled to communicate through her childhood – so she dived into the world of books. And since 1994 she’s been making her own books, communicating her thoughts, ideas, questions and emotions with a unique, honest and powerful voice. She says: “I don’t try to make pleasant books, but stories that fascinate me deeply. I don’t have the impression that I choose my stories; I think they choose me.”
She has written and/or illustrated more than forty books which have been translated into about thirty languages. She also works on a variety of other projects including theatre productions and live drawing events. She travels widely, giving conferences and workshops to children and adults all around the world.
She has won a large number of awards for her work, and in 2010 she received the world’s most prestigious prize for children’s literature: the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA).
Sam McCullen (UK)

Picture Book Promoter, Founder of Picturebook Makers
Shang Fei (China)

Deputy General Manager, Deputy Editor-in-Chief, Shanghai 99 Readers’ Culture

15:45 17:00

Illustrators Survival Corner

Masterclass “Professional tools for illustrators: brand image, self-promotion and portfolio”

Participants

Ivan Canu (Italy)

Founder and Director of Mimaster Illustrazione
Giacomo Bellini (Italy)

Founder and Coordinator of Mimaster Illustrazione

Nov 11 2018

12:00 14:00

Illustrators Survival Corner

An Overview on International Trends and New Creative Processes

Participants

Hyang Soo Kim (Korea)

Editor-in-Chief, Bandal
Mariela Nagle (Germany)

Book Store Owner, Mundo Azul Session held in Chinese and English

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