Programme Overview

Yang Lei holds a Master of Science degree in Management and is Executive Vice President of OpenBook.
Having joined OpenBook in 2006, he was transferred in 2008 from consulting to the market promotions department. He has also worked in a variety of companies, including publishing groups, publishing houses, publishing companies (both foreign and domestic), the press and publications bureau, and digital publishing companies. Throughout these roles he has demonstrated a devotion to serve customers with valuable information and strategies. His clients have included the China South Publishing & Media Group, the Xinhua Winshare Publishing and Media Company, Southern Publishing & Media, Phoenix Publishing & Media, China Machine Press, China CITIC Press, China Mobile Reading Base, and the China Unicom Reading Base.

Judith Oriol holds a PhD in French literature from La Sorbonne University, Paris. She gained experience in publishing at Editions Gallimard and pursued her career in the cultural section of the French diplomatic network, in Romania and then in India. Based in Beijing since 2019, Judith Oriol is Cultural Attachée for Books and Debate of Ideas at the French Embassy in China.

Jean-Claude Mourlevat was born in Auvergne, France, in 1952. He started his career as an actor and stage director and debuted as a writer twenty years ago.
Since then he has written 17 novels—13 for young readers and 4 for adults—which were translated in 30 languages and collected over 100 literary prizes. His books have sold about 3 million copies over the world.
Among his most representative works are The Upside Down River, The Pull of the Ocean, and Winter’s End.
In 2021 he received the prestigious Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. His latest novel Oh
Happy Day (published in France by Fleuve Éditions) is co-written with Anne-Laure Bondoux.

A Jia is a writer, translator, researcher and advocate for reading programmes. He is the founder founder of Hongniba and anchor of the programme “A Jia Book” broadcasted on Himalaya. He serves as a judge of the National Library’s Wenjin Award. He has authored many reference books, including A Little History of Picture Book, 101 Books That Fascinate Children (co-author), The Strength of Childhood: Stories about Genius in 20th Century American Children’s Books (co-author). He also penned picture books including Nezha Conquers the Dragon King and Li Na: Be A Better You, among others. He has translated reference books like, Artist to Artist, Dear Genius, Show Me A Story and over 200 picture books.

Peter Sís is an internationally acclaimed illustrator, author, and filmmaker. He was born in Brno, Czechoslovakia, and attended the Academy of Applied Arts in Prague and the Royal College of Art in London. Sís’s books Starry Messenger: Galileo Galilei, Tibet Through the Red Box, and The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain were each named Caldecott Honor Books by the American Library Association. In addition, he has had eight books named to The New York Times Best Illustrated Book of the Year list.
In 2012 he won the Hans Christian Andersen Award for lifelong achievement, the highest international recognition given to an author and an illustrator of children's books. 
In recent years, Peter Sís has created iconic mosaics, posters, and tapestries for several institutions, including the New York Subway system and the American Civil Rights Museum and the Ellis Island Foundation.

Simon Boughton is Publishing Director of Norton Young Readers, the newly launched children’s and young adult imprint of W. W. Norton & Company. Previously, he held positions at the Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group, Random House Children’s Books, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, and Kingfisher Books. In 2000 he started Roaring Brook Press, where books he acquired, edited, and published included the Caldecott Medal winners My Friend Rabbit and The Man Who Walked Between the Towers, Caldecott Honor books by Lane Smith, Printz Medal and Honor books by Marcus Sedgwick, Newbery Honor and National Book Award finalists by Steve Sheinkin, and others. He oversaw the launch of the First Second graphic novel imprint and in 2009 was made Publishing Director of the newly created Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group, where he continued as Publisher of the Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers, First Second, and Roaring Brook Press imprints until leaving in 2017. Among the authors he is currently publishing at Norton Young Readers are Rex Ogle (Free Lunch), Jarrett and Jerome Pumphrey (The Old Truck), Peter Sís (Nicky & Vera), David Shannon (Mr. Nogginbody), Paula Yoo (From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry), and Shawn Harris (Doing Business).