Programme Overview

CCBF is a content-oriented platform, which puts knowledge exchange and discovery at the centre of its mission. In a period marred by change and uncertainties, knowledge exchange is more important than ever. It is the duty of all bookfairs to maintain any kind of activities that provide the most updated information to a professional community eager to learn and share in these difficult times, even though it cannot be physically brought together this time.

Publishers, writers, illustrators, educators, and children’s entertainment specialists visiting the Book fair will all find sessions that suit their needs. This year’s programme blends presential events with digital elements, which will ensure that voices from all over the world can be heard in Shanghai during CCBF. Some sessions will be broadcasted on the Fair’s social networks in the days following the closure of the fair.

Providing a compelling mix of academic expertise, business know-how and innovative thinking, the CCBF Conference Programme will offer CCBF visitors 10 highly engaging seminars on a wide variety of topics. The CCBF Conference will offer a chance to hear recognised figures like Shaun Tan (Greenaway Medal 2020), Albertine (2020 Hans Christian Andersen Award winner for illustration), Cao Wenxuan(2016 Hans Christian Andersen Award winner for writing), and Katherine Patterson (winner of the Hans Christian Andersen Award, the ALMA and two Newbery Medals). In a period of drastic changes like this one, it is of utmost importance to stay in touch with the latest business trends. Two sessions—Global Children's Publishing Market Analysis (Nielsen Book and OpenBook) and Publishing in Times of Pandemic—have been designed with this purpose. A panoramic seminar about toddlers’ books will include prestigious publisher Suzanne Carnell from Macmillan (Two Hoots) and first-class author Xavier Deneux. Other sessions will include discussions on non-fiction books, the relationship between education and reading, and how to approach difficult topics in books for children.

In addition to the Conference Programme, the Fair is maintaining most of its other events and programmes, such as the Golden Pinwheel Young Illustrators Competition, the Illustrators Survival Corner and the Chen Bochui International Children’s Literature Award.

This year, CCBF will feature two very special exhibitions. "Children Plus Toddlers’ Books" will showcase 140 original board books and activity books for children aged 0–3, brought from all around the world in partnership with the Bologna Children’s Book Fair. As 2020 also marks the 100th anniversary of Gianni Rodari’s birth, an illustration exhibition—"Italian Excellence: Illustrators for Gianni Rodari”—revisits the work of one of the most innovative literary voices of the last century through the wonderful illustrations of Italy’s best picture book artists.