The world’s largest illustration and children’s book fair, Bologna Children’s Book Fair (BCBF), will open its 55th edition online from June 14th to 17th. BCBF has recently announced 77 winners of the 2021 Illustrators Exhibition, eight of whom are from Taiwan. The Taiwan Creative Content Agency (TAICCA) will partner with the animation industry to produce short animations for selected works of the Taiwanese winners to showcase their works at the online exhibition.

The eight winners include CHANG Hsiao-Chi (張筱琦), HUANG Yu-Chen (阿文), HSUEH Hui-Yin (薛慧瑩), HUANG Yi-Wen (黃一文), CHO Pei-Hsin (卓霈欣), CHEN Wei-Hsuan (陳瑋璿), CHEN Yi-Chin (陳怡今), and DAI Wei-Chun. Of the winners, Sleepwalking, illustrated by HSUEH Hui-Yin, is also selected by TAICCA’s Books from Taiwan initiative.

TAICCA Chairperson TING Hsiao-Ching congratulated the eight winners and applauded their unique styles. “Taiwanese illustrations have garnered international attention recently and showcased our strong creative energy,” said TING. “TAICCA utilizes its publishing and IP copyrights marketing assistance programs to expand international distribution channels and networks for Taiwanese works. We hope to promote Taiwan’s children’s and picture books to the global market and shaped Taiwan’s cultural brand.”

As the world’s largest illustration and children’s book fair, the BCBF is also a professional copyrights exchange platform for the picture book and children’s book industry. To promote the best of Taiwanese content, TAICCA will plan a “BCBF Cross-medium Marketing Project,” one of the agency’s initiatives to promote “one-source-multi-use” of originals IPs, to produce short animations for the eight winning illustrators to demonstrate the different aspects of illustration storytelling. TAICCA will also promote Taiwanese illustrations and children’s books IPs with online catalogs and video highlights on the virtual Taiwan Pavilion.

Established in 1976, the BCBF has developed into an exhibition and competition of global importance, encouraging up-and-coming illustrators to participate in the international market. A total of 3,235 creators from 68 countries entered this year’s illustrator exhibition and were judged by an international jury from the UK, the US, Germany, Italy, and Japan. BCBF first announced the 226 shortlisted illustrators, 24 of whom represented Taiwan (highest record for Taiwan). The winning illustrators were announced the following day with eight Taiwanese illustrators selected. All selected works will be included in the illustration yearbook.

TAICCA will continue to promote and matchmake international publishers with Taiwanese publishing IPs through the Books from Taiwan Initiative (BFT). BFT’s mission is to assist international copyright sales for various types of text and imagery creators. BFT will also be working with TAICCA School to host a “Publishing Agents and Copyright Talent Training Camp” to cultivate copyright agents and expand international networking opportunities in hopes of shaping Taiwan’s diverse publishing industry and cultural brand.

• The Bologna Children’s Book Fair 2021 Winning Illustrators: http://www.bolognachildrensbookfair.com/en/highlights/illustrators/the-illustrators-exhibition/2021-winning-illustrators/10631.html?fbclid=IwAR01d8kGSxi7N3uuFSfBbRXBV-Lyb8gtR1mtsbcnKYis6RDQCVsHvLkNVdg