Taiwan illustrators in the spotlight at Bologna Children's Book Fair

Taipei, March 7 (CNA) Taiwan has sent its largest-ever delegation of publishers and had several local works selected for prestigious exhibits at the 2023 Bologna Children's Book Festival (BCBF), an annual children's publishing event that opened on Monday.

In a press release issued Tuesday, the Taiwan Creative Content Agency (TAICCA) said the Taiwan Pavilion at this year's fair featured 48 local publishers -- an increase of 40 percent over last year -- and 238 publications.

Taiwanese illustrators were also selected for inclusion in some of the festival's premier international exhibits, according to TAICCA.

This year, three Taiwanese -- Pan Hsin-ping (潘心屏), Chen Wei-hsuan (陳瑋璿) and Huang Liang-hsin (黃亮昕) -- were among 80 artists selected from a field of over 4,000 to have their works displayed by the Illustrators Exhibition, which bills itself as the "Oscars" of the illustration industry, TAICCA said.

Meanwhile, Taiwanese illustrator Sun Jun (孫俊) won the fair's BRAW Comics for Early Readers award, while five other Taiwan-published books were chosen for the BRAW Amazing Bookshelf, which is exhibited both in a central showcase and online, TAICCA said.

The books are: "Let's Pretend We're Fish" by Bei-Lynn (林小杯); "Hide & Seek: The Search for the Clouded Leopard" by Page Tsou (鄒駿昇); "Somewhere" by Egretllu (于小鷺); "Still Young Still New" by Higo Wu (海狗房東) and Chen Pei-hsiu (陳沛珛); and "Unexpected" by Yang Yun-ping (楊雲萍) and Spring Wang (王春子).

According to the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, 1,456 publishers from 90 countries are participating in this year's fair, which runs from March 6-9.