The importance of the fair and the title of Guest of Honour at the Bologna Book Fair

The role of Guest of Honour in Bologna will significantly strengthen the international potential of Slovenian children's books and Slovenian illustration in particular, promote translations of Slovenian children's and young people's books, highlight the visibility of Slovenian authors and strengthen the role of illustration. The country's appearance as Guest of Honour is a unique opportunity to focus attention on our national production and the rich creativity and tradition in the field of children's and young people's books, not just anywhere, but in the context of an international fair that enjoys a constant and high reputation and attention from the publishing and book trade as well as the media industry.

Bologna 2024 objectives

Slovenia's participation as Guest of Honour at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair aims to pursue and achieve the following objectives:

- To present current Slovenian creativity in the field of children's and young people's literature, both in terms of publishing, authors and the rich Slovenian illustrative scene.

- To encourage more translations of Slovenian children's and young people's books into (major) foreign languages.

- Encourage Slovenian publishing houses to increase their revenues from copyright sales and strengthen their international presence.

- To link the project in a meaningful way with Slovenia's appearance as Guest of Honour in Frankfurt 2023 and to build on a common goal - reputation and visibility.

- To present Slovenian books and authors to a wider Italian and international audience (with a focus on Bologna and the surrounding area).

ŠČŽ

The logo was created by Polonca Strman and it consists of three letters, specific for Slavic alphabets, which clearly and playfully communicate the theme of the Bologna project: books. The letters chosen are not only a symbol of the Slavic world, but also a universal and primary communication tool that children acquire even before they learn to pronounce whole words. The unique illustrations accompanying the letters help children recognize how those letters should be pronounced: ššššššš (“sh”, as in shush) is for when silence is requested, čččččččč (“ch”, as in chair) recalls the sound of a rumbling train, žžžžžž (the second “g” in garage) is like the buzz of bees in a hive.

The latest catalogue of Slovenian authors for children and young people can be found here.