After 2,856 km on the roads of Europe through Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia and Italy and finally, returning to Bulgaria, we could not get rid of the feeling of comparing the two worlds. We will avoid talking about highways and infrastructure, prices and quality, arable land and weeds, but we cannot help but make a comparison between what we call an “international book fair” and what an “international book fair” actually is.
Comparisons are often made between the “fair” in Bologna and the “fair” in the National Palace of Culture – Sofia. Often these reflections are the work of people who have never set foot on a large book forum like those in Bologna, Frankfurt, Leipzig, London or New York.
Here are the 10 main differences:
Bologna
- Tickets! Yes, the price to walk between the stands for four days is €90, for two – €67, and for one – €37. That is, there are no random people there, there are only publishers, writers, illustrators and people who work in the book industry.
- Exhibition. Perhaps one of the main mistakes is in the translation. Fair in this case is not a “fair”, but an “exhibition”. Books are exhibited here to be seen by colleagues in the business.
- NO book sales!
- Copyright. This is one of the goals of this forum. Publishers from half the world offer the copyrights of their books to the other half of the world, while the latter try to sell their books to the former. Yes, it's a mess, but the negotiations for some editions are really serious.
- Interviews with illustrators. The other main goal of the fair is to introduce publishers and illustrators. As we said in one of our previous materials, it's not easy, but it's part of the experience.
- The authors. Along with the publishers and illustrators, there are also the authors who offer their finished books. Don't think that publishers are "trembling" about such projects, but there is interest and the conversation is relevant.
- Bologna Children's Book Fair works with more than one or two other forums that also play a very important role in the world of books. Among them are IBBY, New York Times, BIB, as well as other fairs such as the one in Shanghai and Seoul.
- The awards. They are really many and they are Top of the Top. We will only mention the Hans Christian Andersen award, Astrid Lindgren award, Bologna Ragazzi award, ARS IN FABULA Grant Award, International Bologna Children’s Bookfair Illustration Award – Fundacion SM, BOP – Bologna Prize for the Best Children’s Publishers of the Year, etc.
- International publishers. We will not compare numbers, but perhaps the countries that are not represented can be counted on the fingers. They are in Bologna not only with their national stands, but also with their own spaces. You can read our entire material here.
- Exhibition. The goals, values and functions of this exhibition do not even touch what is happening at the National Palace of Culture. Exhibitions, conversations, presentations, comparisons, conferences, journalists…
Sofia
- There are no tickets, the entrance is free. That is, anyone who decides can enter as many times as they want. Especially in winter, when it is warm inside and you can chat with people.
- A fair. Goods are bought and sold here - in this case, books.
- Every interested reader buys a book for themselves, for friends and relatives, for a Christmas gift. The discounts are great, 20% VAT has been removed, so the alash-veris is in full swing. Both sellers and buyers are happy.
- At the market in Sofia, such topics are discussed between publishers only during coffee and when they are stuck on the escalator, or getting lost in the corridors.
- Have you ever tried to introduce yourself to a publisher during the fair in Sofia?! I have. In the crowd in front of the stall, you hand over a business card, while the person opposite you gives change to a mother with two children with a coupon for the maximum discount, and on the other side a grandmother asks if the 5 leva books are from 3018, while an unsupervised kid is already putting stickers on the unpurchased book.
- Hmm, here I don't even know if the publishers are negotiating ready-made ideas or the reins are still so tight that such a thought doesn't even creep in. In principle, not at the fair...
- The Sofia International Literature Festival is definitely doing a lot to create a cultural and international program during the December editions of the fair, we have to admit that. Behind them is a large, hard-working team, but unfortunately the forum remains very local, although with participants from other countries.
- We may be wrong, but apart from the "Golden Lion", which is an award from the Bulgarian Book Award (the fair's organizer), there is probably no other award. If we are mistaken, we apologize in advance!
- Publishers from abroad are located on the right half-floor. We often meet countries like Turkey, Romania, Russia… about a dozen stands… they are not even listed on the ABK website.
- Market. The goal of the Sofia Book Fair is fundamentally different from the one in Bologna and other international fairs. It is more important to sell books, not to have exhibitions. The last thing I heard was “You are always doing something here, how do we know what it is this time?”
We ourselves realize that the two universes are incomparable. That is why we are sincerely surprised when the Internet is flooded with philosophers who are indignant why “ours” is not like “theirs”. But with good will, a lot can be done. A real breakthrough was our “Millennium” exhibition last year, we can invite more representatives from other countries, invite people from the jury of international awards and other forums, work with them, even though we are not members of IBBY, international exhibitions, appearances, presentations, search for contacts and more representatives/agents for copyright. But is this the desire and goal of the Bulgarian Booksellers’ Association and Bulgarian traders? Or is the desire for market profit more important than our cultural values regarding the book? Or is Bologna simply an “exhibition” and Sofia a “market”?
On our Facebook page you can view the entire gallery with photos and a story from our trip. As well as the reports from the first, second and third days of the fair. What’s next? Frankfurt!
Text: Milena Radeva
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