Students in the Children’s Literature Master’s Programs at Simmons visited the 2025 Bologna Book Fair, held from March 31 to April 3 in Bologna, Italy.
Evgenia Mantikas ’25MFA, Julie Bowden ’25MFA/MA, and Marta Rivas ’26MFA attended with Professor and Graduate Program Director Cathryn Mercier and Assistant Teaching Professor Shelley Isaacson, who guided them through the event and facilitated connections with industry leaders.
“I set the students up with children's book publishers so they could 'shadow' the publishers in their international rights discussions,” said Mercier. The students followed Karen Boss ’95 ’13MA, Senior Editor at Charlesbridge, and Neal Porter, children's book editor and founder of Neal Porter Books, an imprint of Holiday House, as they met with publishers to determine if they wanted to secure rights to publish international books in the US or to purchase the rights to publish books from other countries in the US.
“The entire fair was a treasure trove of creation, and we got to see that process in action by shadowing Neal Porter and Karen Boss,” said Mantikas. “I fangirled hard. They were so generous with their time and introduced us to professionals in the field. Everyone knew [about] Simmons University!”
Bowden recalled a panel (presentations were offered in English, Italian, or both) about writing children’s books with social justice themes that she found particularly moving. “[There were] several Ukrainians who are writing for children living through the war,” said Bowden.
Highlights from the Bologna Children’s Book Fair
For Rivas, “the Bologna Children's Book Fair was so remarkable, the Italian food wasn't even one of the top five highlights.” She shared these experiences:
- Reading over 25 international examples of silent (i.e., wordless) books in a conference display.
- Listening to panel conversations about nonfiction books, constructions of masculinity and boy readers, and translating books into English.
- Meeting the 2024 Hans Christian Andersen Award winner Sydney Smith and his editor Neal Porter at a display of Smith's picturebook art.
- Pouring over thousands of gorgeous and fascinating images in books and on walls.
- Having dinner with Pirita Tolvanen of Finland who spent her Fulbright semester at Simmons at an innovative vegan restaurant — imagine lilac gnocchi.
- Hanging out with fantastic Simmons friends, talking about stories, art, and our favorite gelato joints.
“My favorite part was wandering the aisles of book booths from all over the world and getting a feel for what other cultures are producing,” said Bowden. Mantikas’ favorite exhibit was the Chinese Excellence in Children's Illustration.
“The artwork was breathtaking,” said Mantikas. “I walked through the exhibit at least twice a day, and every time, I discovered something new.”
Exposure to the plethora of art and literature from around the globe allowed the students to reflect on what is published in the US.
“We all came home with extra books in our suitcases that we couldn’t imagine being printed in the US, either because of design or subject matter,” said Bowden. “And it was really interesting hearing the American editors talking with international agents or publishers about what would or wouldn’t work in the US market right now. It was so great just taking in all the illustrations in the exhibits and in the books we picked up and thumbed through.”
This year marks the 60th year of the Bologna Ragazzi Prize. Mercier has been invited to serve as a panelist on two of the awards, the Bologna Ragazzi Prizes, and will be back in Bologna in February of 2026 to review thousands of books with two other international judges.