WALTER FOCHESATO (President of the Jury)
An expert of children literature and history of illustration, he is the editor in chief of ANDERSEN la rivista e il premio dei libri per ragazzi. He is professor at the Department of Science Education of Università di Genova and History of Illustration at Accademia Belle Arti – Macerata. He is also teaching at the illustration master in Macerata (Ars in Fabula – Scuola di Illustrazione) and in Pavia (Professions and publishing products). He is the author of a large number of books and essays, has collaborated with newspapers and periodicals and worked in the organization of exhibitions and catalogs. He is also a member or president of various juries of literature and illustration awards.
PATRIZIA ZERBI (Carthusia Publisher)
Patrizia Zerbi studied at DAMS of Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna and in 1978 she founded Edizioni Fatatrac in Florence. Ten years later in Milan she established Carthusia Edizioni, publishing house for children and young people, entirely run by female staff. In the span of 30 years Carthusia has published more than 270 books. Patrizia aims to talk to children about topics that are widely considered complicated and thorny. She tries new forms of communication for the illustrated book starting from the conception and the excellent quality of the editorial project and relying on intense and appealing texts and illustrations. Her brave decisions made Carthusia a unique publishing house and led to the achievement of many awards and recognitions in Italy and abroad.
ELENA PASOLI (Bologna Children’s Book Fair)
Elena Pasoli was born in Bologna; graduated in Classical Literature, at the beginning of the 80s, she began her career as head of the press office of a trade association belonging to Confindustria. She then entered Bologna in 1987, where she appointed the Project Manager of the Bologna Children’s Book Fair. In addition to the Bologna exhibition, Elena will collaborate in the organization of the New York Rights Fair and the China Shanghai Children’s Book Fair (CCBF), both based in Bologna, with American and Chinese partners.
SARA WANG (Literary Agent)
Sara is the founder of “Niu Niu Culture”, international literary agency, and the Italian-Chinese Association for cultural publishing. In 2016 she collaborated with Bologna Children’s Book Fair to bring the exhibition of illustrators into the five most important cities in China.
EMANUELA BUSSOLATI (Illustrator)
Graduated as an architect, since 1974, Emanuela has pursued a career dedicated to children. She collaborates with international publishing houses as illustrator, scriptwriter and project manager for dedicated series and other publishing products. She is involved in many activities: among them a training course for teachers on the best deployment of books, especially for early childhood. She works with numerous NGOs, among which UNICEF. She received several awards, namely the White Raven in 2010, Andersen Award in 2013 as Complete Author and the Career Award in 2017 bestowed by the Associazione Autori di Immagini.
GABRIEL PACHECO (Illustrator)
He studied scenography at the Mexican Institute of Fine Arts and he has been working as an illustratore since 1998. His work was acclaimed in many international contests in Spain, Italy, France, Japan, the United Arab Emirates, South Korea, Germany and Mexico. He received several awards, among which the special mention in the category New Horizon of Bologna Ragazzi 2009 by the Bologna Children’s Book Fair. His books were part of the lists “White Ravens” of Munich Library, “Quorum” in Mexico and were also mentioned in the catalogue “50 books/50 covers” of the AIGA | the professional association for design and in the selection of the Book Bank in Venezuela. He has been involved in the development of workshops around Europe. He is currently a member of the National System of Arts Creators in Mexico.
MARTA PANTALEO (Illustrator)
She is the winner of the SBC in 2016 with “Goodbye toys”. Marta was born in Rome, where she lives and works. Since 2016 she has been working as a freelance illustrator in the field of publishing for children, newspapers and international magazines (DeAgostini, Donna Moderna, The New York Times, La Repubblica, La Stampa, Il Corriere della Sera and many more). She was exhibited at Nami International Illustration Concours 2017 in South Korea. Her illustrations were also selected for the 60th exhibition of the Society of Illustrators in New York.
