Bologna Oh Bologna Notes #17 – The 4 day Fair

Bologna Oh Bologna Notes #17 – The 4 day Fair

Did I tell you that the place was really big? :) People said it’s “small” compared to Frankfurt, but still it’s big. And my bad sense of direction didn’t help. The map that I printed from the internet helped … a little bit.

During the 4 day fair, I said hi to the people that I have known before but had never met. There were the Paka people from Hongkong.  I did some script writing for their animation children DVDs (Patrick and friends) a few years back. Check one of their sites here: http://www.patricknfriends.com/

There were the Sterling people from India who bought the rights of my books (Shirley and Wooly) in the past. Check out Shirley on their website: http://www.sterlingpublishers.com/p/productdetail&product=96064574497&cat=2294665708

 And of course I met a lot of new friends. Three gentlemen from Saudi Arabia who came twice to our booth to look at I Love you mom; a very nice couple from Navneet India who also came twice to look at Financial Intelligence for Kids; a gentleman from Dreamland who came in the morning when I was alone in the booth setting up the laptop. He picked up a copy of Amazing Stories to Read and Read and Read; a professor from Australia who thought that both human interactions and communications are very important and are diminishing because of the electronic devices. He then came up with a touch board that can be used in a classroom setting so that students can have both technology and human interactions as well in the classroom and several others whom I need to follow up by sending a few pdfs of my books later. Hopefully one of those leads will result in my books being forwarded to children in other countries.

Chris Lie (if you don’t know who Chris Lie is, you better google Chris Lie Caravan) was our speaker for the first day. He talked about artist management and the ins and outs of his studio. I talked on the second day. My talk was to showcase the books we have as a colorful country. Clara Ng talked on the third day regarding the characteristics of good children books and Sweta Kartika (if you don’t know him, you better google him as well) talked on the fourth day about how Indonesian folk lore influences our comic industry.

On the third day, we had a special performance by Chris Lie and Sweta. Both took an hour to draw on our walls. It was really amazing to see them work, transforming a blank wall into something awesome. People stopped by to see them work. Some even sat on the ground (in the middle of the walkway) to watch them.

Overall, the fair was a fruitful one. I got to see that out there, the world of children book is much much bigger than I thought. I have known that being a children book writer means that you can be anyone, you can do anything, you can be anywhere and you can even time travel. But over there, there is so much more than that. You know that even when you don’t fit into several boxes, there are still endless boxes out there waiting for you to try. (And if still there is no box to fit you, that means, you don’t need a box at all :)) I saw that there are countless ways to be anyone, myriad ways to do anything, endless ways to be anywhere and anytime. It’s a total freedom of expression.

But after four days, I really really missed home. So even though it was a fabulous fair and it felt good to be among so many colorful books (check out my Bologna Children’s Book Fair photo album and also my Bologna city album!) and among so many book loving individuals, four days were enough. And despite the fact that I hate long flights, I looked forward to my flight home.

I personally thank all of my fellow Indonesian companions at the fair, my family away from home: Bu Lucya and Bu Greti from IKAPI and Komite Nasional, thank you for your guidance and for letting me come to such a wonderful place so I can see and feel new things. Laura and Pieter from tim panitia and Kesaint Blanc, I wouldn’t know what to do without you two. Thank you for taking care of all of us. Laura, you are such a wonderful and capable lady! Ira from Pesona edu, thank you for sharing the chats during such a long flight and the pizzas, too :)  You did a wonderful job at the Digital Café! Mbak Yuliani, Mbak Di and Mbak Anna from Mizan, thank you for the laughs in the booth and also waktu ngantri toilet. Ngantri toilet yang panjang kayak di Dufan jadi nggak terasa ya, Mbak Anna! haha :). Clara, my fellow writer. It was not the first time we spoke in the same event and I sure hope it won’t be the last time. Chris Lie and Sweta, two very talented young men. Indonesia could use more dedicated young men like you! Thanks for the windy trip to the city. Thank you all for sharing the eye opening and heart warming trip with me.

Arleen