The Bologna adventure
BCBF 2023: From a nightmarish start to a happy ending
It’s April Fools’ Day, perfect time to finally tell the incredible story of my visit to Bologna children’s book fair, BCBF 2023.
Preparing for the fair
As most of my fellow illustrators I was preparing for this event months in advance; I made sure I book the accommodations and my train ticket early, I finished my book dummy in time for the fair, ordered the printed materials and made a list of all the travel essentials.
I decided to order 100 Moo postcards, with three different cover images (beautiful finish and vivid colours) together with cute little stickers I intended to exchange with other illustrators. I ordered my business cards at Saxoprint, they weren’t as vibrant but still a decent result for the much lower price - I got 500, intending to distribute them everywhere so I made little card holders to attach to the illustrators wall together with some A4 posters.
I joined an illustrators WhatsApp chat group where newbies and seasoned Bologna visitors shared advice on what to prepare for the trip. Some had beautiful portfolio books printed and others decided to carry around an iPad with several pdf versions of the portfolio to show to different editors of different book genres plus a simple printed version of portfolio and book dummies in case the technology lets you down. I chose the second option - I packed everything into my brand new Cabaïa backpack and was looking forward to my “workation”, meeting fellow illustrators from
and many others I’ve gotten to know online over the years.Unpromising start
On day one, March 6th, I took the early morning train from Lausanne and arrived in Bologna around 11 AM. My apparement was on the opposite side of town so I decided to go straight to the fair, wheeling my suitcase with me. I checked the bus routes and sat on what seemed to be the right number bus but after a few stops I realised I was travelling in the wrong direction - the app I had downloaded to find my way around public transportation wasn’t much help. When I looked back up from my phone, a terrifying realisation came over me: my backpack that had been safely (or so I thought) lodged between my feet, was now gone - there was a gaping hole under the bench that I hadn’t noticed before and somebody must have snatched it from behind. The bus was crowded, people all around me had their noses in their phones and nobody saw anything - it had been several minutes since I was last aware of the bag and the thieves were probably long gone…
A couple of hours later, after recovering from the initial shock and reporting the theft to the police I finally made it to the fair. But what was I doing there? My Bologna bag was gone, my iPad, most of my printed material, sketchbook, journal… all gone.
Rescue
The Illoguild family came to the rescue! They met me at the entrance (I still had the e-ticket on my phone, also none of the important documents were in the stolen bag), this was our very first meeting in person after we started our online critique group two years ago but it immediately felt as if we’d known each other forever. I was offered a hug, a drink, a sandwich, a charger for my phone, and a spare iPad to show my portfolio on (the files were still on my cloud) 🥰.
There were even some spare postcards and business cards in my suitcase so I had something to leave with the editors and agents I met. I didn’t have my business card holders and there was no time to make new ones so I just left a bunch of cards at the foot of the illustrators wall and renewed them daily - I was happy to see they got picked up.
Can you spot my yellow business cards at the foot of the wall? And there’s Jen Gubicza, Rose Lihou and Katie Stack checking the thousands of artists postcards (with my remaining piece of luggage in the foreground)
An international bunch of illustrators - we met in various MATS courses and on Instagram but this was our first IRL meet!
Celebrations
After this exhausting first day the Illoguild went back into town for dinner and a glass of chianti - my misadventure aside there was much to celebrate, we’ve had several books published this past year and other picture book deals in the works, some even got to be presented at the fair and it was a real privilege to witness that success:
Rose Lihou’s debut author/illustrator series Tiny Dogs, flashing on the big screen at Penguin Random House, Jen Jamieson posing with recently published book she illustrated for Hachette and Carla Hoffenberg (sitting) at the Australian publishers’ stand, showcasing her illustrated books and portfolio. That Monday was also the day I received news from my agent Lane Clarke that my book, Goodbye House, was now officially on submission with the publishers. Cheers!
It took me a while to fall asleep that first night but after the ordeal with the backpack it felt comforting to be staying at a cozy Airbnb apartment I shared with a friend rather than being alone in a cold, generic hotel room…
The fair
By day 2 it was time to get serious; I had some portfolio reviews scheduled with editors and so many stands still to visit and things to see. Publishers will often announce portfolio reviews weeks in advance for illustrators to book a 5 minute slot or just put a sign up at the fair - lines for those can go on for several hours. I was lucky to book two reviews in advance and get a couple impromptu ones as well. I also distributed as many cards as I could to other publishers’ stands, most were very happy to take a card.
I visited some talks and exhibitions around the pavilions, there were also many interesting workshops but I was too late to sign up for those, the places were gone in minutes. As a rule it is best to be at the fair as early as possible each morning to be able to sign up for various activities and reviews, but simply soaking up the atmosphere, browsing the book shelves and chatting with fellow artists was already worth the visit.
Last day
After spending three days at the fair, most of us just wanted to relax and sit in the sun so on Thursday we stayed in town and the Illoguild met for a farewell lunch 😊.
Left to right: Jen Jamieson, Katie Stack, Jen Gubicza, Rose Lihou, Carla Hoffenberg, Damjana Loddelina
On the train back home I kept thinking of my backpack, trying to remember all of my precious belongings that were stolen. There wasn’t much hope of ever seeing them again - I had bought a new sketchbook earlier that day so I decided to at least sketch the contents of the bag from memory.
I was glad to be home again (and so was my dog Lisa who didn’t leave my side all evening).
A surprising turn of events
In the following days I organised my notes from Bologna, evaluated the files that I’d lost (I’m not very good at backing up regularly…), ordered a new iPad and started a brand new journal, determined to leave that part of Bologna adventure behind forever.
Then, out of the blue, I got a message from Greta, an Italian illustrator, who reached out to me through Instagram. I was shocked to learn that Greta’s mother, who works at the city of Bologna’s bureau of lost and found, had my backpack, and even more amazingly, the iPad was still inside! And so was most of my stuff with my name and contact information printed on hundreds of business cards which made it easy for Greta to track me down. The thieves that grabbed by backpack must have quickly rummaged through, taken some smaller items and left the rest behind on the bus where somebody else picked it up and took it to lost and found!
After a couple of Google translated emails back and forth and with the help of my lovely Airbnb host who made a few phone calls on my behalf, the bureau proposed I could have the bag sent to me by a special courrier service that deals with shipping of lost and found objects.
Last Tuesday the bag was finally shipped to France and on Thursday it was delivered to my door, well protected and wrapped with care. Inside was everything as I had packed it weeks ago, minus my external memory disk (mostly lesson materials and files from MATS courses), a power bank battery and a chunky necklace my friend had given me for good luck at the fair (at least I still have a picture of it). I’m sad that the necklace got stolen but perhaps it did bring me luck - it got back most of my belongings when I hadn’t really hoped to see any of them ever again!
All in all it was an adventure with a very happy end. I know this report leaves out plenty of details from Bologna Children’s Book Fair so if you want to read more about it, including tips and recaps from fellow Illoguilders, please check out their entries (below).
Take care of your backpacks when you travel, backup your files regularly and I’ll see you in Bologna next year!
x Damjana
All is well that ends well —what an adventure 😅