BOOM! Growing Up with Books

Bologna: World Capital of Children's Books

For a few weeks every spring, Bologna becomes the international capital of children's literature and illustration. BOOM! Growing Up with Books is the festival that brings a packed schedule of exhibitions, meetings, workshops, reading marathons, performances, and study days dedicated to books, illustration, and comics for children and young people to the entire city and its metropolitan area.

The festival was born in close connection with the Bologna Children's Book Fair, the most important global fair for children's publishing, which attracts publishers, illustrators, agents, and professionals from around the world to Bologna every year. While the fair takes place in the BolognaFiere exhibition halls and is reserved for industry professionals, BOOM! is its city-wide, open-to-all projection: it brings the best of the contemporary scene to squares, libraries, museums, and galleries, making accessible to the general public what happens in the professional spaces of the fair.

A City-Wide Program

The heart of the festival is its widespread nature: events take place in libraries, bookstores, schools, museums, theaters, cinemas, galleries, and institutional and independent cultural spaces in Bologna. Among the historic and museum venues involved are the Salaborsa Library, the MAMbo - Museum of Modern Art of Bologna, the Archiginnasio Library, Palazzo Pepoli, the Arena del Sole, and the Testoni Theatre, as well as spaces at the Academy of Fine Arts.

• Exhibitions: dozens of exhibitions dedicated to masters of illustration, contemporary authors, and guest countries.
• Reading Marathons: long collective sessions in city libraries centered around a character or author.
• Meetings with authors and illustrators, both Italian and international.
• Workshops for children, families, and schools.
• BOOM! at School: an extensive section involving over a hundred local classes with author encounters.

Promoters and Curation

BOOM! Growing Up with Books is promoted by the Municipality of Bologna and BolognaFiere, and curated by the Library Sector of the Municipality together with the cultural association Hamelin, as part of the Bologna Reading Pact. The festival is an integral part of Bologna's vocation as a UNESCO Creative City of Music and a city deeply connected to the culture of books and reading.

Why It's Worth Experiencing

For lovers of illustrated books, comics, and children's literature, BOOM! is a unique opportunity: the best of world illustration is concentrated in a few square kilometers, with the chance to meet authors in person, visit exhibitions that are otherwise impossible to find, and participate in workshops. And it's almost entirely free: a festival designed for families, schools, and enthusiasts of all ages who want to rediscover the pleasure of growing up—and staying—with books, in the heart of the Province of Bologna and the Emilia-Romagna region.