Beijing International Book Fair 2018: BIBF highlights children's literature

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02:32

Children's literature also is a major focus of this year's Beijing International Book Fair which kicked off Wednesday. A dedicated Children's Book Fair is running concurrently with BIBF, aiming to showcase the latest children's publications by world publishers.

The idea for the Beijing International Children's Book Fair came from the growing success of the children's hall and rights trading section, which has always been the most active area of the Beijing International Book Fair.

This year, the children's book fair runs as a kind of in-fair festival.

The children's fair has a new type of cross-media professional exhibition at the Children's Publishing Zone. Major children's publishers from China and abroad showcase their products, from animation and comics, to education to digital publications.

And it is not just about showcasing children's books. Chinese author Cao Wenxuan believes the fair can cultivate more writers.

Cao, who is known for his works of children's literature and winning the Hans Christian Andersen Award, shared his experience in becoming a writer.

CAO WENXUAN AUTHOR "I grew up in a poor village and I didn't have too many choices. Many would say you should get used to the place where you lived, but I didn't bend to it. Then what came to my mind was literature -- I thought writing could help change my fate, so I became a writer."

Cao attended the "Bronze Sunflower Award" ceremony at the fair. The award, established under the name of Cao's representative work "Bronze and Sunflower", recognizes children's literature works.

CAO WENXUAN AUTHOR "Originally they wanted to name the award after my name, but I didn't agree. Then we came to the idea to name it after my book. The award is divided between a novel award and a picture book award, with the purpose of finding excellent young authors and encouraging original new works."

Thanks to the children's book fair, more authors like Cao, are drawing attention.

The children's fair also has plans to push into other forms of children's entertainment.