So here we are! I am going to Bologna this year to attend the Children’s Book Fair for my first time!!!

I’m so excited and a bit afraid, it is the most important event concerning children book so I wonder if I will be overwhelmed by it. I read so much information around the internet (thanks to all the illustrators who shared their experience) but I think I will never be prepared enough!

So there is not so much to do than jump into it!

This week I prepared all my promotion material: business cards, post cards, little tiny zines with my works, poster for the Illustrator’s Wall and of course dummy books and my portfolio. I struggled about the portfolio’s format, in the beginning I thought to print my work in A3 format, but in the end I choose a more practical A4, that can easily fit in my backpack.

Still I have one dilemma: bring the original drawings or not? Yesterday I was framing and carefully packing them in a 60×40 cm folder, it is big! I imagined me going around the fair carrying this huge folder while all the experienced illustrator walk light with small cute portfolios or even just a tablet, and I saw it, that big arrow over my head saying “The Beginner”. Still I can not decide…

Here a picture of the small format material and a cute vintage sigarettes holder that I use to keep cards, isn’t it adorable?