1st childrens and young adults bookfair

1st Children's and Young Adults' Bookfair in Athens - the report

As promised, here is a post about the 1st Children's and Young Adults'

Bookfair at the Helexpo Palace in Athens. We had to set up the stands

(almost half the show actually) in only two days, facing some

difficulties (missing stuff, crews not working as they should), but

having great collaborators and co-workers, the impossible took place

and the show opened on time and looking great!

Above, you can see the stand the National Book Centre (EKEBI). It was

placed strategically at the entrance of the exhibition (which took the

space of a whole floor of the venue), welcoming the visitors with a

nice yellow paper bag filled with goodies.

Then it was on to the stand of The Hellenic Literary and Historical

Archive (ELIA), which housed a small sample of their huge collection

of old children's books, toys and accessories - oh the memories they

brought up!

Of course I'm only referring to other people's memories, I'm much too

young to remember all this stuff (not!)

Exactly opposite the previous stand, was a space dedicated to the two

Greek nominees for the Andersen Awards 2008, Voula Mastori (for

writing) and Vassilis Papatsarouchas (for illustration). I had the

honour of meeting Vassilis, he's an extraordinarily talented young man

and merits his own post (coming soon).

While the original drawings of Vassilis Papatsarouhas were exhibited

in this space, Voula Mastori was present to read her stories to lots

of children gathering to listen to her. Hence the colourful pillows

scattered on the floor.

Now I swear this was designed before Kylie released her In My Arms

video clip!

The Netherlands were the honoured country. That meant only one thing:

using lots of orange for the stand! And of course we could not have

missed tulips! We had many of them, both real (100 orange flowers

flown in from Holland especially for the show) and also on a big

poster on a wall in the middle of the stand, near the green patch:

To celebrate, we had some "Dutch Treats", as the Dutch called them:

original drawings from the most famous Dutch illustrators of

children's books. This small exhibition within an exhibition was a

feast for the eyes both of children and adults, with the works of Dick

Bruna taking centre-stage.

The Dick Bruna drawings - the bunny is Miffy, his most famous

character.

The Dutch Illustrators ("Dutch Treats") exhibition

There were of course more spaces designed especially for children

(it's a kid-oriented show after all!): an amphitheatre for

presentations of books, also the Children's Corner, which was a place

to play and read and listen to people reading books. It was decorated

with books hanging from the ceiling (remember the fish?) and fantastic

hats with books fixed on them!

This space incorporated a smaller amphitheatre and also had a fun

poll: why do children read books? Two separate polling stations were

prepared, one for children and one for kids, who voted by dropping a

small orange (what else?) ball inside the appropriate tube. Of course

children saw this as a game (and why not?) so the results were a bit,

er, "fixed", by children throwing the balls like playing basketball,

over and over again, into the tubes! Great fun!

Right next to this was the space dedicated to Museum of Greek

Children's Art, with lots of space for workshops for the kids. Of

course they loved to doodle with markers, crayons and coloured pencils

on paper or other materials, even the tables themselves!

My friend Enteka presented his new book here, but more for him on a

special post (soon!). Right next to it, there was a room dedicated,

tongue in cheek, to an imaginary writer: H.P. Lagavulin, thought to be

one of the best knows writers of children's fiction (a total fiction

in itself of course). The entrance to this teen-corner was a circle!

Many events took place in here too, one of the first having a great

lady telling a story to the kids, while making special sound effects

using water poured from a carafe to five glasses on top of a drum. The

children listened to her transfixed! The whole room was decorated with

thirteen illustrations (the years supposedly passed since his death),

made in honour of the non-existent writer H.P. Lagavulin by seven

Greek illustrators, while seven Greek writers wrote in his memory.

Another space was designed by the illustrator Antonis Aspromourgos,

consisting of four rooms, one after the other, each showcasing a

different art through books: theater, music, painting, sculpture. Each

had a different colour and soundtrack, giving children a unique

experience.

Many of the biggest Greek publishing houses had their own stands in

the exhibition, also organizing events and activities, one of them

being the Wandering Park: children carrying potted plants and banners,

protesting about greener cities, in an effort to make the children

more sensitive to environmental problems.

There were happy children faces (and parents too!) everywhere you

looked! I saw lot of visitors both times I was at the show during its

working hours, unofficial numbers are 100,000 visitors in four days,

which is an amazing feat! It is definitely a very optimistic sign

about children (and their parents) in Greece! I also had a great time

myself, meeting very talented and interesting people and also seeing

lots of friends visiting the show - let's do it again next year!

Posted by sandman_gr at 10:45 PM