The train to Hangzhou

After the book fair ended on Sunday, Yaxi and I hopped on a bullet train to head to Hangzhou (pronounced Hang(soft "a")•JOE) where she secured me an invitation to talk to students at the College of Art and Communication at China Jiliang University. I was thrilled to be able to try out one of these trains that I'd heard so much about! What I wasn't expecting is that we would have our own car, just like in Harry Potter with bunk beds and everything!They were quite comfortable with down pillows and throw blankets. While the view before we left was like this...once we got moving, it was too dark to see anything, so I took a nap.And dang! Give me a train to sleep on everyday! It was AWESOME!
     They put me up in a Doubletree by Marriott (totally nice and a very good choice in China!), which had lovely fish in the foyer...
and a heck of a view from my room.Wish I could have stayed there longer!

To read about my journey in order, follow these links:
01 - Shanghai!
02 - A Mall and Grocery Store
03 - Custom Dress
04 - The Long Museum
05 - The Quay on the Yangtze?
06 - Old City of Shanghai at Huangpu District
07 - Old Shanghai
08 - Dumplings for lunch!
09 - Yu Garden
10 - Storyland
11 - Hot Pot at Cloud Nice Shopping Mall Changning Branch
12 - The China Shanghai International Children's Book Fair
13 - Art Exhibitions at the China Shanghai International Children's Book Fair
14 - Workshop: Gel Printing
15 - The train to Hangzhou
16 - Speaking at China Jiliang University
17 - Hangzhou - Our personal fall-apart party
18 - The Teahouse Garden in Hangzhou
19 - China wrap-up

Workshop: Gel Printing

I was thrilled that Yaxi and I were able to take part in the Gel Printing workshop offered in the Illustrators Survival Corner. I've been wanting to play with this method since first hearing about it. Gel printing is really just mono-printing (meaning you only get one go at any given piece); however, because you're using a gel surface to apply your paint and whatever else, it's especially forgiving. And no, it's not edible, Yaxi! LOL!We were given a quick tutorial, plus supplies and paint.The outcomes were really quite wonderful, especially as folks realized what they could experiment with.
We were given newspapers to clean our brayers, but I actually liked some of the images in the paper, so tore them out to create collages with my gel printing. You lay the paint down first, so it held the collage items in place. The images plus a length of thread (intended to be used to bind our artwork into small zines) gave me some outcomes that I liked so much, I might frame them! (Mine are the bottom four on the right.)One of my trials didn't match the others, so I gave it to the son of one of the participants—they were both tickled silly and wanted photos.It's so funny how these things just grow and turn into special new things!

To read about my journey in order, follow these links:
01 - Shanghai!
02 - A Mall and Grocery Store
03 - Custom Dress
04 - The Long Museum
05 - The Quay on the Yangtze?
06 - Old City of Shanghai at Huangpu District
07 - Old Shanghai
08 - Dumplings for lunch!
09 - Yu Garden
10 - Storyland
11 - Hot Pot at Cloud Nice Shopping Mall Changning Branch
12 - The China Shanghai International Children's Book Fair
13 - Art Exhibitions at the China Shanghai International Children's Book Fair
14 - Workshop: Gel Printing
15 - The train to Hangzhou
16 - Speaking at China Jiliang University
17 - Hangzhou - Our personal fall-apart party
18 - The Teahouse Garden in Hangzhou
19 - China wrap-up

Art Exhibitions at the China Shanghai International Children's Book Fair

There were several illustration exhibitions taking place during the Fair. The first was the Golden Pinwheel Young Illustrators Competition exhibition.Three samples from each illustrator lined this exhibit that was open to the public without having to go into the fair. Here were just a few of my faves:
Gui Huilin from China

Jiomo from China

Natalia Shaloshvili from the UK

Varsam Kurnia from Indonesia

Zhang Yue from China

The lineup of judges was also pretty spectacular. Go HERE to see more artwork - they're truly worth your time!


There was also the Feng Zikai Chinese Children's Book Award show. It was harder to take good photos of these because of the glare on the glass.But each of these pieces was accompanied by the book the artwork was from, which was nice to see.

One other display wasn't exactly an art show, but was rather a presentation of this year's theme books: nonfiction. They were divided into interesting categories such as Inventories, Words and Languages, The Senses, etc. I thought the category labeled "Alice" was especially clever.

To read about my journey in order, follow these links:
01 - Shanghai!
02 - A Mall and Grocery Store
03 - Custom Dress
04 - The Long Museum
05 - The Quay on the Yangtze?
06 - Old City of Shanghai at Huangpu District
07 - Old Shanghai
08 - Dumplings for lunch!
09 - Yu Garden
10 - Storyland
11 - Hot Pot at Cloud Nice Shopping Mall Changning Branch
12 - The China Shanghai International Children's Book Fair
13 - Art Exhibitions at the China Shanghai International Children's Book Fair
14 - Workshop: Gel Printing
15 - The train to Hangzhou
16 - Speaking at China Jiliang University
17 - Hangzhou - Our personal fall-apart party
18 - The Teahouse Garden in Hangzhou
19 - China wrap-up

The China Shanghai International Children's Book Fair

We finally reach the entire reason for my visit - The China Shanghai International Children's Book Fair!The Fair in Shanghai was shaped on the model of the Bologna Children's Book Fair. In fact, founders of the Illustrators Survival Corner in Italy, Ivan Canu and Giacomo Benelli, were in Shanghai, where I had the pleasure of talking with them.
      The Chinese version of the Book Fair occupied one enormous conference hall space (rather than the several halls that make up the Bologna Book Fair). The space was divided into two sections—the larger section was made up of booths representing various Asian publishers who were there to both represent their houses and their publications, but also to simply sell books to an excited public!



Many attendees arrived with rolling suitcases oftentimes with a built-in seat for their child, because many of the activities of the day were planned around the children. For instance, I loved this print demonstration that I stumbled across.
Beyond a barrier with checkpoints was a completely different experience—this area also had booths representing various publishers from around the world, but was for publishing professionals to make rights deals, attend industry talks (with translator devices available for non-Chinese speakers), or share portfolios. It was also home to the Illustrators Survival Corner, the Masterclass space, Workshop space, and the Official Conference Room (also a space for talks).



Devices were shared for those who didn't speak Chinese to listen in to translators deciphering what was being said. There were also several podcast booths throughout the fair to share the goings on with the larger public. I attended the first day of the Fair on my own and ended up speaking to several budding illustrators, offering on-the-fly portfolio reviews, and handing out brochures. A highlight was having lunch with Tomi Ungerer’s (creator of the classic UK picture book The Three Robbers) daughter Aria, who handles his estate. We got along famously well.To honor Tomi, the Fair hosted a drawing wall for illustrators and children to share to their heart's content.I contributed a reading fairy. However, it was when Yaxi joined me the following two days that we really hit our stride. Yaxi initiated conversations in Chinese with all of those 100 featured illustrators at their individual tables (it took the better part of two days!). The Chinese take their education very seriously and many already had MFAs from prestigious universities from around the world. I was feeling very positive about the interest we were receiving and the reach we achieved.
      What helped the most though, was meeting Ivan and Giacomo and the manager of the Chinese Illustrators Survival Corner. They really opened up the doors for us to share our brochures and information with budding illustrators. In fact, we even discussed the possibility of me giving portfolio reviews in Italy in April! (Fingers crossed!) Meanwhile, Shushu joined us on the third day, along with Zoe, a fellow author of an article for the special edition of The Journal of Children’s Literature in Education on Board Books, edited by Clementine Beauvais (54, pages 376–394 (2023)) that just came out (my article is titled "Board Books are for Babies, or Are They? The Art of Board Books and the Question of Intended Audience"). You can read more about that HERE. China seems to be very much about who you know, and once you're in, you're in like flynn; so by the end of day three, I had lined up several more potential lecturing opportunities if I return to the book fair next year. We'll see if this becomes a repeat visit!
     Thank you to everyone for putting on such a great book fair!
     But wait! There was more!!!

To read about my journey in order, follow these links:
01 - Shanghai!
02 - A Mall and Grocery Store
03 - Custom Dress
04 - The Long Museum
05 - The Quay on the Yangtze?
06 - Old City of Shanghai at Huangpu District
07 - Old Shanghai
08 - Dumplings for lunch!
09 - Yu Garden
10 - Storyland
11 - Hot Pot at Cloud Nice Shopping Mall Changning Branch
12 - The China Shanghai International Children's Book Fair
13 - Art Exhibitions at the China Shanghai International Children's Book Fair
14 - Workshop: Gel Printing
15 - The train to Hangzhou
16 - Speaking at China Jiliang University
17 - Hangzhou - Our personal fall-apart party
18 - The Teahouse Garden in Hangzhou
19 - China wrap-up

Academic Article Announcement!

I'm thrilled to share that my article, Board Books are for Babies, or Are They? The Art of Board Books and the Question of Intended Audience has just been released in the special edition of The Journal of Children's Literature in Education on Baby Books (54, pages 376–394 (2023)), edited by Clementine Beauvais. Here's my abstract:

Within the medium of picturebooks is a category specifically targeted to the very youngest “readers”—board books. They are designed primarily for babies, infants, and toddlers, a preliterate audience from newborn to 3-years-old. And while board books are still technically picturebooks, their design and construction follows a different set of parameters from older picturebooks. The one thing they do share with their older siblings is that they are typically purchased by adults for child “readers,” a paradox that raises complicated questions about the actual intended audience of board books. Furthemore, while board books “help infants learn to recognize familiar objects and to develop basic concepts related to people, animals, possessions, familiar events, and daily routines” (Hughes-Hassell in Inside board books: representations of people of color. The Library Quarterly, The University of Chicago Press Journals, Chicago, 2010), there is a new trend in board books of older books adapted into the board book medium, or for educational, politically driven topics obviously not intended for child readers at all. With sales of board books increasing in recent years (Harbison in Category snapshot: the benefits of the board book boom. Publishers Weekly. https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-industry-news/article/81736-category-snapshot-the-benefits-of-theboard-book-boom.html, 2019) it leaves one to wonder who are board books really for and what do these “readers” really want from them? This paper examines this new trend and what it says about the medium, from the perspective of a picturebook and board book creator as well as from an academic viewpoint.

Go HERE to see the other excellent articles and read the entire edition.

Hot Pot at Cloud Nice Shopping Mall Changning Branch

Unlike in the USA, the shopping malls in China are going STRONG! And Shushu, who teaches at Normal University, invests in restaurants on the side, as you do!(?) She's pretty amazing! Her first one was a tea house in Glasgow that did very well. Here she is in front of the Cloud Nice Shopping Mall (love this photo!).Her latest investment is a Hot Pot restaurant in the mall. The first time we visited was the night before it officially opened. They were doing a dry run and we got to benefit!If you're not familiar with Hot Pot, there's a cooking eye inset into the middle of a large table where a tasty broth is brought to a boil. As it heats up, waiters bring you all the individual items you order to go into the pot. It ends up being a LOT of food, and Shushu positively spoiled us!We had shrimp.And oysters. (It was almost a shame to cook those gorgeous oysters!)And octopus.You add things to the broth as you're interested in eating them. Here, she's pulling out chrysanthemum leaves (I think that's right).We actually went back a second night and met up with friends from the Book Fair and Shushu's boyfriend and a fellow investor. Here are some of us.Again, we went all out. This meal also included scallops, tripe, mushrooms, and seaweed. It all goes into the pot! But my fave were the dragonfruit/shrimp stars - so yummy! (the pink/purple items in the photos). Shushu ordered extra just for me - so nice! I am a hot pot fan and I think the restaurant is going to be a HIT!

To read about my journey in order, follow these links:
01 - Shanghai!
02 - A Mall and Grocery Store
03 - Custom Dress
04 - The Long Museum
05 - The Quay on the Yangtze?
06 - Old City of Shanghai at Huangpu District
07 - Old Shanghai
08 - Dumplings for lunch!
09 - Yu Garden
10 - Storyland
11 - Hot Pot at Cloud Nice Shopping Mall Changning Branch
12 - The China Shanghai International Children's Book Fair
13 - Art Exhibitions at the China Shanghai International Children's Book Fair
14 - Workshop: Gel Printing
15 - The train to Hangzhou
16 - Speaking at China Jiliang University
17 - Hangzhou - Our personal fall-apart party
18 - The Teahouse Garden in Hangzhou
19 - China wrap-up