The Author Café stage at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair is packed. There is standing room only.
Publishers, authors, and illustrators are gathered here to learn how inspiring children’s books can help achieve a sustainable future. The session was organized by UN Publications, the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, and the International Publishers Association.
As part of the Department of Global Communications, the mandate of UN Publications is to raise awareness of UN priorities. What better way to achieve this than among people who decide what bedtime stories you read with your kids or during your commute to work?
The global publishing industry has been a big supporter of the Sustainable Development Goals. Over 350 publishers have already joined the SDG Publishers Compact. Additionally, in collaboration with key organizations, UN Publications has launched the global SDG Book Club, aimed at encouraging children to interact with the principles of the SDGs and take action in their communities.
Collaborating once again post-COVID on programming for the largest book fairs in the world has presented a unique opportunity for UN Publications to reach new audiences who might have never heard about the work of the Organization.
The Frankfurt Book Fair reserved a session slot last October to invite authors from around the world to read their most-valued article from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and describe what it means to them and their personal experience (watch event here). The event humanized important but often abstract concepts, receiving considerable praise and shares on social media. The series continued during the London Book Fair in March and in Bologna in April.
Back to our audience at the “Reading for a healthy planet” event, Zoologist Ferdinando Boero was able to engage every listener through a simple but powerful message: “Emotion is not awareness…It's fine to excite children with stories about pandas, dolphins, bunnies, and kittens, but we need to move from emotion to awareness, this is the challenge […]."
"You can't protect what you don't know,” he said.
We couldn’t agree more -- with awareness and knowledge of our world, children will be inspired to protect the animals and plants around them.
More about the event from Deutsche Welle (minute 46).
