The Far North and Comics
A journey through children’s and pre‑teen literature
On the occasion of BOOM! Crescere nei libri – the festival promoted by the City of Bologna for the Bologna Children’s Book Fair – CUBO presents two events dedicated to those who see reading as a vital tool for the personal and social growth of young people. The focus is on two areas that stand out in today’s best publishing: Northern literature and comics.
These encounters explore how stories from the Great North and the language of comics can open new worlds, nurture imagination, and offer young readers fresh ways of understanding themselves and the society around them.
In collaboration with Hamelin.
Under the Sign of Pippi: A New Way of Telling Childhood from the Great North
- Saturday 11 April 2026 at 10:00 - 12:00
One of the most significant developments in children’s literature over the past decade has been the massive arrival of stories from Northern Europe—works that, for various reasons, had long remained little known or rarely translated. These novels and picture books profoundly reshape the way we imagine childhood and the way we speak to children. It’s a shift with major impact, opening up surprising new horizons on many levels. The aim of this event is to introduce the authors and works that today carry forward the great Nordic tradition of creative freedom, of which Pippi Calzelunghe remains an immortal icon.
With Our Feet Planted on the Clouds: The Boom of Graphic Novels for Children and Preteens
- Saturday 18 April 2026 at 10:00 - 12:00
The most striking change in contemporary children’s publishing is the powerful rise of the graphic novel - often of remarkable quality, yet not always easy for adults to understand -which has now joined the long‑standing passion for manga (and, more recently, Korean manhwa) among young readers. The aim of this second event is to offer an overview of the major editorial and linguistic shifts taking place internationally, weaving together current research with what we learn every day from direct experience.
