PURSUING YOUNG READERS

Publishers ink deals at this year's Bologna Children's Book Fair to sell Chinese titles abroad, Mei Jia reports.

While translating a speech by the Chinese author Gerelchimeg Blackcrane during the 55th Bologna Children's Book Fair in Italy in March, Florence-based Jacopo Lasala choked up with tears, causing many audience members to also understand the emotions the writer was conveying through a story.

Blackcrane, who is from the ethnic Mongolian community in China, told the story So Round, So Red about a mother bear looking for a special fruit that would save her cub.