Shining at the forefront of the 2025 China Shanghai International Children's Book Fair (CCBF), the Spotlight on New Books platform has captured global attention as 270 new children's titles from 14 countries made their debut in Shanghai.

The platform not only reflects rising international confidence in CCBF as a launchpad for new works, but also underscores Shanghai's growing status as a global hub for children's publishing.

Since its founding, CCBF has distinguished itself through the scale and ambition of its programming. This year's edition welcomed 474 exhibitors representing 35 countries and regions and introduced more than 20,000 new titles to professional audiences and families.

Concluding on Sunday, the fair facilitated nearly 1,000 copyright cooperation intentions, recorded approximately 15 million yuan in book sales, and generated close to 2 million yuan from cultural and creative products and derivatives.

Over its three-day run, the event attracted 42,387 visitors, including 15,765 professionals from the publishing, education, and cultural sectors. A total of 322 professional events, new book launches, and reading-promotion activities were held in collaboration with cultural venues across the city.

Within this global setting, the Italian National Pavilion stood out as one of the fair's most dynamic presences. Bringing together twelve publishers across illustration, picture books, fiction, and cross-media storytelling, the pavilion also hosted a well-attended illustration showcase featuring works selected for the Bologna Children's Book Fair Illustrators Exhibition's 60th-anniversary global touring edition.

Fourteen Italian illustrators are represented, offering visitors a glimpse into the artistry shaping contemporary European visual culture. The tri-lingual "New Italian Books" interactive zone, presenting 180 curated Italian children's titles with full rights information, further positions the pavilion as a gateway for international exchange.

"Being here gives you the possibility to meet in person, which is priceless," said Francesca Marastoni from Reggio Children. "The connection with Chinese educators and publishers is truly enriching and positive."

Amid the fair's rich international participation, two renowned creators – Belgian picture-book author-illustrator Leo Timmers and American illustrator-author Steven Guarnaccia – drew particular attention. Both serve on this year's Golden Pinwheel Young Illustrators Competition jury, and both arrived in Shanghai with a mix of professional purpose and creative curiosity, offering a personal lens on the global dialogue unfolding at the fair.

For Leo Timmers, whose books have been translated into more than forty languages, the experience has been both humbling and exhilarating.

His newest title, Kiki and Me, launched in China just as the fair opened, and the response moved him deeply: a casual signing session quickly grew into a long queue of eager families, many parents sharing how much his playful, visually driven stories mean to their children.

"As an author, that's the most beautiful thing you can hear," Timmers said, touched by the warmth of Chinese readers. While he doesn't fully understand the universal appeal of his work, he suspects that the emphasis on visual storytelling – often with minimal text – plays a key role.

Having just completed his latest book, he has not begun a new project, but he senses that the impressions of Shanghai – its energy, people, and cultural dynamism – may seed his next story once he is home.

Meanwhile, Steven Guarnaccia, long a prominent figure in international children's publishing and professor emeritus at Parsons School of Design, is visiting Shanghai for the first time.

Though deeply involved for years with the Bologna Children's Book Fair, he finds the Shanghai experience "extremely exciting" – a chance to meet familiar colleagues in a new cultural and urban context.

Guarnaccia's title, The Museum of Nothing, which introduces children to the abstract idea of "nothingness" through imaginative museum galleries, is launching globally, with its French edition released this month.

He believes his stories find cross-cultural resonance because they begin with personal authenticity: "The personal is what's most universal. If you make something for yourself, you guarantee that others who have lived or felt similarly will connect with it."

A humorous encounter with a long-time admirer – who recognized him solely by the distinctive trousers he wears each year in Bologna – has already sparked an unexpected idea for a new book.

Perhaps, he mused, the protagonist might be "a sad, plain pair of pants dreaming of becoming fancy pants," a character born from the serendipitous whimsy that events like CCBF uniquely inspire.

Their stories, and the creative sparks they illustrate, capture the essence of the Shanghai Children's Book Fair itself: a place where global imagination meets, where readers connect with creators, where professionals collaborate across cultures, and where new stories emerge from encounters that could happen nowhere else.