At the Bologna Children’s Book Fair today, BolognaFiere, the organizer of the event as well as 75 other trade shows around the world, announced plans to start a new trade show focused on rights and licensing in New York City in spring 2018.

According to BolognaFiere, the aim of the show is to bring U.S. publishers and agents together with their global counterparts, while also attracting booksellers and librarians. The event is set to take place May 30-June 1 in a midtown Manhattan location, although not at the Javits Center, the usual site of BookExpo and BookCon.

“BolognaFiere is dedicated to fostering cross-cultural cooperation and international trade among publishers,” said Franco Boni, president of BolognaFiere. “With the debut of this new trade show, BolognaFiere extends its reach to cultivate new relationships and global business alliances among publishers.” The fair will include both adult and children's titles with a focus on comics and manga, said Marco Momoli, commercial director of BolognaFiere. The idea of the new event, which will be named soon, is to give an opportunity for smaller publishers to exhibit, Momoli said. The average booth space will be 2 x 2 meters, with the total show floor at 6,-7,000 meters – though the first year will likely be only 2,000 meters, he added.

Among BolognaFiere’s American partners are Publishers Weekly and the Combined Book Exhibit. PW has worked with Bologna for the last several years to create the Global Kids Connect conference. The third GKC meeting will take place December 4. The conference planned for 2018 will be moved in 2018 to coincide with the new trade show.

Combined Book Exhibit and its sister company the American Collective Stand have been attending international book fairs for almost 85 years, organizing exhibits and displays at major events to help publishers and agents enter new markets easily.

The new event will also benefit from the cooperation with PubMatch, the leading online rights platform, which is a joint venture of PW and CBE. Additionally, The Children’s Book Council has agreed to participate in the new show with promotion, content development and related events.

This article has been updated to include reporting from the Bologna press conference from Ed Nawotka.