Photo:Xinhua

The 2019 China Shanghai International Children's Book Fair (CCBF) will kick off on November 15, promoting international exchange and copyright business in the largest and fastest-growing segment of China's book market.

The three-day event, which will take place at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Convention Center, will cover an extended display area of 25,000 square meters and exhibit more than 60,000 of the latest children's titles, about one-third of which will be foreign ones.

The Chinese version of Zgubiona Dusza (The Lost Soul), the only picture book of Polish Nobel laureate Olga Tokarczuk, will make its debut at the book fair.

The fair is expected to attract 40,000 visitors and bring together more than 400 exhibitors from more than 30 countries and regions, including publishing houses, distributors, toymakers and training agencies.

"China has witnessed an increasing demand for imported high-quality children's books," said Xu Jiong, head of the Municipal Press and Publication Administration, who also noted that Shanghai is aiming at becoming a hub of international cooperation and copyright businesses for children's books.

The children's books market has become the power engine of China's publishing industry, with sales accounting for 24.5 percent of total market sales, according to a research institute jointly founded by Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com and Beijing-based book industry researcher OpenBook.

Launched in 2013, the 2019 CCBF is co-organized by a joint venture of the Italian-based BolognaFiere and the Shanghai Xinhua Distribution Group.