Mario Balcázar

He is a graphic designer with a Master’s degree in Editorial Design from Universidad Anáhuac México, and has completed additional studies in design, typography, and publishing at Stanford University and Type Cooper. In 1999, he founded ilustresDiseño, a studio specialized in branding, editorial, and advertising design. Eight years later, the studio evolved into MBA Estudio de Diseño, where he has developed projects for clients such as Walmart, Petco, Infonavit, and Alsea, expanding his expertise to digital design and information architecture. Currently, he divides his time between MBA Estudio and teaching editorial design, typography, calligraphy, and branding at Universidad Anáhuac. He also specializes in executive leadership at IPADE and MIT. His projects often integrate lettering, editorial design, branding, photography, and writing, particularly in design and management topics. He is the co-author of the book “Gestión del Diseño”, published by Universidad Anáhuac, and has contributed to online platforms such as Foroalfa and Paredro.

Mónica Bergna

Born in Mexico City in 1962, she has dedicated over 25 years to researching and creating children’s and young adult literature. She has worked at Ekaré Editions and Ediciones Tecolote. In 2017, she founded her own publishing house, Alboroto Ediciones, which in 2020 was awarded the BOP (Best Publisher of the Year) prize at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair.

Books published by Alboroto under her direction have received international recognition and multiple awards. In 2021, the book Niños received the Poetry Mention at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, and in 2022, El Bolso was awarded the New Horizons Prize at Bologna.

She has served as a juror for various national and international competitions, including the Bologna Illustration Prize and the Ibero-American Illustration Award, among others. She currently resides in Mexico.

Elena Pasoli

Elena Pasoli is Director of the Culture Business Unit at BolognaFiere and Director of the Bologna Children’s Book Fair (BCBF). She is a member of the Executive Committee of the Italian section of IBBY – the International Board on Books for Young People, and of the Advisory Board of PublisHer – Women in Publishing network.

In recent years, her work has focused on the international development of the Fair, leading it to become co-organizer of the China Shanghai International Children’s Book Fair (CCBF). She also curates the annual Bologna Grand Tour initiative around the world and numerous children’s book and illustration exhibitions in more than 40 countries.

Thanks to this activity, aimed at connecting book industries, cultures, and heritage, Elena received the Eric Carle Honor in 2018 in the Bridge category.

Before her current role, she served as Events Manager at BolognaFiere and headed the Communications Department of the University of Bologna Foundation. She holds a degree in Classical Literature.

Other activities involving the participant:

What if we don’t talk about it? Censorship, silences, and tensions in children’s literature

Carolina Ballester

Carolina Ballester was born in Paris in 1982.
She graduated in Chinese and Arabic from the National Institute of Oriental Languages ​​and Cultures in Paris. In 2005, she moved to Spain and earned a degree in political science from the Complutense University of Madrid and a postgraduate degree in international affairs from the Center for International Studies at the University of Barcelona.
In 2011, Carolina settled in China to assume responsibility for the cultural promotion service at the Consulate of Spain in Shanghai. In 2013, she joined the organizing committee of the Shanghai Children's Book Fair (CCBF), now co-organized with the Bologna Children's Book Fair, where she directed the fair's international programming for a decade. In September 2022, she was appointed executive director of IBBY (International Board on Books for Young People), based in Basel, Switzerland, where she coordinates the activities of the organization's 86 sections.

Marisol Schulz Manaut

Marisol Schulz Manaut is an editor, commentator, speaker, cultural journalist, and expert in the literary and publishing world. She has received multiple recognitions for her work promoting reading and advocating for the future of books and the Spanish language.

For the past twelve years, she has served as the director of the Guadalajara International Book Fair, considered the most important Spanish-language book fair and one of the most significant in the world. Under her leadership, FIL Guadalajara has received several awards, including the prestigious Princess of Asturias Award in the area of Communication and Humanities, shared with the Hay Festival; the Order of Rio Branco from Brazil; and recently, the Sor Juana Medal, a recognition granted by the Universidad del Claustro de Sor Juana in Mexico.

She also directs the Los Angeles Spanish Language Book Fair and Literary Festival, an ambitious program aimed at promoting books and reading in Spanish in the United States, founded in 2011.

For over four decades, Marisol Schulz has focused on the book and reading sector, leading editorial areas in various public and private organizations, such as the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and the Center for Research and Higher Studies in Social Anthropology (CIESAS). She was the editorial director at Plaza y Janés Mexico and spent 17 years at Grupo Santillana, first as executive editor and later as director of the Taurus and Alfaguara imprints in Mexico. She was responsible for the edition of major Ibero-American writers such as Carlos Fuentes, Mario Vargas Llosa, José Saramago, Arturo Pérez Reverte, Elena Poniatowska, Augusto Monterroso, Sergio Ramírez, Carmen Boullosa, Alberto Ruy Sánchez, and Xavier Velasco, among others.

In 2013, the Mexican edition of Forbes recognized her as one of the 50 most powerful women in Mexico. In 2016 and 2020, the magazine Quién named her one of the "50 people who move Mexico." In 2021, she received the National Juan Pablos Award for Editorial Merit, a recognition granted annually by the Mexican Chamber of the Publishing Industry (Cámara Nacional de la Industria Editorial Mexicana).

Other activities involving the participant:

Indigenous Literature Award 2025
Diana Moreno Toscano Latin American Young Poetry Prize 2025
Acknowledgments and closing
The privilege of turning off the light
The universal humanist
Opening Ceremony
Inter-American Publishers Group Award

Araya Goitia

Araya Goitia Leizaola (Caracas, 1990) studied Literature at the Central University of Venezuela and trained in mediation programs at the Banco del Libro. She has lived in Venezuela, Mexico, and Spain, collaborating on various projects for community reading and mediator training, including the Bibliotecas del Estado Miranda network, Fundación Fuller, LeerLees, IBBY México, Pez Linterna, and Asociación ¡Álbum! Since 2008, she has worked as an editor and rights coordinator for Ediciones Ekaré. Among the books she has edited are Los carpinchos by Alfredo Soderguit (White Ravens, NYPL Best Spanish-Language Children’s Books), La cerca by Alfredo Soderguit and Mariale Ariceta (Los Mejores del Banco del Libro), El berrinche de Moctezuma by Nuria Gómez Benet and Santiago Solís Montes de Oca (IBBY Honour List, Fundación Cuatrogatos Award), Arroz con leche by Paula Ortiz (Linternas y Bosques Selection), and the Biblioteca Ekaré Grandes Clásicos project, among others.

Fernando Diego García

Buenos Aires, 1960. He holds a degree in History and lived in Germany between 1993 and 2001, where he pursued doctoral studies in History and Political Science at the University of Heidelberg. In 1996, he began his career as an independent editor with the preparation of three volumes of illustrated biographies on major historical figures of Latin America. In 2001, he settled in Barcelona and, in 2004, together with Sebastián García Schnetzer, founded Libros del Zorro Rojo, a publishing house specializing in illustrated editions for readers of all ages. Just seven years later, in 2011, Spain’s Ministry of Culture awarded him the National Prize for the Best Cultural Publishing Work, and in 2015, the Bologna Children’s Book Fair recognized the company as Best European Publisher of Books for Children and Young People. He is currently the director of Libros del Zorro Rojo, whose main office is in Barcelona and which also has branches in Buenos Aires and Mexico.

Dolores Prades

Dolores Prades is a founding partner and director of the Instituto Emília, and publisher of Revista Emília and Cuadernos Emília. She holds a PhD in Economic History from USP and is a specialist in children's and young adult literature from the Autonomous University of Barcelona. She is also the director of the Emília Training Laboratory.

She served as curator and coordinator of the seminars Conversas ao Pé da Página (2011–2015) and Arte, Palavra e Leitura (2018, 2019, and 2020); as coordinator in Brazil for the Latin American and Caribbean Chair of Reading and Writing; and as a guest professor in the Master's program at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. She was also curator of FLUPP Parque (2014 and 2015).

Dolores was a member of the jury for the Hans Christian Andersen Award (2016), the Bologna Children’s Book Fair Award (2016), and the Chen Bochui Children’s Literature Award (2019). Since 2018, she has been a consultant for the Bologna Children’s Book Fair for Latin America and works in editorial consulting and fields related to reading and reader education. She is also a translator, researcher, and writer in the field of books and reading.

Other activities involving the participant:

Artistic creation and at-risk childhoods

José Diego González

José Diego González M. currently serves as the Technical Director of the Editorial Ecosystem area at Cerlalc, where he has been working since 2023. He holds a Master’s degree in Publishing from Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona and a degree in Literature from the University of the Andes, Bogotá. He is a cultural manager, editor, and researcher specializing in the study of the publishing market. Since 2020, he has represented Cerlalc on the Governing Board of the International ISBN Agency.

Other activities involving the participant:

Ethics, transparency, and oversight in the use of AI
Are generative artificial intelligences tools or competition for creative individuals?

Jacqueline Woodson

Jacqueline Woodson is an American writer of books for adults, children, and adolescents. She is best known for her National Book Award-Winning memoir Brown Girl Dreaming. In language as light as air, she tells stories of resounding richness and depth. Woodson was awarded the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award in 2018 and the Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 2020. 

Elena Pasoli

Elena Pasoli is Director of the Culture Business Unit at BolognaFiere and Director of the Bologna Children’s Book Fair (BCBF). She is a member of the Executive Committee of the Italian section of IBBY – the International Board on Books for Young People, and of the Advisory Board of PublisHer – Women in Publishing network.

In recent years, her work has focused on the international development of the Fair, leading it to become co-organizer of the China Shanghai International Children’s Book Fair (CCBF). She also curates the annual Bologna Grand Tour initiative around the world and numerous children’s book and illustration exhibitions in more than 40 countries.

Thanks to this activity, aimed at connecting book industries, cultures, and heritage, Elena received the Eric Carle Honor in 2018 in the Bridge category.

Before her current role, she served as Events Manager at BolognaFiere and headed the Communications Department of the University of Bologna Foundation. She holds a degree in Classical Literature.

Other activities involving the participant:

Inauguration

Sergio Ruzzier

Born and raised in Milan, just a few steps from the little Church of the Lizards, Sergio Ruzzier is a self-taught artist who began publishing his first comic strips in the early 1990s. He later moved to New York, where he established himself as an illustrator, collaborating with numerous publications including The New Yorker, The New York Times, and Blab!. Over time, he devoted himself more and more exclusively to creating picture books for both children and adults. In 2011, he was ed by Maurice Sendak for the Sendak Fellowship. Among his works published in Spanish are Dos ratones (A Buen Paso), ¡Qué libro más tonto!, and the Fox and Chick comic series (Liana Editorial).

Ivan Canu

Graduated in Literature History of Theatre in Florence, Italy, Ivan Canu works in Milan as critic, author, project designer and illustrator. From 2009 he’s the director of Mimaster Illustrazione school and one of the curators of The Illustrators Survival Corner for BCBF. His books are published in Italy, France, Japan, China, Korea. He’s an international recognized and awarded illustrator, worldwide represented by Salzman International. He is the author of the podcast The World of Tolkien (Storytel, 2019). He wrote, designed, and illustrated God Save The Queen (Centauria, 2023) and his last book A Brief History of K-pop (Salani, 2024).

Pablo de la Vega

Pablo has over two decades of experience in the publishing industry. He spent eight years in the commercial department of the Guadalajara International Book Fair, where he was responsible for planning and managing programs dedicated to the internationalization of the Spanish-language publishing market. In 2011, he moved to New York City, joining Lectorum Publications, the largest Spanish-language book distributor in the United States, and Indent Literary Agency, where he established their children’s books division.

Currently, he owns his own literary agency, Base Tres, representing Latin American publishers and authors for global markets, and publishers from around the world for Latin American markets. Pablo holds a Law degree and a Master’s in Cultural Management from the University of Rome, and he has been a speaker at numerous conferences worldwide as well as a teacher and workshop leader at national and international institutions, including CERLALC.

Vivian Lavín

(Santiago de Chile, 1967) is a journalist with extensive experience in the cultural field. Since 2001, she has hosted the radio program Vuelan las Plumas on Radio Universidad de Chile. She is the author of three books of interviews with Chilean and Latin American writers and intellectuals, and co-author of the illustrated book on botany Viaje Natural. An Encounter Between Art and Science (VLP Ediciones, 2021). In Spain, she published the essay Pisaremos las calles nuevamente (Cuatro Lunas, 2023), based on the testimonies of three former political prisoners from the Chilean dictatorship.

In 2018, she founded the literary agency VLP Agency, representing authors and publishers from Latin America and Spain, becoming a pioneer in the internationalization of Chilean books in the Asia-Pacific region, with a focus on Korea and China. She is a member of the Observatory of Books and Reading and served as president of the Society of Literary Rights (SADEL) from 2021 to 2025.

She has been recognized by the Society of Chilean Writers, the Chilean Book Chamber, awarded the Journalistic Excellence Prize for Pobre el que no cambia de mirada, and the Alejandro Silva de la Fuente Prize from the Chilean Academy of Language, among other distinctions.

Other activities involving the participant:

Latin America Viva
Are generative artificial intelligences tools or competition for creative individuals?

Óscar Díaz

Industrial designer and social innovation manager, recognized in Latin America for his leadership in accessible and sensory publishing. Founder and CEO of DADO Diseño para Todos, a pioneering company in universal design and sensory accessibility, where he has promoted a new approach to reading and inclusive communication. His work combines design, pedagogy, and technology to create tactile books, multisensory editions, and accessible communication strategies that foster cultural equity.

He graduated in Industrial Design from the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (2007), with a specialization in Design and Product Management for Export (2010) and a master’s degree in Disability and Social Inclusion from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia (2012). His training is complemented with certifications in LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® (2023), leadership (Universidad de los Andes, 2014), and woodworking (Escuela Santo Domingo, 2024).

Under his direction, DADO Editorial Sensorial has gained international recognition for its multisensory approach to accessible content production, establishing itself as a benchmark in Colombia, Mexico, and Spain. He has participated as a speaker and workshop facilitator at universities and book fairs across the region, promoting a vision where editorial design becomes a tool for social transformation.

His awards and recognitions include: ABC Accessible Books Award 2025, Lápiz de Acero 2023 (Editorial and Inclusion category), and Ibero-American Design Biennial 2022 (Design and Language, Madrid). He was also a ed investor on Shark Tank Colombia (2023) and a finalist for the INNOVA Award (2014).

His work demonstrates that accessible publishing not only translates formats but expands the right to read, feel, and participate on equal terms.

Diana Gutiérrez de la Torre

Born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, she studied Design for Graphic Communication at the University of Guadalajara and earned a Master’s in Communication Sciences at the University of São Paulo, Brazil, specializing in the editing and production of Braille books. She is a writer, editor, designer, and translator of books.

Currently, she develops projects, workshops, and publications related to inclusion and accessibility.

She delivers lectures, workshops, and training for children, youth, and adults on Braille books and accessible editions at universities, government institutions, libraries, and book fairs across the country.

She was part of the FIL Guadalajara Committee for five editions and worked for six years as Manager of the Carlos Fuentes Bookstore at the University of Guadalajara, coordinating various bookstore operations including event programs, warehouse, sales floor, branches, website, marketing, gallery, outreach, design, stand operations, and participation in book fairs.

Catalina Holguín

Catalina Holguín. After completing her undergraduate and master’s degrees in English Literature at McGill University (Canada), she worked for five years at the National Library of Colombia as an editor for the Digital Library. Since 2014, she has served as director and co-founder of Mákina Editorial, a company specializing in the production and distribution of digital publications. Its flagship product is MakeMake (www.makemake.com.co), a reading platform for schools and libraries. She is also a professor and researcher in the Master’s in Publishing Studies at the Instituto Caro y Cuervo and the author of the novel La memoria de las piedras, published by Random House at the end of 2024.

MakeMake is a digital library representing nearly 80 Latin American publishers and offers its services through a subscription model for schools and libraries in Latin America and the United States. Its collection includes picture books, comics, novels, and interactive books, a format that combines read-aloud narration, animation, and interactive elements.

Other activities involving the participant:

Creating for childhood: audiobooks and the promise of a new audience

René López

René López Villamar (Mexico City, 1979) studied Electronic Engineering and Hispanic Literature. With 25 years of experience, he works as an editor and consultant in the field of new technologies, particularly in e-books, audiobooks, reading promotion, and online marketing for the publishing industry. He is currently the Editorial Manager for Latin America at Storyside, a company that is part of the Storytel Group.

Elena Bazán

A professional in the Spanish-language print and digital publishing industry with extensive experience in the creation, management, and distribution of electronic and audio content. She has collaborated with various companies and publishers in Mexico, Spain, Germany, and China. Elena is an editor, speaker, and educator on topics related to the digital publishing industry, and serves as co-academic director of the Master’s in Publishing and Digital Marketing at Escuela de Unidad Editorial (Esue) and the University of Alcalá de Henares.

She creates books in all formats for all audiences and is currently the Head of Publishing Production at Editorial Audiolibre. Elena is also the author of El acto de nombrar (Penguin Random House), Manual de escritura competitiva (Penguin Random House), and various articles on publishing-related topics.

Other activities involving the participant:

Latin America Viva
Opening Talk