Born in 1986, Keita Hasegawa spent 12 years of his career as a children's books editor at POPLAR Publishing, recognized with the Bologna Prize for Best Children’s Publishers of the Year 2024. Currently, he has been with the OTT platform U-NEXT for 2 years. U-NEXT stands out as a hybrid platform offering not just video subscriptions but also an e-book store, making it a uniquely comprehensive service. Within U-NEXT, there is U-NEXT Publishing, dedicated to original comics and novels in both digital and print formats. Keita oversees the family and children's genres and drives the development of original content across video and publishing mediums.

Drawing on his experience from traditional publishing, Keita aims to forge a new publishing ecosystem stemming from digital platforms.

He finds great in exchanging ideas with publishing professionals from various countries, participating alongside international events like those in Frankfurt and Seoul. Keita is passionate about introducing more foreign children's books, particularly from non-English speaking countries, to Japanese readers. Additionally, he strives to create opportunities for Japanese children's books to gain recognition abroad.

The Old Lion Publishing House founded in Lviv, Ukraine, as a traditional publisher of children’s literature. Now The Old Lion stands for a wide range of books aimed at readers aged 0 to adults, including children's literature, poetry, novels, comics. It publishes nearly 120 titles per year, both of Ukrainian authors and translated literature. More than 60% of our list are children’s titles and almost 70% of our catalogue are translations. The Old Lion is one of the of the largest publishing houses of Ukraine, which has also gained recognition in the international publishing arena. And in 2023 The Old Lion became the European winner at the BOP⁠—Bologna Prize for the Best Children’s Publishers of the Year⁠.

Olha has been working at The Old Lion since 2017. She joined the rights team as a grant manager and successfully worked (and still combines these duties with others) on grant projects. Thanks to her successful applications, The Old Lion has received grants from Creative Europe twice. Later, Olha became responsible for the purchase of rights and now supervises this direction. She constantly attends international book fairs and fellowships. She was a participant of fellowships in Helsinki, Gothenburg, Lillehammer, Frankfurt, Istanbul, residence in Dublin, etc. Since 2023, Olha heads Rights Department.

The publishing house Aukso žuvys was founded 2010 in Vilnius, Lithuania. It is medium size independent publisher in Lithuania with focus on history, mythology, politics and culture. “Aukso žuvys” publishes around 12-15 titles yearly: fiction, nonfiction, comics and picture books. Publisher is known for a good content and creative design highly appreciated by readers, literature critics and the culture experts. “Aukso žuvys" is cooperating with the best Lithuanian authors, illustrators, translators, designers to create books. Also, a publisher is expanding in translations from different languages: Portugues, Spanish, Ukrainian, German, Polish and so on. 

Sigita Pūkienė is a publisher, founder and director of the Aukso žuvys publishing house in Vilnius, Lithuania from 2010. Sigita is a curious, open, constantly improving and learning publisher. She is interested in publishing innovations and is happy to share them not only with the colleagues of her publishing house, but also with those from other publishing houses. Sigita is a visiting lector, so she is sharing her publisher’s expertise with students of publishing field, history and philology sciences. Sigita Pūkienė was a member of the board of Lithuanian Publishers Association for 3 years, she works in various initiative groups of publishers, and is a member of the organizing committee of the International Vilnius Book Fair. She was one of the founders and organizers of children literature festival “Children book island” in Vilnius for 2 years. Sigita’s one of the favorite hobbies is discovering creative ideas during the work travels and transforming them to interesting books.

Volt Children’s Books, an imprint of Q Publishers based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, is part of the larger Singel Uitgeverijen company, which includes renowned publishers such as Querido, De Geus, De Arbeiderspers, and Nijgh en Van Ditmar.

Jolijn Swager, a children’s book editor, was tasked five years ago with establishing this new imprint, Volt. Since then, she has become a key figure in the Dutch children’s literature market. Volt specializes in publishing books for ages ranging from 0 to 20 years, encompassing both fiction and non-fiction. Their catalog features works by prominent Dutch authors like Fiep Westendorp and Tiny Fisscher, as well as numerous international authors including Jacqueline Woodson, Rachael Lippincott, Holly Jackson, Axel Scheffler, Zanib Mian, and Tove Jansson.

Adarna House began in 1980, when it was founded to respond to the need of Filipino children to develop their minds through enjoyable learning opportunities and memorable literary experiences. Today, this conversation includes a multitude of treasured partners who share its enthusiasm for children, its commitment to education, and its passion for all things Filipino. Currently, Adarna House publishes board books, picture books, big books, intermediate readers, young adult novels and curriculum materials. Adarna has two constant allies-- The Raya School, which offers progressive education from preschool to high school, and Adarna Group Foundation, Inc. (AGFI), which focuses on local government-based early literacy programs.

Working in Adarna since 1998, Ani Rosa Almario is its Vice-President for Product Development. She only took a break from supervising book development when she did her masters in Learning, Design and Technology at Stanford University. While at Adarna, she also finished a doctorate in Curriculum Studies at the University of the Philippines. Aside from her work in Adarna House, and her work as the School Director and Co-Founder of the Raya School, she is also the secretary-general of the Philippine Board on Books for Young People and External Vice-President of the Book Development Association of the Philippines. Currently she is also busy being part of the core committee organizing the Philippines’ effort as Guest of Honour at the 2025 Frankfurt Buchmesse.

Tate Publishing brings the best new writing on art and the highest quality reproductions to the widest possible range of readers.
From luxurious exhibition books and monographs produced in close collaboration with artists, to enlightening introductions and thoughtful reappraisals, Tate Publishing is one of the world’s leading publishers on the visual arts.

Tate Publishing believes that art is for everyone. Alongside our exhibition and art-history titles, we also produce an innovative range of books for children that will surprise and delight the next generation of art-lovers — promoting creativity and inclusivity in books that foster understanding, growth and community.

Cherise Lopes-Baker is Executive Commissioning Editor for Tate Children’s Publishing where she has re-envisioned the list to put inclusivity and accessibility at its heart, and expanded it to include illustrated young adult and graphic novels. She has also helped create Tate Story Space, an inclusive library space within the gallery, and the Tate x Free Books Campaign collaboration, helping low income people of colour access Tate books and exhibitions. Originally from California, she is now based in London. She earned a Law degree from Durham University, with a focus on international human rights, and a Masters in Publishing from UCL, with a focus on diversity in children’s literature. Cherise is also a Bookseller Rising Star 2021, Frankfurt Book Fair Fellow, and co-founder of Desert Rose Literary Magazine, an intersectional feminist literary magazine.

Created in Milan, in the spring of 2004, by Paolo Canton and Giovanna Zoboli, Topipittori is a publishing house specializing in books illustrated by children and artists. Topipittori is born from a common interest in verse and book, intesi come strumenti di conoscenza, gioco, educazione intellettuale, emotiva ed estetica.

Lisa Topi is Foreign Rights Manager at Topipittori since 2014. She graduated in Comparative and Post-colonial Literature and she translated most of Maurice Sendak's works in Italian, as well as authors like Peter Sís, Djuna Barnes, Gioconda Belli, Benjamín Labatut. She currently lives in Milan and in Lisbon.

Natur & Kultur is a publishing house that was founded in 1922. It is the second largest publishing house in Sweden. We have a extensive publication in different areas. Natur & Kultur is a foundation that also works to promote democracy, education and freedom of expression – supporting projects and people in the areas of education, science, literature and art.

Since 2017 Kerstin Elias Costa has been working as an editor in the children's books section, which publishes around 40 books a year. Our focus is high-quality fiction and Kerstin has a particular interest in picture books and illustration.