Book by Korean publisher wins best children’s book award at Bologna

A children’s book published by a Korean company won the Ragazzi Award at Bologna Children’s Book Fair, the top award of the prestigious annual event in Bologna, Italy.

The picture book, titled “Eyes,” written and illustrated by Polish author Iwon Chmielewska and translated into Korean, will be announced the winner in the fiction category of the 50th Bologna Children’s Book Fair next week, according to Changbi Publishers. 

The jury of the award said the book “creates an indissoluble bond between what we see and how we understand, between the astonishment at learning to see in a new way and the contentment of knowing.”

The author said through the publisher: “I tried to offer that the sight was not only what enables us to see objects, but a channel to the soul and other gifts we have inside.”

An official of Changbi Publishers said the award is a significant achievement for the publisher, which has been making children’s books for 20 years.

Changbi Publishers and Chmielewska won the top fiction award for another children’s book, “A House of the Mind: Maum,” in 2011.

The Ragazzi Award selects winners in the category of fiction and nonfiction, as well as two to three second-prize winners every year.

By Lee Woo-young (wylee@heraldcorp.com)