Through the year, we invite guest curators – international picturebook and illustration specialists – to highlight their favourite picturebooks on the dPICTUS platform. The curators use their own criteria to highlight titles independently, and the titles which are highlighted by the most curators feature in our ‘100 Outstanding Picturebooks’ annual exhibition.
Martin Salisbury is Professor of Illustration and founder of the MA Children’s Book Illustration at the Cambridge School of Art. He’s written numerous books on the practice and theory of children’s book illustration, including ‘Children’s Picturebooks: The Art of Visual Storytelling’. Martin speaks on the subject around the world and has been on many award juries, including chair of the jury for the BolognaRagazzis.
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Martin's curated picturebooks
Martin on the Anglia Ruskin University website
Jiwone Lee is a translator, curator, art historian, researcher and lecturer. She’s translated more than fifty picturebooks, and has worked with many authors and illustrators as a freelance editor. She teaches the history and theory of illustration at the University of Seoul, Polish language and culture at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, and she also works as a curator at the Albus ‘House of Illustration’ Gallery in Seoul. Jiwone has a PhD on a thesis in illustration history.
Yukiko Hiromatsu is a picturebook author, critic, and independent curator. She writes reviews and articles about picturebooks for Japanese newspapers and magazines, and she was chief curator of Chihiro Art Museum in Tokyo. Yukiko has also been on many award juries, such as the Bologna Illustrators Exhibition, the Biennial of Illustration Bratislava (including chair of the jury in 2017), and the Nami Island International Picture Book Illustration Concours.
Sophie Van der Linden is a specialist in children’s literature, focusing mainly on picturebooks. She’s chief editor of Hors-Cadre[s], an observatory of illustrated literature, and has written a number of reference works on children’s books. Sophie teaches Visual Culture at Condé in Paris and Children’s Literature at several universities. She also runs a popular children’s literature blog.
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Sophie's curated picturebooks
Visit Sophie’s blog
Leonard S. Marcus is one of the world’s leading writers about children’s books and the people who create them. He’s written over 25 award-winning books, including ‘Margaret Wise Brown: Awakened by the Moon’, ‘Golden Legacy: The Story of Golden Books', ‘Show Me a Story: Why Picture Books Matter’ and ‘Pictured Worlds’. A founding trustee of the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, Leonard writes for the New York Times Book Review, and teaches at New York University and the School of Visual Arts.
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Leonard's curated picturebooks
Visit Leonard’s website
Ilaria Tontardini has worked for Hamelin Cultural Association since 2005, after training as an art historian and being involved in museum education. With Hamelin, she’s in charge of illustration exhibitions, workshops and many other activities relating to illustration. She also teaches History of Illustration at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna.
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Ilaria's curated picturebooks
Visit the Hamelin website
Ulla Rhedin is a literary scholar, critic, researcher, author and lecturer. She has a PhD on a thesis in picturebook theory and has written several books on the subject. Ulla was on the jury of the Bologna Children’s Book Fair Illustrators Exhibition, and for twelve years she was an illustration expert on the jury of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA).
Bernd Mölck-Tassel is an award-winning illustrator, Professor of Children’s Book Illustration at the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (HAW), and founder of the Hamburg Picture Book Prize. He’s been on several award juries, including the BolognaRagazzis, the Bologna Illustrators Exhibition, and chair of the Hans Meid Book Illustration Award.
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Bernd's curated picturebooks
Visit Bernd's blog
Fanuel Hanán Díaz is a graduate in Literature and Magister Scientiarum in Science and Applied Arts. He’s been a member of several juries including the Biennal of Illustration Bratislava and the Hans Christian Andersen Award. He teaches in Latin American and European universities, and has written articles and books about picturebooks and Latin American Children’s Literature. Fanuel is editor of children’s literature magazine Barataria, and he works as an independent scholar.
Brigitte Van den Bossche trained as a historian, and for a long time has been a researcher of outsider art, focussing mainly on outsider architecture. She coordinates the actions of Les Ateliers du Texte et de l’Image, at a local, national and international level, focusing on cultural mediation, formation, communications and meetings with visual artists and authors. She regularly collaborates with Michel Defounry, an expert in international children literature.
Professor Fang Weiping is Vice Director of the Children’s Literature Committee of the China Writers Association, and member of the International Scientific Board of the journal ‘History of Education & Children’s Literature’ (University of Macerata, Italy). He has published over 30 academic books, including ‘History of Chinese Children’s Literature Theory and Criticism’ (1993), ‘Collections of Fang Weiping’s Children’s Literature Criticism’ (4 volumes, 2006), and ‘Enjoying Picture Books: Art and Appreciation’ (2012). He is also chief editor of the journal ‘Chinese Children's Culture’.
Yuliia Kozlovets is general coordinator of the International Book Arsenal Festival in Kyiv, a large international interdisciplinary event where the book, literary and artistic scenes develop and interact with each other. Previously, Yuliia was co-owner of an independent bookshop, worked in children literature promotion, and was involved with art projects in the sphere of non-formal education. Yuliia was a jury member for the BolognaRagazzi Awards 2022.