Spring, 1984, the Bologna (Italy) Children’s Book Fair. (A recent book fair boasted 1400 exhibitors and 30,000 visitors from 80 countries.)
Tomie attended with his foreign rights agent, Ruth Gottstein. The two of them are in the top photo in their booth at the fair. Ruth and Tomie used the fair to sell foreign language rights to Tomie’s books. And that’s why you could find Tomie’s books in Portugal to China, Greenland to South Africa.
During this trip to Italy, Tomie along with his sister, Maureen, took a tour group with them. (I chose to pass on this trip.)
Tomie wasn’t always as attentive to the group as the group would have expected so Maureen needed to encourage Tomie to spend more time with the group (who had bought into the “Tomie dePaola Trip to Italy”).
Ruth and Tomie would hold a cocktail party at the Hotel Roma during Tomie’s trips to the book fair. In the bottom photo, Maureen and Bea Herrmann Richards, a retired elementary school librarian from Michigan, at Ruth and Tomie’s party. (Bob)
Pray for Peace, Justice, and Equality
