London Book Fair 2009

The Leading Spring Fair and Rights-Trading Event

Feb 14, 2009 Simone Preuss

From 20-22 April, it's not only spring time but also book fair time again in London, the place to meet the global publishing industry.

In 2008, London Book Fair (LBF) brought more than 25,000 publishing professionals from all over the globe together; among them 5,300 publishers from more than 100 countries, close to 2,000 booksellers and 700 librarians.

But far from being a pure rights-trading fair, the London Book Fair also provides a platform for wholesalers and other distributors, professionals from the printing and production fields, technical and creative professionals, illustrators, translators and students to meet, showcase their skills and exchange views about publishing trends and innovations.

London Book Fair 2009 Highlights

Like every year, other than just browsing the many stalls, the book fair in London offers attendees the opportunity to also take part in a wide range of related events like panel discussions, seminars, author talks, award ceremonies and even cooking demonstrations. Highlights include:

More than 100 free seminars on topics ranging from digitization, digital product promotion and teenage fiction to the Indian market and Indian literature;
“Author of the Day” events and activities with a chosen author, for example thriller author and detective Alex Cross creator James Patterson on Monday;
the “How to Get Published” Masterclass (£30; $43)
the “English PEN Literary Café” where selected authors talk about their work;
the “Cook Book Corner” with cooking demonstrations by chefs from around the world;
the Lifetime Achievement Award in International Publishing and
various awards for young publishing professionals like the International Young Publishing Entrepreneur (IYPE), the UK Young Publishing Entrepreneur (UKYPE) and the International Young Creative Entrepreneurs (IYCE) awards.

London Book Fair 2009 Opening Hours and Ticket Prices

The fair will be held at London’s Earls Court Exhibition Center in Halls 1 and 2. Ticket prices are £40 ($58) at the door and £25 ($36)when registering online in advance. Visitors’ entrances are Brompton and Warwick Road. Opening hours are:

Monday, 20th April: 9 am – 6:30 pm
Tuesday, 21st April: 9 am – 6:30 pm
Wednesday, 22nd April: 9 am – 5 pm

London Book Fair 2009: Market Focus India

Established in 2004, LBF picks a new Market Focus country every year. This year’s choice has fallen on India because of its rich literary tradition – in English as well as in many regional languages – and big market for English-language books. Fair attendees will learn about India’s publishing industry, its linguistic and cultural diversity and the opportunities it provides for international business.

The aim of the Market Focus, which was the Arab World in 2008, is manifold:

Allowing local publishers to showcase their products for an international audience,
helping international publishers better understand how different markets operate,
identifying exciting new authors not yet published in English,
facilitating the liaison of national and international publishers with their counterparts in the focus country,
identifying and capitalizing on new business partnerships.

Opportunities for the Indian Book Market

Says Debanjan Chakrabarti, head of British Council's Inter-Cultural Dialogue Project in the January 21, 2009 Zee News-article “40 Indians in London Book Fair”: “This market focus initiative is part of the ongoing British Council-India intercultural dialogue. … Last November, we organised a three-day workshop in Delhi, where representatives from the British market spoke to their Indian counterparts on ways to expand the potential of the vernacular Indian publishing market to target the larger audience, including the mammoth diaspora segment in Britain.”

He added that “market and reading trends in Britian are still dictated by the public library system and offer an opportunity for Indian publishers to make inroads.” Therefore, Indian publishers should have a good opportunity at this year’s London Book Fair to present their titles to the many librarians attending the fair.

More information about London Book Fair can be found on the official web site. The World Book Fair in Singapore (May 29-June 7) might also be of interest to LBF attendees. Don't forget other fairs like BookExpo America, taking place from May 28-31 in New York City, or Book World Prague from May 14-17.

The copyright of the article London Book Fair 2009 in Book Publishing is owned by Simone Preuss. Permission to republish London Book Fair 2009 in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

The London Book Fair Entrance