• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Login
  • Register

Publishers Lunch

The Publishing Industry's Daily Essential Read

  • Publishers Marketplace
  • Site Guide
  • Help

London Book Fair Hopes for A Live Show at the End of June

November 4, 2020
By Erin Somers

Until the pandemic is under control there will not be any large, live trade fairs, so the London Book Fair has set new, later dates for 2021 “to create the best opportunity of hosting a live event.” Originally scheduled for March 9–11, the organizers announced plans (and hopes) to convene June 29–July 1. While it gives them room to wait for an improvement in public health, it would put the show in an awkward time slot traditionally avoided by big fairs for good, practical reasons. For US attendees, it also puts the event right in front of the long Independence Day weekend. Understanding that even the new dates might not work out, organizers promised, “If the current outlook changes will make a final decision on the live event’s feasibility by the end of March 2021 at the very latest.” The Bologna Children’s Book Fair is currently aiming for a show April 12–15.

LBF frustrated and angered many international attendees by waiting until March 4 to cancel this year — less than a week before the scheduled beginning of the show on March 10, and after many visitors of good conscience had cancelled travel plans. Fair organizers made the situation worse by penalizing those who cancelled prior to the official notice, providing rights center exhibitors only a 60 percent credit towards the 2021 show.

Reed Exhibitions also named Andy Ventris as the Fair’s new director, following the departure this summer of Jacks Thomas, who lead the event for seven years. Ventris has been at Reed since 2013. He said in the announcement: “Having worked with the LBF team in recent months, I’m delighted to be taking on the role of Director, especially at this time of great change. There continue to be many challenges facing us as we plan LBF 21, and I believe it’s crucial that we are open and transparent with our exhibitors, partners and visitors throughout the process.”

The LBF Advisory Board is meeting in November to help plan for the 2021 event. Organizers say they will return to their usual spring dates in 2021.

Filed Under: Book Fairs, Free

sidebar

Primary Free Sidebar

Login


Forgot password
Quick Pass users click here to log in
Get Full Access
The publishing industry's essential daily read

Each Publishers Lunch Deluxe subscription includes full access to our searchable multi-year archive of industry news, a nightly email reporting 10 to 50 deal transactions, and our database of industry contacts, scripts, and posting privileges.

Learn More

RSS Automat

  • Jordan Peterson Suspended on Twitter for "Hateful Conduct" In Comment About Elliot Page July 1, 2022 NY Post
  • Rushdie Will Move From Random House to Knopf for Next Novel, in 2023 (Update: The Bookseller Reported This Incorrectly) June 30, 2022 Bookseller
  • Macmillan Cyber Attack Gets National Coverage; Retailers Don't Mind, But It Still Hurts Authors and the Company June 30, 2022 WSJ
  • Wattpad Is Buying Exclusivity to Some of their Most Popular Authors and Stories with Stipends of Up to $25,000 June 30, 2022 Press Release
  • Supreme Court Declines to Review or Revise Landmark NYT v. Sullivan Libel Standard, Despite Clarence Thomas's Objection June 27, 2022 CNN
  • So Far, Books by Trump Aides Are Mostly...Losers June 23, 2022 Politico
  • Macmillan Nigeria Publisher Charged With Book Fraud June 21, 2022 The Herald
  • All The Exiting Agents Seem to Think ICM's Sale to CAA Will Get Approved Shortly by DOJ June 17, 2022 Deadline
  • Spotify Closes Findaway Acquisition: "Their technology will help propel Spotify into the rapidly growing audiobooks industry" June 17, 2022 Press Release
  • Australian Author John Hughes "Unintentionally" Plagiarized The Great Gatsby And Other Famous Works In His New Novel June 15, 2022 The Guardian
© 2022 Publishers Lunch. All Rights Reserved.